The Ultimate Garage Sale Find: Man Discovers $2.5M Fortune Hidden in a Tank

A man who bought a tank was surprised to discover that he had bought more than he had originally expected.

In 2017, tank enthusiast Nick Mead purchased a Russian T54/69 tank for €45,000 with the intention of restoring it and adding it to his collection of 150 military vehicles.

Along with mechanic Todd Chamberlain, the pair filmed themselves opening an oil tank in case there was ammunition that needed to be disposed of.

Instead, what they found were gold bars weighing up to 5kg each, with a quick calculation by Todd suggesting the items could be worth around €2.5m.

“We didn’t know what to do”

Once they discovered what they had found, Todd told the Sun newspaper that their first instinct was to call the police. Authorities then took the gold and gave the men a receipt.

“We didn’t know what to do. You can’t exactly take five gold bars to Cash Converters without being asked questions, so we called the police,” he said.

Meanwhile, Nick, who continues to run Tanks-a-lot, a service that allows people to drive armored vehicles, said the Russian tank had been part of a deal.

This deal included Nick’s training in a military truck and an Abbot cannon for the tank, after he saw it in an ad on eBay.

As for how the gold got there, the duo’s theory is that it was looted by Iraqi soldiers in Kuwait during the Gulf War in the 90s, before the tank was captured and transferred to Britain.

Regarding what the robbery suspects had done, Nick suggested that they must have cut a hole in a fuel tank and stuffed their loot in there.

“Even if I don’t get any of the gold back, I’ll still have my beautiful tanks,” Nick added.

This wouldn’t be the last time Nick would be in the news for his exploits with military vehicles.

A few months after Russia’s war with Ukraine began, he donated some of his vehicles to Ukraine, including a six-wheeled Pinzgauer Vector vehicle, 35 Spartan armored personnel carriers, and 25 armored Land Rovers.

In 2023, Metro reported that Nick claimed to have shipped over 100 vehicles to Ukraine. Nick is one of hundreds of individuals who have donated or delivered vehicles to the country in recent years.