The Rolls-Royce Armoured Car is a British armoured car developed in 1914 and used during the First World War, Irish Civil War, the inter-war period in Imperial Air Control in Transjordan, Palestine and Mesopotamia, and in the early stages of the Second World War in the Middle East and North Africa.
Rolls Royce 1920 Pattern Mk1 Armoured Car at The Tank Museum, Bovington
A 1924 Pattern Rolls-Royce Armoured Car with a "new" open-topped turret in the Bardia area of the Western Desert, 1940.
Two of thirteen Rolls-Royce armoured cars used during the Irish Civil War: The Fighting 2nd (ARR3) and The Big Fella (ARR8)
A replica Rolls Royce Armoured Car on display at the Haynes Motor Museum.
A military armored car is a wheeled armored fighting vehicle, historically employed for reconnaissance, internal security, armed escort, and other subordinate battlefield tasks. With the gradual decline of mounted cavalry, armored cars were developed for carrying out duties formerly assigned to light cavalry. Following the invention of the tank, the armored car remained popular due to its faster speed, comparatively simple maintenance and low production cost. It also found favor with several colonial armies as a cheaper weapon for use in underdeveloped regions. During World War II, most armored cars were engineered for reconnaissance and passive observation, while others were devoted to communications tasks. Some equipped with heavier armament could even substitute for tracked combat vehicles in favorable conditions—such as pursuit or flanking maneuvers during the North African campaign.
U.S. T17E1 Staghound armored car of World War II
AMX-10RC, a modern armored car of the French Army
F.R. Simms' Motor Scout, built in 1898 as an armed car
F.R. Simms' 1902 Motor War Car, the first armored car to be built