Why Arnold Schwarzenegger Is Posting Videos Of Himself In A Tank
Arnold Schwarzenegger is posting pictures of himself in an actual tank and the guy actually has a pretty good reason for the photo
This article is more than 2 years old
Arnold Schwarzenegger was once one of the few dudes out there who could be caught driving a Humvee. But then they started making those in mass production almost as family SUVs and it lost a little bit of the combat muster. So how does a dude with seemingly infinite money and resources upgrade along military lines for a personal vehicle? Pretty easy. You get yourself a tank for some cruising around wheels and call it a day. And that’s basically what Schwarzenegger did. Yes, the dude owns a tank and this really shouldn’t come as any sort of surprise.
Recently, Arnold Schwarzenegger took to Instagram to show off a little drive he was taking around the neighborhood, enjoying the day in some fresh wheels. But this wasn’t just your convertible Sunday drive he was out on, far from it. The picture was of a 1951 M-47 Patton tank tooling down the road in all of its battle-ready glory. Try taking this thing to your local supermarket and see what happens. My guess is you would attract a few eyeballs and likely some kind of upper military response in short order too. But Schwarzenegger has no such problem and has actually owned the tank for a number of years now. Check out what he originally posted.
For Arnold Schwarzenegger, this wasn’t some off-the-cuff impulse buy either. The M-47 tank does hold a place in history for the actor and former Governor of California. Growing up in Austria, Schwarzenegger was required to fulfill at least one year of military service once he came of age. He did that in 1965 and as part of his duty learned how to operate this particular tank. His enlistment lasted a year and he went on to have the bodybuilding and then acting career we all know him for. But when he had the means he decided to purchase the same kind of tank for himself.
Back in 1991, right around the time Terminator 2: Judgment Day hit the big screen in all of its award-winning glory, Arnold Schwarzenegger purchased the tank from the Austrian military. Because of its age (long since retired from actual combat use), it was free for the actor, but he did have to pony up the $20,000 it took to actually ship to the United States. So he’s owned it for more than three decades and it appears to still be in working order, which is really saying something these days.
A few years ago, Arnold Schwarzenegger appeared on Jay Leno’s Garage to talk about what it was like to own a tank. Schwarzenegger told Leno that in addition to just having the tank as a personal memory, he also used it as an incentive for a local program that encouraged youth to stay in school. One of the incentives was to come out to his estate and get to drive around the tank. He even said they’d fire off the canon from time to time. Quite the prize for seeing out a school year.
The 75-year-old doesn’t keep young by driving around military-grade equipment either. He’s still very much in the acting game as well. Arnold Schwarzenegger is set to reprise one of his first roles when The Legend of Conan hits the big screen. That’s currently in pre-production. And he’s also set to team back up with Danny DeVito for Triplets, the long-awaited sequel to Twins.
