Luxury Car Serves as Armored Fighting Vehicle
Author: Jason / Date: September 29, 2022 / Tags: classic cars
(RareCarMarket.com) – When your country asks for help fighting a war, many individuals and companies drop everything to oblige. One car manufacturer popular for its luxurious designs and models answered the call and shifted its focus during the Great War. Rolls-Royce created armored cars to support the British military, and they were so successful they remained in operation long after the end of the First World War.
Rolls-Royce didn’t just throw its luxurious cars into the war. Instead, they stripped much of the civilian comfort amenities and militarized the vehicles. Part of this process involved covering the cars in steel plates to armor them against small weapons fire, thereby creating their name. Officially called the Rolls-Royce Armored Car (RRAC), the British military placed a Vickers machine gun on a turret on top of the vehicle, effectively turning them into an instrument of war.
With an elongated 5-meter body weighing around 10,000 pounds, RRACs were underpowered and cumbersome to drive. However, that didn’t stop Britain from using them in both World Wars, nor did it prevent other countries from employing them for many years after that.
After the First World War, RRACs were a tool for police forces in several British colonies. This is where their interesting exhaust feature came into the most use — as a non-lethal way to break up crowds and keep distance between the people inside and outside the car. Inside the RRAC was a lever that moved the exhaust pipe away from the engine. This process caused a very loud noise to come from under the hood and forced people to get away from the vehicle.
Despite their not being used much after the end of World War II, many of these armored beasts are still operational today. Though their fighting days are long over, they are still used in parades, and many are on display in various museums across the globe.
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