To Top

The 1 1/2 ton offroad Crossley from the 1920s

• CATEGORIES: Museums This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

I saw this and I had to post it.  There are apparently a couple of these left in the South African War Museum.  Due to their weight and the thin tire profile, these were poor offroad performers.

According to this website, “The British Army in India had a requirement for Armoured Cars for areas such as the North West frontier. A delegation was despatched to Britain to see what was on offer and particularly to look at the offerings from Rolls Royce as wartime models had performed well. As well as being expensive they surprisingly were unable to get over the gradient test on the cross country trial.

There was however also at the trials a 1 1/2 ton Crossley based on the chassis that had been intended for a Russian contract that came to nothing because of the Revolution. This was the chassis that was under consideration as a medium truck for India and eventually became the IGL1. It sailed through the trials and one was immediately purchased for an extended trial which consisted of loading it with 4 tons of ballast and driving 4000 miles round Britain. An order for 32 followed with bodies by Vickers. These were delivered in 1923 and a further order followed. Total deliveries were about 100.

All of these vehicles were fitted with solid tyres presumably to remove the risk of punctures but these were never very successful when used off road as their narrow profile inevitably led to the vehicle sinking up to its axles. Two of the armoured cars were also shipped to South Africa where the tyres also caused trouble and were eventually changed to pneumatic types. Both of these survive and are in the South African War Museum.”

 

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Subscribe without commenting