Rover: Australian Light Armored Car

The Light Armoured Car (Aust), also known as Rover, was an armored car produced in Australia during the Second World War.

At the outbreak of the Second World War, the United Kingdom was unable to meet the needs of the Commonwealth for armored fighting vehicles. It led many Commonwealth countries to develop their own AFVs.

The Rover was designed in 1941. It used Ford 3-ton Canadian Military Pattern truck chassis, either F60L or the shorter F60S. The armored bodies were produced by Ruskin Motor Bodies of Melbourne. The production was stopped in 1943, a total of 238 cars were built.

The Rover entered service with the Australian army in April 1942. It never saw combat and was used mostly for crew training. A long narrow opening at the top of the hull earned the vehicle a nickname: "mobile slit trench". Late in 1943 Australia started to receive US-made armored cars and the Rover was soon declared obsolete.

There are two restored Rover Mk II cars on display in Australian museums, at the National Military Vehicle Museum in Edinburgh Parks and at the Royal Australian Armoured Corps Tank Museum at Puckapunyal, Victoria.

Type: Armored car

Place of origin: Australia

Weight:

Mk I: 5.2 tons

Mk II: 5 tons

Length: 

Mk I: 6.1 m (20 ft 0 in)

M II: 5.6 m (18 ft 4 in)

Width: 2.3 m (7 ft 7 in)

Height: 2.1 m (6 ft 11 in)

Crew: 5 (Commander, Driver, 2 Gunners, Wireless operator)

Armor: 16 mm

Main armament: 0.303 (7.7 mm) Vickers machine gun

Secondary armament: 0.303 (7.7 mm) Bren LMG

Engine: Ford V8, 95 hp (71 kW)

Power/weight: 19 hp/ton

Suspension: 4x4, leaf spring

Variants

Mk I: F60L chassis (40 units).

Mk II: F60S chassis (198 units).

Top view of a Rover Mark II, showing its open roof hatches, tarpaulin on the rear trench and enclosed headlights.

 

The driver of an Australian-built Light Armoured Car (Rover) gives the ‘start-up' signal before commencing maneuvers. Puckapunyal, Victoria. June 1942.

Rover.

Rover LAC Mark II.

Parade in the streets of Sydney in December 1942.

Several Australian Rover light armored cars and other vehicles moving west along Collins Street, Melbourne, Victoria. November 13, 1942.

Late pattern Rover dash. Early models had standard cab 12 type switch plates.

Early Rover dash.

Rover dashboard panel.

Rover Light Armoured Car in Royal Australian Armoured Corps Tank Museum, Puckapunyal, Victoria, Australia.