New Cairns business Tank Side Assist bringing history back to life
What started as a passion has grown into a thriving Cairns business that’s now gaining international recognition within the historic military vehicle community for a hyper-niche skillset.
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What started as a passion has grown into a thriving Cairns business that’s now gaining international recognition within the historic military vehicle community for a hyper-niche skillset.
Peter Cordell lost his job flying helicopters in Christchurch after the pandemic shutdown international tourist travel.
At the time he had no idea being laid off would lead to an opportunity to earn a living doing what he loves.
Moving to Cairns for a stint as a chopper pilot with GBR Helicopters, the former engineer took a position with the Australian Armor and Artillery Museum, helping to keep a huge private collection of tanks running while also playing a key role in organising events such as AusArmourfest.
It was during his four years at the Smithfield museum that Mr Cordell met his future business partner Lottie Hasselt-Grant, known as Lottie the Tank Whisperer on YouTube.
Ms Hasselt-Grant is a fitter-armourer with a passion for restoring guns and weapons as well as being a qualified tank driver.
The pair both resigned at the same time and teamed up to create what later was to become the business Take Side Assist.
“As soon as we resigned, because of the reputation we had for getting tanks running … we had people around Australia who have got tanks on their farms contact us (about vehicles) they wanted restored,” Mr Cordell said.
“They said ‘how about you come down to my farm, I’ll pay your house, your tools and all the accommodation if you get my tank up and running, fully restored, nut and bolt’.
“The first ones were in south Victoria and there was a guy who does rides and has about 10 tanks.
“He’s got no one to maintain them and he’s blown them all up, except for two, so we stayed down there for about five months got them all up and running again.
“And then there was a guy at Ballarat who had a couple of tanks as well, and it goes on.”
Other tank enthusiasts lacking the knowledge and skills to restore historic war machines started reaching out for help to get their collections going, including a history buff in Albury-Wodonga who needed work done.
So too did an IT specialist in Canberra who “always wanted a tank” but had no idea about how to go about restoring his Australian-made 1950s era Centurion tank.
“We’ve done a nut and bolt restoration and now it’s the only one in Australia that has all the turret stabilisation, all the radios, all the UV working, IR and everything working perfectly,” he said.
“He gets his mates down at barbecues and drives around the paddock in his tanks.”
After living in each other’s pockets for 18 months, the partners had had enough of life on the road and returned to Cairns.
The pair had plans to restore a Feret armoured car and a Bren Gun Carrier as a hobby but needed a workshop to operate from.
“We walked into (the old sawmill shed in Statford) and John Rankin said we would love to have you guys here’,” Mr Cordell said.
“We’ve been here almost a year and a half now and we have tons and tons of work.”
There’s no signs out the front of the repurposed Rankine sawmill shed and the new venture relies solely on word of mouth and a reputation for being able to rebuild practically any kind of historic vehicle.
The pair will head to Canada this year to help with restorations and to run an event held at the Canadian Tank Museum.
Their expertise is now in demand internationally and includes pending agreements with various other countries, of which the details at this stage can’t be revealed.
Specialising in World War II and Cold War-era machines, parts that can’t be sourced as old/new stock are fabricated in house and a thriving military auction trade helps to keep old war relics moving.
“There’s a lot of stuff out here, and it’s hiding in people’s backyards and we love to bring history back to life,” Mr Cordell said.
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