Added: 3 years ago
From: caddydave
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  • I think I need to change my pants now. The most beautiful machine of war. Ever. Great job guys, I wish I had a chance to see a quarter of what u saw working on this.

  • nice work! :)

  • the engine sounded in this video broke in more it was mean and deep! RIP to your friend...

    

  • That thing sounds like it eats babies.

  • OOOOh that sound ===> nerdboner right here

  • Yeah...need to replace that tarmac with more concrete.

  • Thanks for this! Superb restoration of such a fine machine!!

  • Amazing to think that that huge piece of armor, firepower, and engineering once fought on battlefields. If I was in a Sherman and saw one of those going at me I would have pissed my pants.

  • @BlobTheBunny Yeah, can you imagine being a soldier on the ground and hearing that thing coming your way? "No thanks, not me, I'm outta here!" would be my response.

  • @gatorhunter1

    And you don't have a weapon to take it out xD

  • @JazzJaRa Yeah! I just read a book describing how Soviet T-34 crews, when they ran out of ammo during intense battles in WWII, would just ram their tanks straight into those Tigers. Those Soviet tankers had some guts.

  • Great restoration! :))

    Jacques Littlefield would be proud of you. May he Rest In Peace.

  • I didn't know Jacques died..?! It's always sad when somebody loses their life.

  • Thank you Polish passionate armored vehicles.

    Greetings from Poland

  • Really excellent!!!! this restoration is one of th things that is done superbly in the US

  • I have a passion for WW2 history but what really flips my hair back is German tanks and the varities of Tanks they had. This panther is beautiful. There are three tanks that get my attention and those are the Tigers 1and 2 and then there is the panther. I want to thank you for salvaging this piece of history and bringing it back from the brink. Maybe one day we'll see it in a movie where guys like me can appreciate authenticiy in a movie. Kellys Heroes was close. and so was Pvt. Ryan.

  • Great vids on the Panther, will there be anymore updates

  • Brings a tear to my eye

  • This needs to be at Bovington Tankfest 2012!

  • dear santa!

  • That is SO SHWEET!!

  • Its great to see this, just like the way they restore old aircraft, great video....

  • nah when a tank pivot steers it binds up a little bit, all tracks still do it today

  • nice job guys but is it just me or does the left track look a bit slack??? O_o

  • Very nice restoration!

  • With zimerit and all !!!! NICE JOB!!!

  • Can I borrow it, i have a bully at school and I told him my dad had a tank...

  • They did a lovely job on this one.That Maybach engine is screaming out for a good run though,every so often one of the exhaust valves sticks,it'll be fun running it in though!!

  • Last I saw this tank it was in pieces. I'm glad the foundation is continuing on, as Jacques would have wanted it. The museum is a great inspiration for engineers and everyone. RIP J.L.

  • Words simply cannot describe how awesome that Maybach engine sounds and how awesome the Panther is

  • @kevatcrewe - So, "awesome", it lost.

  • @JohnQuincyAdams1 lol! I appreciate the engineering, design. looks and sound - they simply were never able to make enough of them. Never mind the fact that it lost, most people agree this is the best all round tank of WW2.

  • Does it have an operational gun?

  • Awesome Job Guys SUPERB !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  • Awesome job guys, respect for all the hard work !!!

    I'll keep watching the video's !!

  • Beautiful. I want one :(

  • Its alive!!

  • personally, i would have driven this around instead of a car. Crush all the little babies who dare complain!

  • Is the zimmerit a modern alternative or a sawdust mix like the real stuff??

  • So completely beautiful.

  • I remember when I got to go on a tour at the museum. Some of us waited around after words and got to hop in and checkout the inside of that thing :). We also got to meet a German tank driver who drove one during the battle of the bulge. A great experience all around, and as a German WWII reenactor it was even better.

  • nice ass it has!

  • Thank the Good Lord for this video! Your outfit is inspiring to us!

  • Awesome, just Awesome, Jacques is a hero to us all! Rest in Peace!

  • Air Superiority .. you either have it or you don't.

    Panther's failing was it 's drive unit - not a specific design for this Engine combo.

    The engine rebuild here is spot on - no blow by exhibited in exhaust .. perfect work boys!

  • Does it shoots?

  • go shopping with that thing. "you dont mind if i park here, right?"

