By Matt Mackinder
Clarkston News Editor

A Springfield Township landmark will soon be heading to Warren.
Last week, the Water Buffalo LVT-4 tank that has long sat in front of the Flint and Frizzen Gun Shop at 8735 Dixie Highway was donated to the Detroit Arsenal Armory, where it will soon be restored and then used to raise awareness for vehicles of its kind.
Plans are in the works to get a trailer large enough to transport the tank to Warren.
Made for World War II, the local tank was not used during the war, said former owner Bruce McArthur, who has had the tank in front of the shop for the last 40 years.
“It’s kind of a funny story,” said McArthur on how he obtained the tank. “A friend of mine came over one day and said there was a farm auction up near the Renaissance Festival and said a guy had a buffalo up for auction. I said I didn’t really need something with four legs and two ears that eats grass and he said, ‘No, no. It’s like a tank.’ I went and took a look and found out they used the tank to lay cable across the Detroit River. I bought it from Sam Allen, offered him a price on it, and he said I had two weeks to get it out of here.”
McArthur said that he had offers to sell the tank, which he hasn’t started up in 20 years, he estimated, but nothing ever really made sense to him.
“I had one guy come up from down south that was interested in it, but he wanted to restore it for his own needs,” McArthur said. “It was a matter of cost for him. He said it would have cost too much to move it from Point A to Point B. If I would have had some place inside to work on it, I’d probably have it fixed up by now.”
In looking out the shop window at the tank, McArthur said the tank has many memories for him and his children, Kate and George.
“I used to go out once a month and start it up and let it run for about an hour; that was about all I did with it,” he said. “I was thinking that maybe one winter when we got a lot of snow that I was going to try and move it around a bit, but we never got that much snow on the ground so I didn’t do it.
“I talked to a couple of people that were in the service in the Pacific that actually drove them and one of the things they said was that if you get it on hard road, 20 miles of hard road will take the tracks right off. I was worried about busting tracks.”
Now, after 40 years-plus, McArthur has decided to free up space in the front yard of his business.
“Time,” said McArthur when asked why he chose now to donate the tank. “I’m getting old and the kids don’t want to be stuck with it when I pass away. It’s been a good landmark for me. Now, nobody will be able to find me any more. I told Katie (Maguire, McArthur’s daughter) that we need to get a big mural made and put it back in the ground.
“I’ve had customers call me from out of state and I’ll tell them I’m off I-75 on Dixie, a quarter mile north of there, and I’ll tell them I have a tank out front and they go, ‘I know right where that is.’”

PHOTO: George McArthur, Bruce McArthur and Kate Maguire pose in front of the tank in front of the Flint and Frizzen Gun Shop on Dixie Highway, one last time before the vehicle heads to Warren for restoration. Photo: Matt Mackinder