Everyone knows that surplus military vehicles can be some of the greatest deals on the most impractical toys money can buy. But what if you could drive your tank down the road without plowing furrows along the roadways with your tracked monstrosity. We came across this Russian diamond in the rough and after a little research found out what we were really looking at.

The vendor description is a garbled paragraph, no doubt a casualty of a translation program. The BTR-80 is a Russian Armored Personnel Carrier (APC) from the cold-war era. This eight-wheel drive vehicle can take you and seven of your friends through the roughest of neighborhoods after the street lights come on.

The BTR-80 is powered by a KAMAZ turbodiesel V8, producing 260 hp. In terms of military V8s that’s a lot of output but considering this APC tips the scale at around 15 tons. The armor on the BTR-80 is steeply sloped to better deflect small arms fire, and improve bow wake dynamics upon water-entry.

That’s right this little tank is amphibious! This key point is easily missed in the vendor’s translation. The BTR-80 is a fully amphibious vehicle meaning that it can drive into the water, float, and propel itself at a modest six mph. Upon exiting the water, the top speed is around 55 mph, comparable to a surplus Humvee, but fully armored.

The asking price may be a little steep for typical surplus vehicles at $150,000 but think of the utility of such a vehicle when the zombies come!