With TANKFEST 2025 taking place in just a few weeks, the Tank Museum has made an exciting announcement: an M3 Grant will be making its running debut at the event. Acquired by the Bannister Historic Armour Collection from the Australian Armour and Artillery Museum, it’s currently undergoing restoration.
Made famous for its service in North Africa during the Second World War, the M3 Grant saw widespread use across all theaters in the conflict and into the early years of the Cold War. This particular M3 was previously restored as a museum exhibit, and before being brought to the United Kingdom by William Bannister was on static display at the Australian Armour and Artillery Museum.
Bannister acquired the tank with the intention of returning it to full running order. The first phase of its restoration has been done by Armoured Engineering, with the second phase to occur over the coming years, after it’s joined the Bannister Historic Armour Collection at the Tank Museum.
The M3 Grant’s debut at TANKFEST 2025 was announced along with several other guest vehicles from World War II. Joining the tank at the annual event will be a M24 Chaffee, an M8 Greyhound, a Valentine Duplex Drive, an M5A1 Stuart, an M4A1 Sherman, a T-34-85 and a Centaur III.
On top of this, the world’s only running Tiger II will be driving around the Tank Museum arena.
“The M3 Grant was first used in North Africa in May 1942, and was designed and built quickly as a vital stopgap until a tank could fit a 75 mm gun into its turret was ready,” Bannister, a trustee of the Tank Museum, explained in a press release. “This vehicle is one of the very few working examples in the world in such good condition, and I’m delighted to be bringing it to TANKFEST this year, where the public will be lucky enough to see its first test run.
“I would like to express my thanks to Rob Lowden of the Australian Armour and Artillery Museum for permitting this vehicle to come to the UK to augment The Tank Museum’s historic collection of running vehicles from the iconic battles of the desert war period of WWII,” he added.
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TANKFEST 2025 is slated to take place from June 27-29, 2025, at the Tank Museum in Bovington, Dorset.