Motor War Car
Encyclopedia
It was designed by F.R. Simms
Frederick Richard Simms
Frederick Richard Simms was a British mechanical engineer, businessman, prolific inventor and motor industry pioneer. Simms coined the words "petrol" and "motorcar"...
and a single prototype was ordered in April 1899 It was built by Vickers, Sons & Maxim of Barrow
Barrow-in-Furness
Barrow-in-Furness is an industrial town and seaport which forms about half the territory of the wider Borough of Barrow-in-Furness in the county of Cumbria, England. It lies north of Liverpool, northwest of Manchester and southwest from the county town of Carlisle...
on a special Coventry
Coventry
Coventry is a city and metropolitan borough in the county of West Midlands in England. Coventry is the 9th largest city in England and the 11th largest in the United Kingdom. It is also the second largest city in the English Midlands, after Birmingham, with a population of 300,848, although...
-built Daimler
Daimler Motor Company
The Daimler Motor Company Limited was an independent British motor vehicle manufacturer founded in London by H J Lawson in 1896, which set up its manufacturing base in Coventry. The right to the use of the name Daimler had been purchased simultaneously from Gottlieb Daimler and Daimler Motoren...
chassis with a German-built Daimler
Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft
Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft was a German engine and later automobile manufacturer, in operation from 1890 until 1926. Founded by Gottlieb Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach, it was based first in Cannstatt...
motor.
Because of difficulties, including a gearbox destroyed by a road accident, that arose during completion the prototype was not finished by Vickers until 1902 when the Boer War was over. The vehicle was an improvement over Simms' earlier design known as Motor Scout
Motor Scout
Motor Scout was the first armed petrol engine powered vehicle ever built. It was designed and built by British inventor F.R. Simms in 1898. He constructed the vehicle by mounting a Maxim machine gun on the front wheels bar of a De Dion-Bouton quadricycle. He also put an iron shield in front of the...
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 16 hp
Horsepower
Horsepower is the name of several units of measurement of power. The most common definitions equal between 735.5 and 750 watts.Horsepower was originally defined to compare the output of steam engines with the power of draft horses in continuous operation. The unit was widely adopted to measure the...
Cannstatt Daimler engine giving it a maximum speed of around 9 miles per hour (14.5 km/h). The armament, consisting of two Maxim gun
Maxim gun
The Maxim gun was the first self-powered machine gun, invented by the American-born British inventor Sir Hiram Maxim in 1884. It has been called "the weapon most associated with [British] imperial conquest".-Functionality:...
s, was carried in two turrets with 360° traverse. Some sources also mention a single QF 1 pounder pom-pom
QF 1 pounder pom-pom
The QF 1 pounder, universally known as the pom-pom, was an early 37 mm British autocannon. It was used by several countries initially as an infantry gun and later as a light anti-aircraft gun. The name comes from the sound it makes when firing....
.
Fully equipped it was 28 feet (8.5 m) overall with a beam of 8 feet (2.4 m) , a ram at each end, two turrets and two guns and "capable of running on very rough surfaces".
It had a crew of four. Simms' Motor War Car was presented at the Crystal Palace
The Crystal Palace
The Crystal Palace was a cast-iron and glass building originally erected in Hyde Park, London, England, to house the Great Exhibition of 1851. More than 14,000 exhibitors from around the world gathered in the Palace's of exhibition space to display examples of the latest technology developed in...
, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, in April 1902.
Another armoured car of the period was the French Charron-Girardot-Voigt 1902
Charron-Girardot-Voigt 1902
The Charron-Girardot-Voigt 1902 was a French armoured car developed in 1902 by the company Charron Girardot & Voigt. It was equipped with a Hotchkiss machine gun, and with 7 mm armour for the gunner....
, presented at the Salon de l'Automobile et du cycle in Brussels
Brussels
Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...
, on 8 March 1902.