Lanchester armoured car

The Lanchester armoured car was a British armoured car built on the chassis of the Lanchester "Sporting Forty", it saw wide service with the Royal Naval Air Service and British Army during the First World War. The Lanchester was the second most numerous World War I armoured car in British service after the Rolls-Royce armoured car. The Lanchester was a turreted armoured car, built on the chassis of a Lanchester Sporting Forty luxury tourer. The layout of the Lanchester was similar to the Rolls-Royce, with a front mounted engine, crew compartment in the middle and rear cargo deck; the fighting compartment and turret was almost identical to the Rolls-Royce. The engine of the Lanchester was located beside the driver's feet, allowing for a more effective, well sloped frontal armour than the Rolls-Royce.

A number of changes were made to the Sporting Forty chassis, including reinforcing to accommodate the additional weight of the armour, strengthened rear cantilever spring suspension and the addition of Rudge-Whitworth spoked wheels with quick-release knock-on hubs, double wheels were used on the rear to improve handling. The Lanchester monobloc six-cylinder engine was retained from the Sporting Forty, it delivered a very useful 60 hp (45 kW) and had many advanced features for the era, including dual ignition and full pressure lubrication. The transmission was via a very advanced pre-selective epicyclic gearbox. The Lanchester's turret was the standard Admiralty pattern as fitted to the Rolls-Royce, with beveled sides and mounting a single .303 Vickers machine gun