  • Is this the same tank that fell through the ice & into a river in Poland & was recovered several decades later?

  • @hinatalover44 Ha! That would be cool. But all the weapons in this collection have been deactivated.

  • Imagine, being in a Sherman and one of those rolls out of the woods!

  • @MrBolas33 - That's when you'd get on the radio and call for an air strike to blow the thing to pieces. lol :)

  • @JohnQuincyAdams1 I don't think you'd have time to do that.

    "Run Forest Run!"

  • @MrBolas33 - Thousands of Nazi German tanks were destroyed in just such a fashion, by infantry calling in air strikes and/or artillery barrages.

  • hey you guys should take that to the WWII show in june this year, out in PA, mid atlantic air museum hosts it, that would be awesome! we dont usually get many tanks there, so it would be really cool!

  • So what happened to all this stuff after Jacques Littlefield died? Did they keep the museum open? It was a museum right?

  • So what is it you boys do in your shed?

  • very nice, but easy on the gears boys!

  • Who is going to pay for a new pavement, lol

  • I think I'll drive down the country side.

  • Are you willing to exchange with me, you give me this, and I will give you my Fiat Punto, yr 2000? :) You'll get a candybar with it

  • beautiful... very nice job!

  • beautiful... very nice job! panther from Poland

  • The Germans could have pulled it all off if they hadn't screwed up on the Eastern Front. Hitler doesn't get exclusive blame for that, but he is a big part of it. (and the reason the defence of Normandy was over faster, and that still had a higher casualty rate than on the Eastern Front.)

  • As it pulled out of the garage complete the Tank was like "Beware, I live!!!"

  • que espetáculo de restauro..como é que os caras conseguem..tempo..dinheiro e equipamento...impressionante..­um sonho

  • what kind of transmission does this tank use? Looks like driving it is hugely complicated

  • I'm sure jacques enjoyed his collection while

    alive but this is proof that you can't take it

    with you!

    Jman

  • Larger then i expected hehe. Nice job on the restoration.

  • Wow, this is incredible. Great historical work! Please make more video of this tank for us who are not likely to see this in person. This video reminds me of the song "Start up the Panzers!' by the band No Remorse. I think it is still on youtube.

  • My 1969 Am General M151A2 MUTT I bought in saigon VN is nothing compare to this kind of collection. Wow. Jacques Littlefield is my hero.

  • Mum? - Yes? - BOOOM xD lol *dark humor* :D

  • Can I borrow it to pay a visit to my company?... I'll buy u some 75mm rounds... please :)

  • fantastic.......every home should have one!!

  • R.I.P Jacques and nice work to the rest of you

  • Impressive beast. Thank God the Germans couldn't produce them as quickly as we could build Shermans!

  • When I saw it the turret was still off. There was an Abrams training turret laying in that shop, did you get started on building it yet??

  • Where can i buy a panther?? in a museum? I have money... How mucht cost one panther?

  • @astrolopitequs23 Well for example a WW2 M4A3 Sherman tank easliy starts at $400,000 USD

  • nice restoration job,, well done

  • Is it just me or does the R/H track look REALLY slack when the tank first moves out of the garage? also I had No Idea that Jacques Littlefield had Died :( My sinsearest Condolences to all his family & colleagues, I've only recently seen the episode of "Tank Overhaul" that featured the beginning of the restoration of that Panther Tank, it's good to know at least that you finished the Job

  • Most notably.....I've actually got figures, here....

    From a book called German Panzers in WWII by Chris Bishop...on page 184 he lists the tank production per state....in 1939 Germany made 247 armored fighting vehicles, as compared with 969 in the UK and 2950 in the Soviet Union.

    By the end of the war, the USA made 88,410, the Soviets made 105,251, and the Germans made 46,857.

    The Germans also had chronic supply issues and ammunition shortages as the war went on.

  • The Germans were using short barreled 37mm anti tank guns insufficient to combat French heavy tanks and Russian medium to heavy tanks. Their 50mm Pak38s were also more or less insufficient to engage Russian heavy tanks.

    It's also worth mentioning that Germany lagged terribly behind in terms of semi-automatic rifle development compared to Russia, and the US of course had the M1 Garand as standard issue. The Russians also employed dramatically more submachine guns.

