Austin Armoured Car

The Austin Armoured Car was a light, armoured vehicle produced by the Austin Motor Company during the First World War. During the War, it saw extensive service in the Eastern European Theatre. As hostilities commenced in 1914, the Russian military sought to create an armoured car division to supplement its land forces. Due to limits in Russia’s domestic industrial capabilities, Russia approached the Allies to produce the cars for them. In Great Britain, they found companies ready and able to manufacture the requested vehicles. In the fall of 1914, the Russian Empire ordered and received 48 vehicles.

The Austin Armoured Car used a modified, armoured motor car chassis. Two rear turrets, built into the chassis, contained Maxim machine guns. The Austin measured 4.9 metres in length, weighed five tonnes, and possessed a top speed of 55 km/h. Originally, the Austin came equipped with 3.5 mm armour plating, later replaced with 7 mm armour after the cars’ arrival in Russia. Armed with two Maxim machine guns, the fast- moving brigades of Austin Armoured Cars proved effective in the fluid combat environment of the Eastern Front.

Despite a number of flaws and the addition of several modified designs, the use of the Austin Armoured Car in Eastern Europe proved enduring. In the wake of the Russian Revolution, various factions and countries used the Austin in conflicts spanning the next two decades. In the Ukraine, Poland, and central Russia, the Austin remained a pervasive vehicle in the regional wars that raged in these areas between the two World Wars. Click here for exhibition stands if you are involved in exhibitions relating to war and it's vehicles.