It is a monster that weighs 50 tons and gets one-tenth of a mile to the gallon, said Mr. Renton, pointing out the museum’s largest tank, which saw action in the Middle East and was then left to languish in a desert there for 25 years. “It’s like Civil War re-enactors but the equipment is more expensive,” said Mr. Re-creations of combat situations are open to anyone willing to pay to dress up as a soldier.
Renton drives the vehicles during “armor experiences” staged by the museum on the property it shares with the bucolic Old Bethpage Village Restoration. “My boss jokes that, once I go, everything will go up on blocks and become static.” (The museum has an unpaid board.) “Most of the guys who did this kind of stuff are phased out,” he said. Renton uses his expertise and resourcefulness to obtain parts or fabricate them from scratch. Renton rebuilt, which still has bullet marks on it. Some of the vehicles were used in combat, like the Sherman tank that Mr. It has acquired tanks and other equipment left in pretty dismal condition.
Renton, 52, who helped open the museum three years ago. “There are no manuals for this,” said Mr. There are 45 military vehicles, and the artillery includes antiaircraft and antitank guns, although the guns no longer fire. Renton restores and maintains one of the few operational fleets of World War II vehicles and artillery in the country. After all, he is the museum’s only salaried employee and he cares little for paperwork or administrating.īut if you need someone to drop a new motor in a Sherman tank, or build a 1940s jeep completely from spare parts, Mr. Renton is the museum director, though the title might be slightly lofty. The well-being of the intimidating fleet of tanks, cannons and jeeps at the Museum of American Armor on Long Island is held securely in the greasy hands of Mark Renton.
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