  • At the start of the war the Germans were relying largely on Panzer 1s and 2s. Both were lightly armored and carried insufficient armor to engage even light tanks. They employed in medium quantities the Panzer III and in small quantities a Panzer IV insufficient for the anti-tank role. This was the case until after the Battle of Stalingrad...

    Notably, the Germans mention that they were poorly equipped to take on Soviet T-34s and KV-1 tanks until the arrival of Pak-40s/Tigers on the front.

  • AMAZING!!!!

  • I would gladly drive that to work everyday.

  • Well Son..Being a Swede im well aware of that

    But most of the world is not.

    ;)

  • About the overengineering, well that's the way they did it and still do. It is like to say to an american that he should build a car with a small motor. It just doesn't happen.

  • so beautiful...i hope you boys use it...it would be a shame not to have fun with it haha

  • it is half past seven o clock in the morning, and you come out of the garage with a tank, driving to work. Imagine your neighbours face lol.

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  • Let me rephrase...at the start of WW2 the Germans was better geared, drilled, disciplined then any other in the world.

    But it doesnt matter how good, or geared you are if ur getting controlled by a madman without any knowledge about tacticts and strategy.

    The Germans got very old military history traditions where discipline and tacticts allways been top of the line, even before Cristopher Columbus discovered America!

    They did one misstake.. overengineering, instead of massproducing.

  • @Skalmans750 i 100% agree with you and not too mention the slave labor that caused malfunctioning within their tanks.

  • I have several arguments about the Germans over-engineering vs mass-producing.

    1. Material - Copper and iron ore were in short supply.

    2. Crew - Less effective, meaning more tanks lost and were becoming scarce by the later half of the war.

    3. Fuel - We know the Germans never had enough fuel with the amount of tanks they had, more would complicate things.

    4. Industry - Bombed constantly. Yes output increased in '44 but it had its effects.

    5. Logistics - Infrastructure constantly targeted.

  • @Skalmans750

    The Germans were never better geared than other great powers....

    This can largely be explained by the Treaty of Versailles. Tank production and full size rifle production was prohibited, and the size of their standing army was reduced (making training difficult). Even as they started to bypass this, they had to ramp it up slowly so as not to cause war before they were ready.

  • @Skalmans750 actually they werent. outnumbered and so. also, they didnt puff up the industry for war but too late.

  • @Skalmans750 Two mistakes. Trying to fight a war on two fronts as they did when they invaded Russia.

    Napoleon failed and so did Hitler.

  • @MrTonyozzie Yup, still, with massproducing instead of overengineering there wouldnt have been 2 fronts.

  • @Skalmans750 and with idiots like Goering and Hitler in charge as well, eg The Battle of Britain.

    We were on our knees with the Luftwaffe hitting our airfields all the time and then because a few Wellingtons dropped a few bombs on Berlin, leadership turned to a craving for revenge. They bombed London and our airfields were left alone.

  • @Skalmans750

    Youre wrong!

    Overengineering was all germany could do! Because we never had enough men to offer. Do You understand? I mean that massproducing would have no sence without the soldiers, that where required...

    And Hilter was not stupid! He was crazy!

  • @sc4nn0r The Overengineering made the production of the Tigers too slow. Hitler forced the factorys to speed up the production wich resultet in numberous technical problems once the Tigers reached the front.(This is what i ment by overengineering)

    There were many potent Tiger crews fighting with rifles and handgrenades instead of operating a Tiger.

  • @Skalmans750

    Well but what about the next problem, the petrol shortage? And then the mangle of all for the production neccessary things (iron, alloying elements... and so on)

    Imho there was just a very small chance for germany to win the war. But against USA, Russia and GB allied.... impossible

  • @sc4nn0r I guess that a engine running on diesel would have been easier to supply with fuel, but there were no diesel engines powerful enough to cope with the heavy armoured tiger back in those days.

    The lack of petrol was one of the biggest problems, also the lack of raw mtrl as you say.

