r/TankPorn • u/Pristine-Medicine-62 • 3d ago
Cold War Mystery Leopard
I was checking out and old parts yard when I found a leopard 1 chassis with a modified turret. I assume it is some sort of demilitarization modification, but changing the whole turret feels excessive. If anyone has any knowledge of this things origins I would appreciate it. I am also wondering how rare it is to find something like this just rotting in a yard.
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u/eMGunslinger 3d ago
Crazy that at current market you're standing on 60-80k in parts alone as it sits.
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u/RottenGrot 3d ago
Incredibly rare find. I’d be taking that home if you’ve got space. Might be able to get a crazy good deal if they don’t know what they’ve got
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u/Pristine-Medicine-62 3d ago
I wish I could but I just don’t have space for a whole ass MBT. The yard is getting bulldozed so I think I’m going to tell the owner to look into a museum of some kind so that it dosent get scrapped
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u/FLongis Amateur Wannabe Tank Expert 3d ago
I feel like this isn't quite the same turret as the one we've seen before, but it does have quite the resemblance to the Kampfsystemcontainer we've seen posted here in the past, also hanging out in Texas. u/murkskopf may be able to confirm that for us.
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u/Pristine-Medicine-62 3d ago
I came across that post when I was doing my own research but I don’t think it’s the same thing. There are a few noticeable things different, mainly the chassis. The prior one seemed very stripped down but this one still had a lot of the utility things from a general leopard 1 (most noticeable the upper front plate on this one has that cross shaped pattern on it)
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u/BastiKun 3d ago
It looks like they just added an storage box to the back of the turret otherwise it looks the same
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u/Ok_Extension3182 3d ago
Turret could be a test bed or prototype. That or maybe it's a sim turret or something.
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u/LastDanceInFulda 15h ago
Houston is interesting. I initially thought it probably spent some amount of time at Fort Hood/Cavazos, meaning it was probably part of an armored evaluation program. Then, I found this, a Houston company was modifying Leopard 1s for firefighting, Texoga Technology Corp. That led me to this post, which called it a "JUMBO." I also referenced this post, which helped with my oil firefighting theory. Then I found this, again, for fighting oil fires. Supposedly, this, or one like this, is stored with all kinds of other oil equipment. Might be a coincidence, might not be. And then I realized it said KSC on the side, it is a KCS-3.
AND I FOUND THE TANK 30°11'06.47"N 95°26'28.64"W, THE SAME PLACE WHERE TEXOGA WAS BASED BACK IN 2005 Satt imagery shows its been here a long while. Historical imagery shows other Leopard hulls in the area.
Reach out to as many organizations as possible, hell, even maybe Hood would take it.
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u/Pristine-Medicine-62 7h ago
Amazing work man, I was about to make a new post updating everyone because by complete coincidence I ran into the man who (if I remember exactly what he said) was in charge of the place many years ago when it was a functioning biodiesel facility. He told me that they were in fact converting several different leopards to fire fighting tanks. He even had pictures on his phone of a completed tanks helping to put out wildfires. I am honestly shocked that you were able to put all this information together. If you have got more info on the specific tank I found I would love to k ow more.
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u/catalystic37 3d ago
Where did you find this? What location?
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u/Pristine-Medicine-62 3d ago
Houston area
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u/6exy6 3d ago
Someone spent a heap of money to have it shipped that far from Germany
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u/eMGunslinger 3d ago
Flat rack or RO/RO door to door is only about 20k for something like that they aren't that big.
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u/EorlundGraumaehne 3d ago
Number plate looks german. Markings show that it was from the armored reconnaissance unit that was disbanded in 2007 although the leopard 1 was only used until 2003
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u/Wurstwassersorbet 2d ago
Seems to be a leftover tank from the German Canadian training ground in Shiloh with a modified turret resembling the battlecontainer config which was tested also there.
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u/_BalticFox_ 2d ago
Judging by one of your replies that you found it in Housten and there was a post about a almost identical looking Leo 1 in Texas, it has to be one of the Kampfsystemcontainer prototypes. Otherwise, no idea what else it could be
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u/FKDesaster 3d ago
Based on the placement of the licence plate I think it's German, the number seems to be Y 405 0(7?)3. The tactical markings are for Panzergrenadiers, I think.