Gavin Copeman, the owner of Tey Vehicle Restorations, invited Craig Moore to have a tour of his workshops and yard
Gavin Copeman has been restoring military vehicles for many years and has also provided vehicles to TV and film companies. You are reminded of this at the entrance to the Tey Vehicle Restorations yard where a replica Sherman tank turret that was a movie prop from the 2014 film Fury stands guard. The film told the story of an American tank crew in Germany during the last days of World War Two. During one sequence, a Sherman tank named ‘Lucy Sue’ is knocked out in a battle with a Tiger tank. The film crew needed a replica turret as in the film the tank’s turret is blown off when the Sherman’s ammunition explodes.
Gavin runs the large, well equipped, vehicle restoration facility housed in a three-bay industrial unit about seven miles west of Colchester in Essex. The first thing you notice when you enter the building is how clean and bright the working environment is. This is not something that is usually associated with a heavy vehicle mechanical engineering and fabrication workshop. It is impressive.
‘The film crew needed a replica turret as…
