A VIETNAMESE father has spent hundreds of hours and invested thousands converting an old van into a wooden tank for his son – an unusual hobby in a country once ravaged by war.

Truong Van Dao trundles what was once a 16-seat minibus around his neighbourhood in Bac Ninh, east of capital Hanoi, every weekend, with his 3-year-old son sat proudly in the turret.

The wooden vehicle – based on a French EBR105 model, complete with a 2.8m-long replica gun – cost US$11,000 to convert.

“My son and I find it more fun riding the tank, which has nothing to do with weapons or war,” Dao told AFP.

“I consider it a normal car, and renovated it into a tank to make it more interesting.”

It took the 31-year-old carpenter and two colleagues three months to turn the unused van into the tank.

He retained the main engine and minibus floor, but rearranged inside to make space for the gears.

While the ornate wooden covering was not a problem, ensuring all eight wheels moved simultaneously was.

“The most difficult part was how to make the four subordinate wheels run,” said Dao.

As a result, he and his son will not be breaking any speed record.

The top speed is a sedate 25km per hour – any faster and the cable connecting the wheels will disconnect and they will be stuck.

The vehicles have been firmly associated with a historical moment when communist tanks crashed the entrance of Saigon’s Independence Palace in 1975.

It ended a bloody period for Vietnam, with the country having endured conflicts with China, France and the United States.

Vietnamese fighting the Americans were given tanks by allies China and Russia.

Now, tanks are more associated with children’s toys, as they play with plastic versions in Hanoi every weekend.

“If all tanks in this world were the same as my tank, there will be no harm, just fun,” said Dao proudly. – AFP, March 29, 2022.