A military tank has been parked on a local O'Malley street in Canberra since Tuesday, the question of where it came from sparked significant interest.
History and war buffs may recognise the tank as a WWII German assault gun Sturmgeschutz III. Originally it was a British armoured personnel carrier but was redone into a replica.
Military collector David Grimshaw heard through a friend that the Australian Armour and Artillery Museum in Cairns got an original tank and was selling the replica, which was an opportunity he immediately jumped on.
"I rang up and spoke to the owner and kind of ordered it from the museum. Before the tank arrived, I told the police station it was coming so it wouldn't be a surprise, I've had people drive by and a few contact me through Facebook that they would like to look at it," Mr Grimshaw said.
"A semi-trailer dropped it off and I got to drive it onto the strip outside my house which was very cool.
"I've been collecting memorabilia for 45 years now and this is definitely the biggest thing I've got, every time I'm driving into the street I get a smile on my face."
All sorts of interest has been coming in for the tank, which Mr Grimshaw said has been quite an amusing time when legalities around parking his tank came into question.
"I also had a parking inspector come check it out. His comment was, there's no problem as far as he's concerned because I'm the registered owner who's in front of my house and if they were going to put a ticket on it, there isn't really any number plates," he said.
While the site of a tank on the street is exciting many locals, Mr Grimshaw intends on finding a place to store it and give it access to be used for films, commercials or even the possibility of joy rides.
"It definitely needs a property because I can't leave it in suburbia, there's no way that's practical for the streets," he said.
"I have a part of my house that's dedicated to all my other collection from over the years, some of the bigger ticket items are original items from the war. When asked if I could choose a favourite I say there's no way."
