By Mike Cecil
Head of Military Heraldry and Technology
Australian War Memorial

Australia has been producing armoured cars in-country since the First World War.  However, initial production of these vehicles during this war and the inter-war period was in small quantities.

It wasn’t until the Second World War that the Services called upon Australian industry to produce armoured vehicles of a significant quantity. This eventuated because it had become virtually impossible to obtain armoured kit via import from allies and there was a perceived threat of a Japanese invasion.

Delivering on this request was not going to be an easy task for industry - the armoured plate needed to build such vehicles was also impossible to import at the time; and nickel, one of the strategic minerals in the known recipe for its development, was in short supply.  

Defence industry, the research sector and the Commonwealth would have to pool resources to reach a solution to the problem.

The result was a collaborative effort that included the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, BHP, and various universities, which led to the development and manufacture of an armour plate with similar ballistic properties to imported plate, and a formula that did not require Nickel.

It became known as Australian Bullet Proof No.3, or ABP3, and was used in the manufacture of all Australian made armoured vehicles during the Second World War.

One of these was the ‘Car, Light Armoured (Aust) ‘Rover’’ produced during 1942-43. Australian industry would manufacture 278 of these.

The Rover was a valiant effort to produce an armoured vehicle using what was readily available, or could be easily procured.

One resource incorporated into the Rover’s build was the 3-ton general service truck or Canadian Military Pattern Vehicle which Australia had been importing since late 1941.

These were rugged, purpose-built military vehicles with all wheel drive and high/low ratio transfer cases known as Canadian Military Pattern (CMP) vehicles.

Australia received tens of thousands of them in three different wheel base lengths and two main models before the end of the Second World War.

Two companies in Canada manufactured the vehicles, Chevrolet and Ford, but in the early stages, the main supplier direct to Australia was Ford.

The 158.25 inch long wheel base Ford CMP chassis was initially chosen as the basis of the Rover light armoured car, and the first 40 were built to that wheel base length.

The remainder of the 238 produced were built to the shorter 134.25 inch wheel base, either by shortening the long wheel base chassis, or using original shorter wheel base chassis.

The chassis and drive train were assembled by Ford at their Geelong plant, before being sent to Ruskins Motor Bodies in West Melbourne, or the Victorian Railways Workshops at Newport, Victoria, where the hulls were manufactured and fitted.

The design of the Rover was a very angular armoured hull with a long sloping back and an open top. The open top, when viewed from above, was rectangular and led to the Rover being known as a ‘mobile slit trench’. It was armed with a Vickers Medium and a Bren Light Machine gun, as well as crew small arms. The interior was quite spacious for an armoured vehicle, with plenty of room for kit and the five man crew.

However, the fully configured vehicle was a substantial load, and as a result, the vehicle was quite sluggish and difficult to manoeuvre. Internal temperatures were also intolerably high, making life hard for the crew and leading to rapid fatigue.

The Rover served in Australian Armoured units from April 1942, until quantities of better performing armoured vehicles became available in late 1943 to early 1944. The Rover filled a vital role in Australia’s defences during a period when no similar vehicles were available.

Today, the Australian Army has increased its holdings of wheeled armoured vehicles. Current capability includes the Australian Light Armoured Vehicle, also known as the ASLAV, and the Bushmaster. Both of these capabilities have been highly successful in overseas operational deployments such as Iraq and Afghanistan.