Most children dream of owning a Ferrari or Lamborghini one day.
Eddie Hall had something much bigger in mind.
The 2017 World’s Strongest Man has become just as well known for his outrageous vehicle collection as he has for his feats of strength, with two road-legal tanks sitting alongside the world’s smallest car in his garage.
Speaking on the Cars & Money Podcast with Rob Moore and Carl Hartley, Hall explained that his obsession with military vehicles dates back to childhood and never really disappeared.
“You never grow up really, do you?” he said.
“If you’ve got a passion when you’re a kid, if you’re a five-year-old kid or a 10-year-old kid and you see a Ferrari going down the road and think, ‘I want a Ferrari,’ that’ll never leave your headspace ever.
“And every kid gets brought up playing with tanks and trucks and lorries. I used to play with Tonka toys. You always have a passion for them, don’t you? You just get to the point where you can afford one and think, ‘F*** it. I’ll buy one,'” he said.
That is exactly what Hall did.
Asked how he ended up buying his first tank, Hall admitted there wasn’t much planning behind it.
“I honestly do not know. It just kind of fell into my brain vicinity of wanting a tank. Then you go on the internet, and you just find people that have tanks and are willing to sell tanks,” he said.
Hall eventually tracked one down through an old newspaper advert before travelling to buy it from a retired owner in Scunthorpe.
The former World’s Strongest Man now owns two tanks, and joked that having just one would be boring.
“One tank’s just a bit boring, isn’t it? One’s your daily,” he said.
He even revealed he has used one for everyday errands.
“I’ll literally sometimes get to the end of the day and think, ‘Oh, I need a pint of milk.’ I’m going in the tank. I’ll spark a big cigar up, go around for 10 minutes, get some milk and then come back. I genuinely enjoy it. Love it,” he said.
Hall believes his unusual purchases have also turned into incredible investments.
He revealed one tank cost him £66,000, while another was bought for £35,000, but says prices have soared since the war in Ukraine reduced the number of available military vehicles.
“Try and find one of them now for less than £150,000… they just rocketed,” he said.
He also believes the value will continue to climb because so few road-legal tanks remain.
“I reckon if I held on to that for another 20 or 30 years, that’s a £2 million tank sitting there all day long because where else are you going to buy a tank that you can drive on the road? It’s never going to happen again,” he said.
For Hall, buying a tank wasn’t an impulse purchase—it was the fulfilment of a childhood dream that, by his own admission, never left him.
Featured image credit: Cars & Money / YouTube / Eddie Hall / Instagram
