I have the chance to re-furbish my favorite ride. There is an M551 Sheridan at our museum here at Ft. Carson CO. Having commanded one for over four years, I asked about helping out with the clean up and possible restoration of the beast. I received nothing but welcome praise from the guys who I asked. The exterior isn't in too bad of shape, but the interior is a little rough. I think with some careful loving care, she could be looking great before too aweful long. I'll see if I can get some pictures of the "girl" before I start and after. Having took care of one for 4+ years I know them pretty well. It was great to crawl around and relive some good times spent within the confines of the turret. Just thought I'd share with you all out there in cyber land.. :-) "Q"

Red4
That is too cool.
I haven't seen many interiors of the M551 documented or built in kit form. That would be twofold cool - you can do something good for history and if you can get photos, help out the modeling world.

Congrats Red4. I love preserving history as well.

Hola,
I looked in magazines and on the web on how people restore vehicles like a tank etc.
my question is...where do you start?! I mean there a gazilion parts to a tank, and all wiring etc must be intact, that must be a humongus project! So I wish you good luck and keep us posted!!

Sounds like a great opportunity, and in many ways I wish I was you but also am glad I am not. Onto the reason for this post. Last September when I was turning in HMMWV's a Ft. Polk I couldn't help but noticing the couple hundred M551's just sitting there waiting to be turned into hard targets. Just a thought but maybe you can contact someone to get some salvage parts off of these.

Good Luck
Stephen

Well, I just wanna say GOOD LUCK!
And don't forget the pics!!!!!(the Armorama community thanks! )

The tanks that were seen outside of Ft. Polk were my old battalion from Ft. Bragg. I believe they are A and B company vehicles. When I start I will get some good before and after pics. The hard part is going to be acquiring som eof the missing interior parts. I know whre I acn get some, but I have to travel cross country to get them. That and they are a little on the heavy side, so shipping them would cost a bundle. As far as the restoration process goes.. I'll probably start with the drivers area and move back and up into the turret. I doubt we get the vehicle running due to budget restraints but it will be a nice looking static vehicle. I have a bunch of Sheridan interior pics that I forgot about. If you follks out there are interested in seeing what the inside is like give me a holler and I'll post them. If I do...a heads up to the staff here.....there are a lot of them and it will take some time to get them all sent and up, but the are great pictures.
The biggest part of the clean up is just that ....clean up. I found lots of trash inside along with missing bolts and what have you, but I can handle that. I'll let you al lknow how things progress. I hope to have it done in a reasonable amount of time. I am being transfered to Ft Knox next may so I want to try and get it as complete in that time as I can. "Q"