A few years ago my brother in law showed me a craigslist ad for a tank. Turns out it was a homebuilt tank probably made in the 60s. The guy said his daddy told him it was a real WWII tank, and his daddy was not a liar, so he insisted it was a "real WWII tank!" It was clearly not. Anyway, sometime in the 80s it broke down and they left it in a field. At some point the engine and transmission. most of the wheels, and the tracks were removed and disposed of! Then four years ago it was dug up, mounted to a trailer, painted pink and driven around to breast cancer fundraisers. Then after two years of that they decided to sell it. So I bought it. 
There are no nameplates or anything on the tank, and the owner either had no, or was unwilling to share any, photos of the tank when it ran, so I had a hard time figuring out what to put into the space available. Then we had another kid, and well, it became a fun thing in the backyard to play on, but no work has been done on it. I had thought maybe a VW Beetle engine and transmission and convert it to wheels from tracks would be easiest and probably fit into the space at the back.
Then this weekend I was offered a 1999 v6 five door Ford Explorer for basically nothing.
Which got me thinking....which can be dangerous...
I have seen where folks have swapped the bodies on Explorers or Rangers for older Ford pickups, like 40s and 50s models.
What if I strip the explorer down to the frame and build a new body, and then mount the turret I have on that? I can raise it up a bit and put HMMWV tires on it, and I am imagining something like a wheeled Bradley or the Eland 90 or the new French Jaguar armored car.
I have never done anything like this, and it seems rather a lot of work, but it should be doable. I can weld.
I was wondering if anyone knows of anyone who has done something like this?
Specifically building a fake military-ish vehicle but even more generically just building a brand new body on a frame.
I see a lot of body swapping threads in various forums and videos, but have not found any body building ones. But I may be using the wrong terms.
Thanks!
-Mike
There are no nameplates or anything on the tank, and the owner either had no, or was unwilling to share any, photos of the tank when it ran, so I had a hard time figuring out what to put into the space available. Then we had another kid, and well, it became a fun thing in the backyard to play on, but no work has been done on it. I had thought maybe a VW Beetle engine and transmission and convert it to wheels from tracks would be easiest and probably fit into the space at the back.
Then this weekend I was offered a 1999 v6 five door Ford Explorer for basically nothing.
Which got me thinking....which can be dangerous...
I have seen where folks have swapped the bodies on Explorers or Rangers for older Ford pickups, like 40s and 50s models.
What if I strip the explorer down to the frame and build a new body, and then mount the turret I have on that? I can raise it up a bit and put HMMWV tires on it, and I am imagining something like a wheeled Bradley or the Eland 90 or the new French Jaguar armored car.
I have never done anything like this, and it seems rather a lot of work, but it should be doable. I can weld.
I was wondering if anyone knows of anyone who has done something like this?
Specifically building a fake military-ish vehicle but even more generically just building a brand new body on a frame.
I see a lot of body swapping threads in various forums and videos, but have not found any body building ones. But I may be using the wrong terms.
Thanks!
-Mike
