FENTON, MI -- It’s not often that someone can turn a boyhood hobby into a flourishing worldwide business, but Robert Reigle managed to do just that.

As the owner of Military Vehicle Web, Reigle, a Fenton resident, travels around the world collecting military equipment and unique items from different eras for the purpose of restoring and reselling the items to personal collectors and movie production studios.

He started collecting the items at a very young age after he was able to coerce his father into buying an amphibious military vehicle.

“As a kid, I collected a World War II Duck, which is basically a 31-foot-long truck that goes on land and in water,” Reigle said. “I found it and talked my dad into getting it and that’s what kind of started my collecting.”

His ventures have taken him to countries like Switzerland, Holland, Germany, France and Israel – to name a few places – in search of equipment.

Many of his items have been included in major Hollywood productions.

“I’ve had items featured in the movies 'Saving Private Ryan' and 'Flags of Our Fathers,'” Reigel said. “(Production companies) contact me for certain items to use in their productions. A lot of times, they let it be known that they’re looking for certain things – tanks, planes, other items – and I’ll try to find it for them if I don’t already have it. They usually rent the items from me and I’ll sell them to different private collectors or museums after that.”

Recently, Reigle teamed up with another local businessman – Dan Crannie – to refurbish a Polaris missile that will be featured in an upcoming science fiction movie.

Crannie, owner of Signs by Crannie in Flushing, said that he has been working with Reigle for some time, and he always seems to find interesting pieces.

“We’ve done some cool things with (Reigle), like restoring fighter pilot parts and other military equipment, but this (missile) is a unique piece,” Crannie said.

A&E became involved with the project when Reigle contacted the company to let it know about the missile. The station agreed to feature it on the show Ship Wars and began to chronicle the event from the time it was delivered from New York to Signs by Crannie.

Reigle said that his childhood hobby became more than just a pastime during his days as an engineer for Chrysler. At that time, he was collecting and restoring classic cars before becoming a heavy player in the military equipment business.

“I used to work for the government, but I was never in the military. I’ve got to say that the military always has the coolest items. They’ve always got the latest, cutting-edge technology in helicopters and jets and things,” he said.

“At the beginning of World War II, America had the 16th-largest military in the world, and to start supplying equipment for all of Europe – it was amazing to see what a Mecca of engineering went on right here in Michigan in mass production. We are in an amazing time frame in the '40s-era equipment.”

In addition to the classic cars and military equipment he’s owned, Reigle also collects other famous vehicles. He said that one car in particular, tends to be a unanimous fan favorite.

“Out of all of the cool pieces – the tanks and helicopters and everything else – the one that draws the most attention is this Bluesmobile, which is one of the 14 cars they used when they filmed the 1980 movie 'The Blues Brothers.' People go nuts for this car.”

The 1974 Dodge Monaco sedan is even decked out with Elwood Blues’ driver’s license and cigarette butts on the dashboard, and fedoras and sunglasses in the passenger seat. Reigle said that it’s traveled a lot, having been featured in blues shows across the country and at different events in the Memphis area.

“When you get something that’s so much fun, you kind of want to hold on to it,” he said of the car. “Not counting sports cars, it’s one of the more modern things I’ve owned.”

Reigle said that he and his employees do most of the restoration work in-house, except for painting, and they restore all of the vehicles as close to original condition as possible.

“There are a lot of compliance and code issues when it comes to painting, so we take that to people like Dan Crannie and he really does a great job with these projects.”

Aside from just buying and selling items, Reigle is also registered as a traveling museum. He said that he does a lot of charity work, taking equipment to schools and veterans’ facilities in order to educate and allow people the opportunity to revisit America’s history up close.

“Educating people about how these things work and why they were developed is probably my favorite part of it all, because when people see these things they immediately have a thousand questions about them,” he said.

Reigle said that there are only a few objects that he’s had on his wish list that he has yet to come across.

“Some jets and a Chinook helicopter,” he said. “Those are really hard to find. I go for the premium stuff. Anybody can buy junk, but I go for the absolute best and the most original items.”

Despite all of the things he’s owned, his personal favorite still stems from the first military item that he got to start his lifelong business of buying and selling.

“My favorite piece that I’ve owned is probably the Ducks,” he said. “Just to have a vehicle 31 feet long and eight feet wide that goes down the road, loaded up with 24 of your closest friends, then you can take it to the loading dock and into the water is pretty cool.”