Project Awesome

[Lord_Leperman]

I find this awesome in a notorious way. Twin-Skies pimped this story to me while on a visit earlier and I'll just beat him to the punch in posting it first.

The Killdozer.



What is this that made it awesome you say?

On June 4, 2004, frustrated over the adverse outcome of a zoning dispute, (Marvin) Heemeyer used a Komatsu D355A bulldozer armored with layers of steel and concrete to demolish the town hall, a former judge's home and other buildings in Granby, Colorado.

As for the Killdozer itself:

The machine used in the incident was a Komatsu D355A bulldozer fitted with makeshift armor plating covering the cabin, engine and parts of the tracks. In places, the vehicle's armor was over one foot thick, consisting of concrete sandwiched between sheets of steel to make ad-hoc composite armor. This made the machine impervious to small arms fire and resistant to explosives; three external explosions and over 200 rounds of firearm ammunition fired at the bulldozer had no effect on it. National Guard units were placed on standby orders by Governor Bill Owens for possible anti-armor support.

For visibility, the bulldozer was fitted with several video cameras linked to two monitors mounted on the vehicle's dashboard. The cameras were protected on the outside by 3-inch shields of bulletresistant plastic. Onboard fans and an air conditioner were used to keep Heemeyer cool while driving and compressed air nozzles were fitted to blow dust away from the video cameras. Food, water and life support were present in the almost airtight cabin. Heemeyer had no intention of ever leaving the cabin once he entered; the hatch was permanently sealed. Authorities speculated Heemeyer may have used a homemade crane found in his garage to lower the armor hull over the dozer and himself. "Once he tipped that lid shut, he knew he wasn't getting out," Daly said. Investigators searched the garage where they believe Heemeyer built the vehicle and found cement, armor and steel.

For armament the bulldozer was fitted with a .50 caliber semi-automatic Barrett M82 rifle pointing out to the rear, a semi-auto variant of the FN FNC in front, a .223 Ruger Mini-14 to the right, a 9mm Kel-Tec P-11 semi-auto pistol and a .357 magnum revolver with which he killed himself.

Afterwards, the modified bulldozer came to be known as Killdozer, although only Heemeyer was killed in the incident.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marvin_Heemeyer