MiniArt 35159 AEC Mk.III ARMOURED CAR

The AEC Armored Car was a British heavy armored car from the Second World War. The first prototypes were created right after the outbreak of the war, and serial production continued in the period 1942-1943. In total, 629 examples of this vehicle were built. AEC Armored Car

it was powered by an engine AEC 195 or AEC 197 with 105 or 158 HP respectively. The basic version of the vehicle was armed with a single 40 mm 2-pounder gun, 1 Besa 7.92 mm machine gun and 1 Bren machine gun cal. 7.7 mm.

AEC Armored Car was created as a private initiative of the AEC company, which created an armored car on the Matador truck chassis it produced. The vehicle made such a good impression on military decision-makers that they approved its implementation into mass production. The AEC Armored Car had - regardless of the version - strong armor and very good armor for this class of vehicles. Three development versions of this vehicle were created in the course of serial production. The first - marked as Mk. I - was the first production series and was armed with a 40mm gun. The next version was the Mk. II, which featured a redesigned front of the hull and main armament consisting of a 6-pounder 57mm gun. Finally, the last version - Mk. III - had a 75mm cannon as the main armament. AEC Armored Car cars underwent their baptism of fire in North Africa in 1942, and later fought mainly in the Italian campaign (1943-1945) and in Western Europe (1944-1945). In the British military, it was replaced by the Alvis Saladin vehicle, but a batch of AEC Armored Car was sold to Lebanon, where it served until the mid-1970s.