Rolls Royce Armoured Cars

Common name: Rolls Royce 1914 Pattern Armoured Car Official Designation: ? Designer(s): Designed in October of 1914 by an Admiralty Air Department committee composed of Squadron Commander W. Briggs (RNAS), Flight Commander Thomas Gerard Hetherington (RNAS), Lord Wimborne, and N.C. Macnamara. Chassis maker: Rolls Royce (Silver Ghost) Drive-train maker: Rolls Royce (Silver Ghost) Armoured body maker: ? Turret maker: William Beardmore & Co. Wooden rear deck/storage maker: ? Armament: Vickers .303 heavy machine gun in turret. Distinguishing features: Wire wheels with narrow tires, short Admiralty turret, lack of louvers in radiator shields, running lights mounted on fenders, and ? User: Great Britain Number constructed/surviving: ?/1 (said to be in India – any info is appreciated! The car seen in the movie “Lawrence of Arabia” was a replica built on an actual Rolls Royce passenger car chassis – following the movie the armoured body was removed and the car restored to its passenger car configuration. In this form it is now in a museum.)

Common name: Rolls Royce 1914 RFC Pattern Armoured Car Official Designation: ? Designer(s): ? Chassis maker: Rolls Royce (Silver Ghost) Drive-train maker: Rolls Royce (Silver Ghost) Armoured body maker: ? Turret maker: ? Wooden rear deck/storage maker: ? Armament: Vickers .303 heavy machine gun in turret. Distinguishing features: Almost identical to the 1914 Admiralty pattern except for smaller wire wheels and some minor fittings, and ? User: Great Britain Number constructed/surviving: ?/?

Common name: Rolls Royce 1920 Pattern Armoured Car Official Designation: ? Designer(s): ? Chassis maker: Rolls Royce (Silver Ghost) Drive-train maker: Rolls Royce (Silver Ghost) Armoured body maker: ? Turret maker: ? Wooden rear deck/storage maker: ? Armament: Vickers .303 heavy machine gun in turret. Distinguishing features (As per 1914 Pattern except): Essentially a standardized copy of the 1914 Pattern with various alterations including metal disk wheels with narrow tires, height of Admiralty turret increased by 1”, louvers in radiator shields, running lights mounted between fenders and radiator, and ? User: Great Britain, Ireland (?) Number constructed/surviving: ?/5 (Bovington Tank Museum, RAF Depot Honnington Museum, one privately owned (?) in Great Britain, and two in Ireland. Note: Some of these may be replicas. There is also a known replica in New Zealand.)

Common name: Rolls Royce Armoured Car Type A Official Designation: Rolls Royce Armoured Car Type A Designer(s): ? Chassis maker: Rolls Royce (Silver Ghost) Drive-train maker: Rolls Royce (Silver Ghost) Armoured body maker: ? Turret maker: ? Wooden rear deck/storage maker: ? Armament: Vickers .303 heavy machine gun in turret. Distinguishing features: Virtually identical to 1920 Rolls Royce Type A except for ? User: Great Britain Number constructed/surviving: ?/?

Common name: 1921 Rolls Royce India Pattern / 1923 Vickers Armoured Car / 1925 Crossley India Pattern Official Designations: IGL1 (in Indian service), Dowa (Japanese service) Designer(s): Vickers Chassis maker: Rolls Royce / Crossley 1.5 ton truck / Crossley 1.5 ton truck Drive-train maker: Rolls Royce / Crossley 1.5 ton truck / Crossley 1.5 ton truck Armoured body maker: Vickers Turret maker: Vickers Wooden rear deck/storage maker: Vickers Armament: Vickers .303 heavy machine gun in turret. Distinguishing features: Visually similar to 1920 Pattern except turret and rear of vehicle are of distinctly different design, turret is large and bulbous, different wheels (split rim?) with narrow solid rubber tires, louvers in radiator shields, running light mounting location similar to 1920 Pattern but details vary, front fenders vary between types sold to different countries, hull of the 1923 model could be electrified, and ? Users: Great Britain/India, Argentina, Japan, South Africa, Iran, Iraq (6 wheel version) Number constructed/surviving: 100?/3 (1 at Bovington Tank Museum, 2 in South Africa)

Common name: Rolls Royce 1924 Pattern Armoured Car Official Designation: ? Designer(s): ? Chassis maker: Rolls Royce Drive-train maker: Rolls Royce Armoured body maker: ? Turret maker: ? Wooden rear deck/storage maker: ? Armament: Vickers .303 heavy machine gun in turret. Distinguishing features (As per 1920 Pattern except): Similar in appearance to 1920 Pattern but actually totally redesigned (note differences in body shape in front of driving position), steel wheels with wide section tires, new turret design which lacks the sloped sides of the previous Admiralty turret, running lights mounted between fenders and radiator shield but higher than 1920 Pattern, hinged door in side, and ? User: Great Britain Number constructed/surviving: 24/0 (There is a story of a RR being stripped of it's armour and turned into a coupe for an RAF officer at Helwan. – Fate unknown.)

