B series Posted October 25, 2020 Share Posted October 25, 2020 This vehicle is on display outside the State Central Museum of Contemporary History of Russia located in Moscow, which I visited in 2011. An interesting facility with more than 1 million objects, but no information in English at that time. There are several vehicles on display, farm tractors and old trucks, an original looking WWII Jeep, a Dodge WC 4x4, and the wreckage of Gary Power's U2 spy plane operated by the CIA which was shot down in 1960. Anyway, I dragged my translator along on her Saturday off on the promise of cake and coffee, and she translated the descriptions for me: It said the vehicle was made in 1915, weighs 5300 kg, has 7mm armour bodywork, and two 7.62mm MAKCNM machine guns. It also said the vehicle maximum speed is 70 km/h, which seems mighty fast to me for 5300 kg in 1915. Maybe that is downhill. The museum building in the background was the home of the English Club between 1831 & 1917. It was the place to be seen at the time in Moscow. A little further up the street is Belorussky railway station, well known to all Russian's old and young because so many troop trains loaded with russian soldiers departed from the station to the western front lines never to return during the Great Patriotic War, or as we know, it WWII. Regards, B series Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John F Posted October 25, 2020 Share Posted October 25, 2020 2 minutes ago, B series said: It also said the vehicle maximum speed is 70 km/h, which seems mighty fast to me for 5300 kg in 1915. Maybe that is downhill. The speed claim isn't necessarily incorrect, I remember reading about T.E. Lawrence (of Arabia) speed-testing 4.7 ton Rolls Royce armoured cars in the desert at over 70 km/h. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mtskull Posted October 26, 2020 Share Posted October 26, 2020 (edited) Look closely at the photo. There are several details which lead me to believe that this vehicle dates from rather later than 1915, in particular the wheels & tyres, not to mention the telescopic front shock absorbers.... I’m no expert but I would suggest that this is a modern attempt to create an approximate representation of a civil war era Armstrong-Whitworth FIAT, as pictured. Edited October 26, 2020 by mtskull 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Herbert Posted October 26, 2020 Share Posted October 26, 2020 It looks to me to be a 'recreation' on a WW2 ish period Ford (or Ford copy) truck chassis. The pre-revolution Russian army had quite a variety of armoured cars including twin shaft Austins with armoured bodies but how these stood up to the weight I have no idea as they weren't exactly successful as a light truck. The literal translation of the Russian spelling of the type of machine gun MAKCNM should of course be Maxim. David 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
B series Posted October 28, 2020 Author Share Posted October 28, 2020 The photo posted by mtskull looks to be a similar vehicle, I am now thinking that the one at the russian museum is later chassis with either an original body or recreated body. I am not familar with WWI vehicles, but I did not expect to see the names Armstrong, Whitworth and Fiat in a description for a single vehicle. Anyway thanks for the input. I have a mounted set of WWI eraWills's cigarette cards, one of which shows an armoured car with similar layout, but with different design details. B Series 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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