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Leyland Armoured Car

Gallery

First Production Leyland - Landsverk Turret Copyright � An Cosantoir

Leyland - Post 1957 Modified Hull Copyright �

Leyland Protoype - Peerless Turret Copyright � An Cosantoir

Restored Leyland Armored Car Copyright � Curragh Local History Group

Restored Leyland Armored Car Copyright � The Tank Museum

Background

Comdt. J. V. Lawless proposed, in the early 1930s, that armoured bodies be constructed, held in storage, and be fitted to chassis', which were to be acquired locally when the need arose. Although the general staff did not go ahead with his idea, he was ordered to produce one design and fit it to a chassis. The intial car utilised the surplus turrets of the Peerless Armored Cars that had been withdrawn from service at that stage. Following trials it was decided to replace the Peerless turrets with a single, more modern one and the turret in use on the Landsverk L60 tank was ordered from Sweden. The chassis chosen initially was a Morris truck, but this proved totally unsuitable and so a Leyland Terrier 6x4 chassis was acquired. Three further Leyland Armoured Cars were subsequently produced and these remained in service until the '80s. The Leyland's had the registrations numbers ZC 773 to ZC 776. The construction of the 4 Leyland cars proved far more difficult than originally envisaged. this was due to various factors including the reconstruction of the Cavalry Workshops and the decision to use welding, still in it's infancy, wherever possible. Coy. Sgt. Paddy Lynch, had to be sent to England on a welding course as there were very few qualified welders in Ireland at the time. A further difficulty was the fact that the design had to be modified, in fact almost completely redesigned, to take account of the heavier Landsverk turret. Although accounts on timing vary, it appears that construction of the first car commenced in July 1937 being completed in May 1938, and the last of four being completed in March 1940. In 1957, it was decided to upgrade the Leylands by fitting a Ford V8 engine and the opportunity was taken to re-model the front on the similar lines to the Landsverk Armoured Car.

Vehicle Specification Crew 4 Driver, Radio Operator, Commander and Gunner Armament 20 mm Madsen AT Gun and 2 x .303in Madsen MGs It is not clear if the armament was replaced in the '70s in a similar way as the Landsverks Unladen Weight Kg . Combat Weight 8 Tons 15 Cwt./ Kg . Length 20 ft. 11 ins. / mm . Width 7 ft. 3 ins. / mm . Height 8 ft. / mm . Ground Clearance mm under hull mm under axle Max. Speed 45 mph / 72 kph Ford V8 / Open road Max. Speed in Water . Fording only Cruise Speed kph . Range 150 miles / 242 Kms Original Leyland Engine on open road Max. Vertical Step . . Max. Trench . . Max. Gradient . . Max. Side Slope . . Armour 7 mm / 8 mm / 15 mm Rear / Side/ Turret Front Ballistic Protection .303 in. Ball . Ballistic Protection . . Ballistic Protection . . Engine Leyland Terrier 6 Cyl. 33hp (62-80 bhp) Petrol From '57 Ford V8 type 317 155 bhp Petrol Transmission Leyland 4 Speed + 1 reverse Manual

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