Armoured Cars.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rolls-Royce_Armoured_Car

This was one of the earlier large production/known amoured cars.To find the so called "first" would be very open to debate I imagine.

The earliest AFVs (armored fighting vehicles) in WWI were simply touring cars fitted with armor and a machine gun. Prior to the Rolls Royce mentioned above, the Belgians developed the Minerva at the outset of the war, although the later Rolls was much more sophisticated, incorporating a naval-designed rotating turret gun. This foreshadowed the shape of the majority of AFVs to come.

There were armored vehicles long before this, but most were wooden. The Boers in South Africa used a wagon laager much like the one developed by John Zizka in the 15th Century, although I assume the original question concerned metal armor (?).

JT



Edited by jacobtowne - 31-Oct-2006 at 09:18

Armoured steam powered tractors were used in the Crimean war I believe.

Armored cars were first used by the Royal Navy to retrieve downed pilots. These were based on civilian cars like the Lanchester or Austin. In Palestine the British used purpose-built Rolls-Royces fitted with machine gun turrets. Some were fitted with new tyres and extra guns and used by the Indian army in WW2

Armored cars proved their worth in the desert. Lawrence of Arabia had nine of them during the Arab uprising

All quite true not to mention the ability to move them via air assets in zone... concerned with load and weight restictions.

Edited by Centrix Vigilis - 02-Jul-2011 at 16:26

This is interesting picture showing great CASPIR engineering. All parts, except hull are designed to easily blow off and can be as easily replaced.

Some of the Nazis' armored cars look surprisingly modern. The SdKfz 234 had a tank turret, 20mm aircraft cannon, and a hull that wouldn't look out of place on the 21st century battlefield. All four of its front wheels could be steered and its sloped armor was 15mm thick

On the other hand Russia's armored cars looked primitive but were well-protected. The BA-27 and its later derivatives were still in use in 1943. These could be converted into halftracks and captured examples were highly prized by the Nazis and Finns

Edited by Nick1986 - 23-Jul-2011 at 12:21

Ron, what were the extra wheels for? They look a bit like the wheels of a tank