Rolls Royce British Armoured Car 1920 Mk 1/35 Roden 801

The Rolls-Royce armoured car was a British armoured car developed in 1914 and used in World War I and in the early part of World War II.

The Royal Naval Air Service raised the first British armoured car squadron during the First World War. In September 1914 all available Rolls Royce Silver Ghost chassis, including their engines whose power had been increased to about 80 hp, were requisitioned to form the basis for the new armoured car. The following month a special committee of the Admiralty Air Department, among whom was Flight Commander T.G. Hetherington, designed the superstructure which consisted of armoured bodywork and a single turret for a Vickers machine gun.

The first three vehicles were delivered on 3 December 1914, although by then the mobile period on the Western Front, where the primitive predecessors of the Rolls-Royce cars had served, had already come to an end. Chassis production was suspended in 1917 to enable Rolls-Royce to concentrate on aero engines.

The vehicle was modernized in 1920 and in 1924, resulting in Rolls-Royce 1920 Pattern and Rolls-Royce 1924 Pattern. In 1940, 34 vehicles which served in Egypt with the 11th Hussars regiment had the "old" turret replaced with an open-topped one carrying a Boys anti-tank rifle, .303 inch Bren machine gun and smoke grenade launchers.

Some vehicles in Egypt received new chassis from a Fordson truck and became known as Fordson Armoured Cars. Pictures  show them as equipped with what appears to be turrets fitted with a Boys ATR, a machine gun and twin light machine guns for anti-aircraft defence.

1920 Pattern Mk I - thicker radiator armor and new wheels.

Rolls Royce Armoured Car
Rolls Royce 1920 Pattern
Type	Armored car
Place of origin	United Kingdom
Service history
In service	1915 to 1941
Used by	United Kingdom Ireland
Wars	World War I, Irish Civil War, World War II
Production history
Manufacturer	Rolls-Royce
Variants	Rolls-Royce 1920 Pattern, Rolls-Royce 1924 Pattern, Fordson Armored Car, Rolls Royce Indian Pattern
Specifications
Weight	4.2 tonnes
Length	4.93 m (194 in)
Width	1.93 m (76 in)
Height	2.54 m (100 in)
Crew	3
Armor	12 mm (0.47 in)
Primary armament	.303 Vickers machine gun
Secondary armament	none
Engine	6 cylinder petrol 80 hp (60 kW)
Power/weight	19 hp/tonne
Suspension	4x2 wheel (double rear wheels), leaf spring
Operational range	240 km
Speed	72 km/h (45 mph)