  • @Skalmans750 I agree with You! :)

  • @Skalmans750 Well you have to understand why they went with overengineering than mass producing it was because Germany was a smaller Country with less soliders so they needed better tanks to try to beat the numbers of the other countrys tanks but yes thats why it was harder for them to win because they did not have enough tanks but also you cannot wage war in Russia its to big Germany never had enough troops to really takeover Russia

  • @DaManzMoney Napolean also failed to conquer Russia, Honestly the Germans could have done it if the Generals were allowed to take charge. Not their psychopathic leader Adolf, If you look at the way those battles happened Hitler wouldn't let the troops finish the job. they were always being moved. that's why they lost in russia

  • @uscgkid109 Well Neopolean never had airplanes and tanks or trucks with gas so there aren't really in the same league. But yes Hitler would of did better if he was not involved in the military matters. But even the German soliders that fought in Russia say it was a lost cause Russia was to big. I do know where u come from they almost did win but never had enough supplys to last in a long war.

  • @Skalmans750 I can't press like enough, that is the exact reason why!

  • @Skalmans750: Well, you almost got it right. At the start of WW2, the German army had, besides you already mentionted, also very good generals! That's why they seemed unstoppable during the period 1939-1943. But......Than came the disaster at Stalingrad. For the first time, the German army lost a very important battle, and Hitler went mad! So, from thát moment on, he didn't trust his general's anymore, and took the command, wich lead to the end of his regime.

  • @Eikel66 - What led to the end of Nazi Germany was inadequate industrial capacity to sustain and win that stupid war. It wouldn't of matter if Field Marshall Erwin Rommel was in charge of the military. For Nazi Germany the end would have been the same.

  • @Skalmans750 had the allies NOT destroyed the nazi war machines stockpile of fuel, oil and ammunition amongst other things, this war could have had far different turnout, or might have lasted longer , or both

  • @yamahonkawazuki Yup i guess so, Imagine what would have happend if the germans got all the spareparts and the fuel they needed for their Tigers?

  • @Skalmans750 ohh for sure there would have been some nasty tank battles.

  • @yamahonkawazuki I can recommend a very good book written by WW2 Panzer Ace Otto Carius "Tigers in the mud" It's his own story how he became a Commander of a Tiger tank and one of the greatest during the ww2.

    A very drammatic and "colorful" story where you can smell the gasoline fumes from the roaring tigers, mixed with the gunsmoke .

    Hes still alive from what ive been told, i thinks hes selling shoes somewhere in southern germany today.

    B

  • @Skalmans750 great book i read it a little while ago one of my favorites

  • @Skalmans750 - What would've happened in that case is that the atomic bomb might well have been used on Nazi Germany too, forcing them so surrender. We can, "what if", forever but the fact is that Nazi Germany didn't have the industrial capacity to sustain and win WWII. Thank God.

  • @Skalmans750 that, and they had only limited resources, unlike the allied forces, who had countries all over the globe, and a navy to ship said resources. But yeah, mad man without knowledge of taticts has got to be numero uno.

  • @Skalmans750 I agree, also the germans had so much territory and thats hard to defend and yet Hitler was determined to take over more territory even the world even as his Third Reich was crumbling around his ears (WHAT AN IDIOT!) take for example the Ardennes offensive. the germans very well could have won the engagement had they been properly supplied. they were running out of ammo and gas left and right, and many of the tanks/vehichles were simply abandoned because they were out of gas!

  • @SekTauBand - Nazi Germay's military ran out of fuel because there was none to be had. Nazi Germany never had the industrial capacity to sustain and win WWII. It was insanity for them to have started that war, which is precisely why some of Hitler's Generals tried to assassinate him and sue for peace before all of Germany was destroyed, as it sadly was.

  • @Skalmans750 you could say their drill, and gear is because they spent a lot of time preparing to fight whereas everyone else didn't want to have another war.

  • @t43562 The military discipline and skill to develope new effective tactics is a heritage from a long military tradition reaching hundreds of years back. But sure, they did prepare and exercise ,they even equipped allthough they weren't allowed to after ww1.

  • @Skalmans750

    hmmm, I believe their mistakes were:

    9-7-40, 6-22-41 and 12-11-41

  • Godamn that's a sexy machine! And the Growl! I would love to own one, back it in the driveway the way they did in the garage, have all neighbors come out, and every now and then fire the gun, level the neighbor house across the street, ala Peter Griffin!

  • Truly a labor of love on this. It was a machine of war yes, but you have to give it up to these guys and their engineering skills.

    Great job.

