Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes
OREM — If you're going to restore a World War II tank, you'd better have highly-motivating reasons for doing it. Vernon Stout does, and one of them is so anyone who wants to can drive it.
The 1943 M5A1 Stuart came to him after two other collectors moved on to other tanks in better condition. Before that, it spent 60 years in front of a wrecking yard in Stockton, California. Before that, Stout doesn't know.
The outside was fine, but the inside needed a lot of work. Stout's getting on that, hoping to be done by September. They work on it on "Tank Night," which is Thursdays through the summer, and anyone is invited to help.
The Stuart tanks were designed to run off a radial engine, but those were in short supply during World War II, so engineers put two 1943 Cadillac flathead engines in the M5. They sent power through two transmissions, then into one, giving the Stuart six forward speeds and one in reverse. The Caddy engines combined to make 210 horsepower, enough to get the 36,000 pounds moving up to 35 mph in a few seconds. Stout is hoping to do better, replacing the twin-Caddies with a single Chevrolet 350 V8 to get more power and reliability.
Driving a tank can be done from three heights: 1) You can raise the seat to poke your head through the top — if no one's shooting at you; 2) if you're in a bad neighborhood you can go to the middle height and use a crystal periscope; and 3) if things are really bad you can peek out of the lower section. There are two driving positions, like pilot/co-pilot. It takes four to drive it in battle. There is a 37mm cannon up front and a couple of machine guns, should any smaller targets pop up.
Turning the Stuart puts the brakes on one track while the differential transfers power to the other. It will pivot, literally turning on a dime, but Stout says it will destroy the dime or anything else below it. He found this out on his farm.
Stuart owns 33 military vehicles and the motivation to own more started after a test drive of his first, a 1951 Dodge M37 Power Wagon. After he restored it, he took it out for a drive through the neighborhood. A veteran in his 80s chased him down the street and asked for a ride. Stout obliged, and the octogenarian sat on the wheel well, getting emotional and said the last time he was in an M37 was when he left Korea in 1953.
Stout was touched since his father had been in the U.S. Air Force, serving in Operation Desert Storm. He lived with his family in Ankara, Turkey, during the conflict, and he knew someone killed by a car bomb about 150 yards from his family home.
Other than just thinking it is cool to have a tank in his garage, Stout wants to teach people about the sacrifices others made for them to have the freedoms they enjoy — and the role that God plays in the nation's freedoms and history.
He runs a nonprofit called Freedom Vehicles Association, which, along with Tools of Freedom, Inc., aims to build a park displaying the military vehicles to archive history for future generations. When they're not on display at various events, Stout keeps the old military vehicles on his farm, where he likes to teach visitors about self-sustaining (grow-it-yourself, fix-it-yourself) agriculture.
The farm is open, complete with military vehicles, for family gatherings, weddings or whatever.
Stout is holding a raffle for a chance to drive the Stuart tank on the farm in Lake Shore, Utah County. The winner gets to drive in the tank in September, assuming all the Tank Nights go well and the outfit gets finished in time.
