When Marco Dendunnen drives around town, people stop and wave.

That's not because Dendunnen is a politician, or a pop star. It is because he wears a camouflage green-and-brown helmet as he sits behind the wheel of his Korean War-era jeep with U.S.A. 20956598 stenciled on the side.

"Everybody always smiles," said Dendunnen. "If you are doing anything to put a smile on somebody's face these days, you're doing good."

Dendunnen uses his Willy M38 jeep for short errands around town, he said.

"I have this so I can go to the bait shop and then go fishing," Dendunnen said with a smile while his jeep sat parked in front of M&D Bait & Tackle on Main Street. Fishing rods lay perched in the back seat of his battle-seasoned vehicle.

The jeep is also a frequent request in his Pinehurst Beach neighborhood. "I'm always taking the kids for a ride," he said.

Dendunnen owns many more military vehicles than just the jeep, however.

He owns Vietnam War tanks, World War II duck boats, half-tracks (military vehicles with wheels in the front and tank-like tracks in the back), two-and-a-half-ton cargo trucks better known as "deuce and a halves," and more.

Most of his vehicles are from World War II and the Korean War.

"I try to get the older stuff," he said.

Dendunnen stores his vehicles in Hopkinton, where he spends half of the year. The salty air in Wareham can be damaging to the vehicles, he said.

Dendunnen started collecting military vehicles when he saw his Hopkinton neighbor with one in the early 1980s. Then, his inner collector found its object of affection, and his passion just took off.

"I bought this really rare Army truck, and one thing led to another," Dendunnen said, adding that he has purchased and owned up to 50 vehicles since.

Dendunnen is starting to wind his hobby down. For one thing, the vehicles are old and need maintenance.

"If you don't [maintain] this stuff regularly, things start to go. A battery dies. That gets to be a big pain in the butt," he said. "Every spring I go to fire it up, and there is always something dead."

Though the journey has been fun, Dendunnen said he plans on selling some of his vehicles. He wants to move to Wareham permanently so he can spend more time enjoying its blue waters.

"I'd rather be fishing than working on jeeps," he said.