Crown Jewels

Out of all the store’s prized possessions over the years, a few are still talked about.

Gord Cumming had long wanted to buy a tank, but the prize eluded him for years. It wasn’t until 1972 that he managed to procure a British Centurion and, shortly afterwards, a famous Churchill.

It was called a Churchill because it was the best tank the British had at the time and the PM put his name to it. But when the Second World War ended, the Brits scrapped them, driving tank after tank into a yard near London, and stacking the front of each one onto the back of the tank parked in front.

“They just pulled the back one off and that was the one you bought,” Gord recalls.

The Herald was on hand when the Churchill made it to Calgary. It was a bit of an attraction even though all Gord could do was drive the tank about five metres before having to put it in reverse. “That was all the room we had,” he says. The tank was eventually sold to a California tank collector who held the largest privately owned collection in the world. “Some stuff I wish I didn’t have to sell, but, Christ, I was always short of money it seems,” Gord says.

Another fine artifact, which was showcased at the Calgary Stampede, was a 20foot V- 1 Buzz Bomb. The V- 1 is the world’s original cruise missile. A simple jet engine was rigged with a timer that shut off the fuel; by the time you heard it, it was too late. The V- 1 was capable of destroying half a city block. Allied fighter pilots devised a way to fly alongside, get their wing under that of the Buzz Bomb, and flip it over the North Sea. The store’s V- 1 sold to a woman buying artifacts for a museum. But, years later, Gord learned she was a swindler using stolen cheques. She was arrested.