Leopard tanks for free ?

[Ian Pullen]

Gentlemen,
before everyone starts ringing DMO to get their name down for a Leopard. Read the fine print. These are for RSLs, Museums and other such organisations ( I doubt many privately owned museums would be considered). The vehicles will be totally gutted of any running gear and will also be on the proviso that said museums, RSLs etc won't get them up and running. That's a pretty big paper weight as there's not a real lot you can do with them.
Plus there will be ONLY 25 vehicles disposed of in this manner.
They are not for sale to the general public.
Granted, my wife is happy about that as there won't be one in our front yard.
As for the rest of the fleet, suffice to say, every collector and enthusiast in the country is getting rather excited about the prospects of buying a running Leopard. Everyone knows that they are currently being withdrawn from service and the govenment did sell the Centurion fleet off to the public.
THAT WAS 20 YEARS AGO.....
Today's political climate has changed dramatically since then. There is movement afoot in various parts of the world to ban private ownership of these types of vehicles and if we are not diligent, we can give them the ammunition to help make this happen.
I know that there were a lot of people getting excited about the M113 fleet in NZ and look what happened there.
I am not trying to burst everyone's bubble, but I wouldn't hold my breath.