Having the priveledge to be associated with the Museum, I have been fortunate enough to have worked on and played with tracked vehicles and an M8. They are truly fun to drive and, for me, to work on, but, if they were something to own personally, not so much. The tracked vehicles be it a 548, 578, 114, 113, 104, 901, 558, sherman, m60, stewart, m5, half track whatever, are highly maintenence intensive. Track adjusters, wiring issues, oil leaks, stuck track pins, road wheels, track pads, stuck/broken hatch parts, wing bearings, cooling packages. All of it is nothing like working on a deuce or 5 ton. The cooling package on a 113 and their varients is mounted horizontally to the top armor. All that needs to come off to get it out. It requires a crane or big fork lift and more than 2 people. Tracks on a half track, as stated earlier, are dried up when it comes to finding replacement parts. To do brakes on a half track, the tracks need to come off. Again a more than 2 people job. Road wheels are getting scarce too. To do a starter on most tanks, light or heavy, the power pack needs to be removed. Sure, an M60 power pack is made to be removed fairly easily, but, again a more than 2 people job PLUS a wrecker/crane with a lifting cradle to get it out. An M8/20 is cool. The brake system on these gems are WWI era. Twin wheel cylinders, thin shoes that are made of unobtainium. Not too bad to work on, but getting real hard to find parts for. Doing a M/C on one isn't fun, it's located under the front armor in a little hole, kind of a biatch to get at and work on. The M20 is a bit easier though.
Drew, if it were me, i'd find a Museum that has things that need attention and donate the time you'd spend on repairing/maintaining an owned piece of equipment to them, fixing their equipment. Donate the dollars you'd spend on an owned piece of aromr to the museum, these type of places are going away, fast, due to insurance and the costs of just keeping the doors open and complying with every little public access rule handed down by the local municipalities. It makes the museum better by having running, driving vehicles, you are paying it forward by volunteering, you will meet some truly awsome people in the process and make friends that are true friends, the kind that are there for a lifetime, and, it's fun....if you like to get dirty, stinky and like spider webs!