{{Short description|British armoured car}} {{Use dmy dates|date=May 2025}} {{Use British English|date=September 2017}} [[File:Simms War Car at the Crystal Palace London April 1902.jpg|thumb|The Simms Motor War Car at the Crystal Palace, London, April 1902]] thumb|The Simms Motor War Car The '''Simms Motor War Car''' was the first armoured car ever built, designed by F. R. Simms.
A single prototype was ordered by the British Army in April 1899, a few months before the Second Boer War broke out.<ref name="DCMB">{{cite book| author = Edward John Barrington Douglas-Scott-Montagu Baron Montagu of Beaulieu|author2=Lord Montagu |author3=David Burgess Wise | title = Daimler Century: The Full History of Britain's Oldest Car Maker| year = 1995| publisher = Haynes Publications| isbn = 978-1-85260-494-3 }}</ref> It was built by Vickers, Sons & Maxim of Barrow on a special Coventry-built Daimler chassis<ref name=DCMB /> and had a German-built Daimler engine.<ref name=DCMB />
Because of difficulties that arose, including a gearbox destroyed by a road accident, Vickers did not deliver the prototype until 1902,<ref name=DCMB /> and by then the South African wars were over. The vehicle was an improvement over Simms's earlier design, known as the ''Motor Scout'', which was the first armed (but not armoured) vehicle powered by a petrol engine.
The vehicle had Vickers armour 6 mm thick and was powered by a four-cylinder 3.3-litre<ref name=DCMB /> 16-horsepower Cannstatt Daimler engine, giving it a maximum speed of around 9 miles per hour (14.5 km/h). The armament, consisting of two Maxim guns, was carried in two turrets with 360° traverse. Some versions of the vehicle also included a single QF 1 pounder pom-pom.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bartholomew |first=E. |title=Early Armoured Cars |publisher=Shire Library |year=2008 |isbn=978-0852639085 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book| last = Macksey| first = Kenneth| title = The Guinness Book of Tank Facts and Feats| year = 1980| publisher = Guinness Superlatives Limited| isbn = 0-85112-204-3| pages = 256 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book| last = Tucker| first = Spencer| title = The European Powers in the First World War| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=gv3GEyB19wIC&pg=PA65| year = 1999| publisher = Routledge| isbn = 0-8153-3351-X| pages = 816 }}</ref>
Fully equipped, the vehicle had a length of {{convert|28|ft|m}} overall, with a beam of {{convert|8|ft|m}}, a ram at each end, two turrets, and two guns. It was "capable of running on very rough surfaces".<ref name=DCMB /> It was designed to be operated by a crew of four men.
The Simms Motor War Car was presented at the Crystal Palace, London, in April 1902.<ref>''Armoured Fighting Vehicles of the World'', Duncan, p. 3</ref>
Another armoured car of the period was the French Charron, Girardot et Voigt 1902, presented a few weeks before at the ''Salon de l'Automobile et du cycle'' in Brussels, on 8 March 1902.<ref>{{cite book| last = Gougaud| first = Alain| title = L'aube de la gloire: les autos mitrailleuses et les chars français pendant la Grande Guerre, histoire technique et militaire, arme blindée, cavalerie, chars, Musée des blindés| year = 1987| isbn = 978-2-904255-02-1| page = 11 }}</ref>
==Notes== {{reflist}}
==References== * {{cite book| last = Crow| first = Duncan| title = AFV's of World War One| year = 1970| isbn = 978-1-899695-02-7 }}
==External links== * [https://web.archive.org/web/20000119045004/http://www.geocities.com/Pentagon/Quarters/1975/armcar1.htm "Armoured cars (1896-1913)"] * [https://web.archive.org/web/20080530224343/http://ww2armor.jexiste.fr/BritTanks/English-Files/1-Vehicles/09-ArmoredCars/Others/Other-ArmoredCars-1.htm "Armored cars"] * [http://director.io/tanquesyblindados/index.htm Tanques y Blindados: Historia del carro de combate]
Category:Armoured cars of the United Kingdom Category:Military vehicles introduced in the 1900s Category:Cars of England