Austin armoured car

The Austin armoured car was a British armoured car of the First World War, best known for its use by the Imperial Russian Army and later by many forces in the Russian Civil War. When a Russian purchasing committee failed to find a British armoured car with overhead protection and two machine gun turrets, the Austin Motor Company designed one on a passenger car chassis, and 48 were ordered on 29 September 1914. Improved second and third series on truck chassis followed, and Russia later built the Austin-Putilov and the half-track Austin-Kegresse on Austin chassis. Sixteen cars built for Russia but not sent equipped the British 17th Armoured Car Battalion in 1918. British-built cars were out of service by 1931.