British Utility Vehicles
Austin 7 - unit 286 & 287
1. Could change name to Humber Snipe.
The Austin 7 was rare and so small it’d barely fit two large blokes. By WW2 few were still in the British army, but there were some in the BEF and in ‘Dad's Army’.
The Humber Snipe was much larger, originating in 1930 but with a more powerful 4086cc engine by 1938, giving it a road speed of 127 Kmh (technically the ‘Super Snipe’). About 6,500 were produced by 1940, and it was widely used in the British Army, most famously by Monty in North Africa and Europe:
Humber Snipe source
General info and speed:
The Super Snipe, introduced in October 1938, less than a year before the Second World War war was declared, was a design combining the older Humber Snipe model with a 4.1 litre inline six-cylinder engine taken from the larger Humber Pullman, its predecessor. This engine gave it an excellent performance, with a top speed of 79 mph (127 km/h) - fast for its day. With the outbreak of the Second World War, the Super Snipe was an obvious choice as a staff car, and was produced suitably camouflaged. The chassis also became a basis for the Humber Light Reconnaissance Car Marks I and II. This model represents 'Old Faithful', as used by Field Marshal Montgomery in his campaigns in North Africa and in Northwest Europe. The original car still exists and is currently on display at Duxford Airfield.
http://www.iwmcollections.org.uk/
Humber Utility - unit 285
1. Could make the name a bit more descriptive:
Humber Box Heavy Utility
Humber Heavy Utility
Humber Box 4x4 or FWD
The Humber ‘Box’ Heavy Utility was well known and widely used as the only British 4x4 utility vehicle; it was a forerunner of the modern SUV.
2. The current speed of 18 could be adjusted, as this vehicle had a road speed of 101Kmh. It had the same powerful engine as the Snipe.
Photo of the Box
Humber Box source
Speed:
The most important Humber apart from the Snipe was the 4x4 heavy utility. This was a remarkable vehicle, being the only four-wheel-drive machine of its size made in Britain at the time. It was intended for the same type of work as the Ford WOT2 being able to transport staff officers at high speed (maximum 63 mph) over good roads and at the same time to keep going were roads non-existent, on sand or deep mud.
Page 12,
G.N. Georgano,
World War Two Military Vehicles Transport and Halftracks, Osprey Automotive 1994
Austin ‘Tilly’ Light Utility
(aka. Austin 10HP G/YG Light Utility)
If you wanted to add a vehicle to this class, you might consider the ‘Tilly’, which was found in all sorts of units across the British Army. About 30,000 were produced during WW2.
Road speed: 89 Kmh
Drive: 4x2
Date: Apr 1940
Lbm: 30257
Size: 156x63 inches
Tilly top view
Tilly icon: (my soft vehicle icons are 5 inches to a pixel)
Austin Tilly sources
General info:
http://austin.tillyregister.com/about.html
Speed 89 Kmh:
Page 3 and 9 of the original Driver’s Handbook says 55 Mph (89 Kmh) is maximum permissible road speed in top gear.
Handbook:
http://austin.tillyregister.com/down...rshandbook.pdf
Available from April 1940:
http://www.armyvehicles.dk/austin10hp.htm
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