  • thats a sight that would send chills down any allied tanker vet from ww-11!jesus a machine that would make the god of war put a smile on his puss!listen to the rumble of that thing,god beutiful!

  • made in germany

  • ill trade u my Ferrari for it lol

  • Awesome!!! Great Job!!

  • now thats a tank !! and a job very well done.

  • awesome... best looking tank of ww2,

    theres one of these down the road from me in breda/holland i stare at it all the time when i go past and wish i could just jump in it n fire it up. such a beast of a machine. sounds great too. better main gun than the tiger also. the long barrelled7.5 had a higher muzzel velocity and could penetrate thicker armour than the 88.

  • Excellent job!!

  • Love hearing these old engines moving. Beautiful work guys.

  • HOLLY SHIT

  • once again, just as the guys who built 4 or 5 german me262s from scratch and flew them all , this is an unbelieveable achievement on the mechanics part. i cannot wrap my brain around how complex it has to be! congradulations! a very big job...well done!

  • Thanks for the info Halo and glad you agree,makes you wonder just how many would have been produced had germany had Russias or Americas industrial output? Maybe a more simple design could have solved this? Still a great piece of living WW2 history love to see it in action with its panzer battalion all guns blazing!!!

  • Fantastic to see a fully operational Panther what a truly great Tank of WW2! prone to technical difficulties (Kursk) but performance wise a true piece of 1st class german engineering, love to see its 75mm firing! Wishful thinking!!!!

  • Panthers were much better that Tigers. I mean, the Tiger was supposed to turn the tide of the war and, well, epicly failed at that. I don't mean that it sucked, it just wasn't as good as a Panther (which were the best German tank of the war, in my oppinion). Nice video anyway!

  • Torsion Rod suspension, dig it.

  • good work boys.

    i think you'd really destroyed the floor while driving that piece of art but that's nothing to care in comparision seeing that machine working as new

  • It's amazing to see history in action like this.

  • That tank is a beauty

  • Great

  • great clip. i think guy in there driving broke a sweat or two though :)

  • RIP Jacques Littlefield. Nice job.

    Its hard to drive i think. Or need practice?

    (Tiger I has power steering. What bout Panther?)

  • I think you can barely see where you drive. Not really a problem in the middle of a war, but I don't think people want you to drive right through their house and over their car :P

  • I wish i could have one in my garage ...

  • If I saw that on the road i'd actually sh*t myself. awesome !

  • Just think if Germany had just built these after 43 and nothing else and had all the bugs worked out.

  • Just as it would have looked rolling off the assembly line :) Beautiful!

  • Fantastic job on rebuild.... but you guys need some practice driving it!

  • I loved StuG, Jagdpanther, Panther, Tiger, King-Tiger.

  • Wow she's big. What a beauty. Probably the best tank of the war.

  • that would be the t-34 but non the less this is a beautiful tank

  • I meant best tank Germany produced during the war. But as for the war yes I think many would agree the t-34 :)

  • very very nice***** thank you:)

  • Great job!

  • Amazing job. Well done

  • Truly amazing.

  • wonderful !!!

  • I'am sorry to hear about Jacques passing away. I spoke to him once about a year and half ago while the Panther's engine was almost ready for installation. He said then it would probably be running by Sept-Oct. of 2008. I thank YouTube for providing the source of communiction with Mr.Littlefield; however brief. The Panther looks factory fresh now. 70bonnie 5/25/09

  • Where are the papers I need to sign to buy it?! :-D

  • I WANT ONE!!!!

  • It's a Great job that did all jacques friends.

    I wonder if someone will ever do what Mr Littlefield did for preserving war heavy materials like this "phoenix" Panther.

    Thanks a lot for that incredible passion that sure helped him facing your personnal battle against cancer.

    I will think about it when going to the 65th DDay ceremony in France in Colleville/ Omaha

  • Did Jacques Littlefield get to see the tank completed? As in drive out of the shop under its own power???

    I hope he did!

  • Jacques was at the controls for the first drive of the hull. He didn't get to drive the finished vehicle but was pleased with the progress and felt that it was basically done with functional radios , driveable hull and a ready to mount turret....

  • @caddydave I was looking that hull drive video and driving was PRO .I bet he was old tank man.

  • This is great - now you can give some old vetran a heart attack.

  • That tank is gorgoeus!!! Nice work!!