Common name: 1924 Transfer of 1914/1920 Armoured Car Bodies to New Rolls Royce Chassis Official Designation: Rolls Royce Armoured Car “Type A modified” Designer(s): Transfer of 1914/1920 bodies and turrets onto new Rolls Royce chassis, modification designed by ? Chassis maker: Rolls Royce Drive-train maker: Rolls Royce Armoured body maker: ? Turret maker: William Beardmore & Co. (1914), ? (1920) Wooden rear deck/storage maker: ? Armament: Vickers .303 heavy machine gun in turret. Later, a box-shaped mount was added to the side of the turret in a number of cars for a Boys ATR - later changed to a 0.50 Browning HMG in some vehicles. Distinguishing features: Wide heavy duty wheels (split rim with solid tires), both heights of Admiralty turret are seen in photos, both with and without louvers in radiator shields, running light mounting location similar to 1920 Pattern but component details vary, and ? User: Great Britain Number constructed/surviving: ?/0

Common Name: 1939 Chevrolet India Pattern 1939 Official Designation: ? Designer(s): Field modification (?) of bodies of 1921 India Pattern Rolls Royce armoured cars mounted on Chevrolet chassis Chassis maker: Chevrolet Drive-train maker: Chevrolet Armoured body maker: Vickers Turret maker: Vickers Wooden rear deck/storage maker: Vickers? Armament: Vickers .303 heavy machine gun in turret. Distinguishing features: User: Great Britain Number constructed/surviving: ?/?

Common name: 1939(?) Chevy Chassis “Rolls Royce” Armoured Car Official Designation: ? Designer(s): Field modification (?) of 1920 body and turret onto Chevrolet truck chassis, modification designed by ? Chassis maker: Chevrolet Drive-train maker: Chevrolet Armoured body maker: ? Turret maker: ? Wooden rear deck/storage maker: ? Armament: Vickers .303 heavy machine gun in turret. Distinguishing features: Dramatically shortened wheelbase, Chevy truck wheels, Admiralty turret, louvers in radiator shields, running lights mounted on fenders, and ? User: Great Britain Number constructed/surviving: 1/0 (body reportedly moved onto Ford chassis)

Common name: Rolls Royce 1924 modified 1940 Official Designation: Rolls Royce 1924 modified 1940 Designer(s): Installation of Morris Model CS9/LAC turret onto existing 1924 Pattern armored car bodies/chassis. Chassis maker: Rolls Royce Drive-train maker: Rolls Royce Armoured body maker: ? Turret maker: Morris(?) 1940 installation of turret from Morris Model CS9/LAC was done by Nairn Transport Company of Cairo. Wooden rear deck/storage maker: ? Armament: Vickers AT gun, Bren gun and smoke discharger in turret. Distinguishing features: As per Rolls Royce 1924 Pattern except for Morris Model CS9/LAC turret, and ? User: Great Britain Number constructed/surviving: 4? / 0

Common name: 1940 Ford Chassis “Rolls Royce” Armoured Car Official Designation: ? Designer(s): Field modification (?) of 1914 and 1920 bodies and turret onto 158” Ford truck chassis, modification designed by ? Chassis maker: Ford Drive-train maker: Ford Armoured body maker: ? Turret maker: William Beardmore & Co. (some) Wooden rear deck/storage maker: ? Armament: Vickers .303 heavy machine gun in turret. Later, a box-shaped mount was added to the side of the turret in a number of cars for a Boys ATR - later changed to a 0.50 Browning HMG in some vehicles. Lewis machine gun (single or pair) in scarff ring on top of turret, later changed to Vickers K guns and later still to dual 0.303 Brownings. Other armaments including the 37mm Bofors are rumored to have been fitted to some cars. Distinguishing features: Slightly shortened wheelbase, Ford truck wheels, Admiralty turret of both heights observed in photos, some vehicles have louvers in radiator shields while others do not, running lights mounted on fenders, most (possibly all) were fitted with a large armoured box called the “coffin” behind the turret in location of former truck bed which enlarged the fighting compartment and allowed the installation of a wireless set Type 19(?) - The top hatch for the wireless compartment appeared to be one of the rear fighting compartment doors, and ? Note: Some of these cars, referred to as “Heavies” featured ball mounted Vickers heavy machine guns and apparently heavier armour. User: Great Britain Number constructed/surviving: ?/0