Heritage Commercials Magazine - capturing the spirit of vintage days

Antars on the move!

The first of these is to join his private collection, while the other is to make a return trip to the same location from whence it came after it has been restored as a non-running gate guardian by Paul Brook of Rusty Trucks, which is based at Warcop in Cumbria.

Registered as 12 DM 61, the first Antar came from the Defence School of Transport at Leconfield, near Beverley in the East Riding of Yorkshire after the Ministry of Defence sold it to David Crouch. This sale will now fund the cosmetic restoration of the second Antar from the Leconfield Normandy Barracks by Paul Brook.

Paul has a head start with this weighty task as he served as an Operations Officer for the 3 Tank Transporter Squadron based in Germany. During his early days in the Army, during the late 1960s, the last of the Diamond T tank transporters still remained in service. He then spent a long while looking after Antar tank transporter operations through to the 1980s, and then the replacement Scammell Commanders.

The British Army operated 150 Antars in Germany at one time, which were sufficient to transport two armoured divisions at a time. A gargantuan vehicle with a width of ten feet that was powerful enough to transport a 100 ton Chieftain tank on the back at an impressive speed of 25mph!

Following his retirement from military service in 2009, Paul established Rusty Trucks to keep him busy and out of trouble! Paul’s task with the second Antar is to restore it as a gate guardian, but the overall objective is rather more wide ranging, as the long-term intention is for a range of vehicles to be displayed at Leconfield. This is part of a programme that will bring together old military vehicle types at this driving centre, which provides training to the British Army, Royal Air Force and Royal Navy. The aim is to provide a historical perspective to young trainees passing through the centre – and maybe a degree of reassurance that whatever they drive these days, it has to be a lot easier than a prehistoric old Thornycroft Antar!

Plans are afoot to also bring an Alvis Stalwart up to non-running display condition by Rusty Trucks once the work on the Antar has been completed. It is intended the Antar will be displayed on the A1/A164 at the entrance to the Leconfield site in between Beverley and Driffield. At the present time a tank transporter trailer has yet to be found although the search is presently under way, and maybe one day a Chieftain tank will be added to complete the picture!