Want To Drive A Real Tank? Here's Where You Can Do It

No matter how you feel about the military and war in general, there's no denying that tanks are some of the coolest vehicles ever constructed. Not only are they massive, weighing in at several dozen tons, but they are outfitted with a huge gun, so it's natural that anyone would want to take one for a spin every once in a while. For the vast majority of people who drive tanks, they take the necessary step of joining the military, followed by rigorous training, combat exercises, and more.

While there are many brave men and women who take this step, it's not necessarily suitable for everyone, leaving a large portion of the population without the ability to drive a tank. For a select few, tanks are among the types of vehicles that civilians can buy, but they're incredibly expensive to own and maintain. On top of that, you need a lot of land to truly enjoy driving them, as most tanks aren't exactly what the Department of Transportation would classify as street legal.

Fortunately, there's another way, and while it's not the cheapest excursion in the world, it's possible for anyone who wants to drive a tank. The options for doing so are spread throughout the United States, and you're not even limited to driving an American tank, as some places let you jump into the driver's seat of foreign-made armored vehicles. These are only some of the ways that an average person can climb into a tank and drive it about, and there are plenty of options, depending on which locale you end up visiting.

Tanks have evolved significantly over the years, and depending on which era you prefer, there are plenty of these machines that would be fun to drive around town. Tanks are heavy vehicles, so you can't drive them on most roadways and bridges, which limits where you can operate them. Fortunately, there are a few options with places like DriveTanks, located in Uvalde, Texas. DriveTanks not only offers tanks to drive and fire, but the company also includes machine guns sand even artillery pieces that you can fire, so there are tons of options.

As of writing, DriveTanks offers packages for one of the United States' best tanks ever built, the M4 Sherman, and they have several variants. They also have a German Sturmgeschütz III Ausf. D assault gun, a Russian T-34, a British FV101 Scorpion, and several others, including a German half-track. 

Another company, Drive A Tank, located out of Kasota, Minnesota, has similar packages for civilians to climb into a tank and operate it across the course and even crush a car. Their biggest package lets you drive several armored vehicles, including an FV432 armored personnel carrier. You'll also drive a T-55 and a Chieftain MBT, which is what you'll use to smash a car. 

Other companies like American Heritage Museum in Hudson, Massachusetts, offer tank-riding packages exclusively geared towards World War II tanks, including the M36 Jackson, the M24 Chafee, and the M4 Sherman. Needless to say, there are numerous opportunities for people to drive or ride in tanks, but fair warning: it's not cheap, with prices ranging from several hundred dollars to a few thousand.