Talk about a mesmerizing photo! We stumbled upon this frame while working on something else and immediately became enthralled. How could we not? The sight of an old tank in full on launch mode with a sad old heap of a car about to be squashed is the stuff of boyhood dreams! Then we got to investigating and can find nothing about when this took place where exactly it happened and why the hell it was happening in the first place.

Here’s what we think we know.

The tank looks to be a Stuart M3A1 tank from WWII. They were made for a couple of years and were considered a light tank, only tipping the scales at 32,000lbs and change. Used by both American and British forces, power came from, get this, a seven cylinder Continental radial engine that must have made incredible noise, while churning out 250hp. The normal crew was four men and the beast could achieve a top speed of just under 40 mph on an open roadway, or in this case, what seems to be a football field.

Our guess is that the venue is the LA Coliseum, mainly because of the openings that can be seen leading to the concourse behind the seating area. Those openings and their spacing seems to match the photos we have seen of the old Coliseum. The time? Probably the early or mid 1950s, when military surplus was cheap and daredevils were making mony with thrill shows all over the country.

We cannot even begin to imagine the obscene amount of violence that occurred in that tank when it hit the ground. 32,400lbs of steel brick doesn’t fly well and we’re certain it lands even worse.

Help us with this one. Do you know anything more? There’s got to be a bitchin’ story attached to this photo!