![]() ![]() The suspected reasoning behind this change is that a 4×4 armored car could come close to the performance of a light tank, but at a much-reduced cost. With this weapon change, the vehicle was reclassified as a ‘Light Tank (Wheeled)’. 303 Vickers heavy machine gun in a square fully enclosed turret. However, before production began, the War Office changed the specifications and requested a fully enclosed turret with armament standardised to that of the Vickers Light Tank Mk.VI. Source: Originally, the Guy armored car was meant to mount a turret very similar to that of the CS9, which was an open-topped cylinder armed with a Boys anti-tank rifle and a Bren light machine gun. Some secondary sources state it too was equipped with a 4 cylinder Meadows engine, which produced some 58 hp. A Guy Quad-Ant FAT towing a 18-pounder Mk.IV gun on exercise somewhere in Britain. The exact source of the body design is unknown, but the Guy armored car does have more than a passing resemblance to the Morris armored car, which had its body designed by the Woolwich Arsenal. ![]() The tractor had an armored body fixed over the chassis. The starting point for the Guy armored car, was their Quad-Ant field artillery tractor that was being trialed for use by the Army. ![]() A new contender was sought, and found, in the form of Guy Motors. The Morris company then adapted the technology obtained from Steyr for a new design, which also performed poorly in trials. The final nail in the coffin for this vehicle was the Anchluss, the annexation of Austria by Nazi Germany, which meant that Steyr now belonged to a hostile foreign power. The trials went badly, with the report citing terrible mechanical performance. They produced a large 4×4 vehicle that was delivered for tests. The first port of call was again Morris Ltd, with a joint venture with Steyr of Austria. With the CS9 in service, this gave breathing space to develop a four-wheel drive armored car. The War Office was well aware of the superiority of a four-wheel drive armored car, however, time pressure had meant that they had selected the CS9, which was based off a commercial truck chassis, for service. ![]() However, the CS9 had one critical flaw: it only had two-wheel drive. In 1937, the British Army had just completed re-equipping its reconnaissance formations with a new armored car, the Morris CS9. ![]()
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