The storied history of the Austin Champs and Australia's Commonwealth ties

Mr Silver is vice-president of the Military Vehicle Group of Tasmania (MVGT) and a former artilleryman of the 16th Field Battery Launceston.

These days, he collects and restores vintage military vehicles, mainly the Austin Champ, often seen at Anzac Day parades across the state.

"I collect and run Austin Champs. They're a fairly rare vehicle, but the Australian army had quite a few at one stage," Mr Silver said.

According to the collector "they were designed in 1942 because the British got very upset about using American Jeeps when England had its own vehicle capabilities".

The Austin Champs were intended to do everything that the Jeep couldn't do.

Mr Silver said the Australian army bought them around 1954/55, and they were one of the more unique military vehicles of that era.

"They were sealed for underwater use, making them complicated to service," he said.

The collector mentioned the vehicles could "drive straight off the landing barge into eight or ten feet of water, put the snorkel up and still drive ashore, drive through rivers and everything. So, everything was sealed".

Apparently they were only designed to be serviced every 200,000 miles, after which the spark plugs, which are totally sealed aircraft plugs, would be replaced.

"You wouldn't do three-point turns where you could get shot at. Instead, you threw it into reverse gear and drove 40 miles an hour backwards.

"They have independent suspension all around so that you can fire while you're on the move, which you can't do from a Jeep because you hit nothing but could in a Champ," Mr Silver said.

He said they were mostly sold to farmers, but they were not ideal for them because they found it difficult to service, among other things.

"Unfortunately, they don't have a back tail gate, so they weren't very attractive to farmers because they couldn't move bales of hay behind them.

"They also have no door on their side, so they weren't very attractive to farmer's wives either, who had to get in over the side."

The collector said that they were generally left on the farms to rust until he gave them a new life by showcasing them at various Anzac Day parades.

"Restoring these old vehicles is one of the few ways of demonstrating our ongoing loyalty to the Commonwealth," he said.

Mr Silver added that passing these vehicles on from one generation to the next is a way of upholding tradition and history and reminding present generations of past wars and the members who served in them.

So what does Mr Silver think of the Australian Defence Force's modern military vehicles used today?

"There's not such a variety now, and vehicle manufacturing is totally different," he said.

The Bush Master and the Hawkei are two that Mr Silver thinks are "probably the most well-regarded worldwide".

"The Bush Masters and the others like it are very functional military vehicles, and they love using those over in Ukraine," he said.

Mr Silver said that being a part of the MVGT club has allowed him to go places, meet people and share his passion for restoring vintage military vehicles with like-minded people.

"It's a perfect way to get together with various old vehicle owners and go to places we would never ever see otherwise," he said.