It’s widely known that rubber tanks and inflatable artillery helped win WWII.
Not as widely known: they helped lose it, too.
Designed by Ferdinand Porsche for the bad guys during World War II, the Volkswagen Kubelwagen Type 823 was a variant of a VW Beetle masquerading as a tank.
It was a German dummy tank. Today, it’s an ultra rare German dummy tank, and one so happens to be on sale right now.
With a Beetle chassis wrapped in tank’s clothing, the Kubelwagen 823 became Germany’s equivalent of the Jeep and was used to accomplish a wide varieties of tasks on the battlefield.
Since the 823s looked like actual tanks from afar, Germany would sometimes use them to draw fire away from their actual tanks and also would incorporate them into tank training exercises.
Despite having fake tracks and fake turrets, the hardtop dummy tanks were capable of being real assets during combat due to their lightweight frames and multi-functional capabilities.
Knowing all that, If the idea of pulling the old fake tank gag on your neighbors sounds appealing, there’s a ‘39 Kubelwagen Type 823 up for auction on eBay from a California-based seller.
As of this writing, bidding is just north of $21k with about a week to go.
Wanna get tanked?
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