White Armored Car Index (original) (raw)

Miscellaneous Info:

Under the direction of the New York National Guard (NYNG) and sponsored by members of U.S. Steel, the Central Trust Company of New York and Redmond & Company, a unit to be equipped with heavy armored cars was created. This unit was named the 1st Armored Motor Battery and was commanded by the brainchild of the idea, Captain Harry G. Montgomery. To form the nucleus of the unit, a series of heavy armored cars were to be built, using a common set of plans, possibly developed by Mack Brothers Company. The vehicles were to utilize the automotive components built by different companies, but fitted with standardized armored hulls. The three (3) companies that became involved in the program were Locomobile, Mack and White.

It was planned that the unit would take these new vehicles with them during their deployment to Europe in World War I. Captain Montgomery even envisioned that if the unit and their cars performed well, the design would be adopted by the regular U.S. Army for serial production en masse. However, the NYNG battery never made it to the battlefields of Europe. And due to disinterest by the Army, only a handful of vehicles (7 to 10?) were ever built. Although it is the consensus opinion that none of these vehicles saw any combat, there is conflicting information about whether the vehicles were sent to the Mexican border during America's "Punitive Expedition".

The Locomobile-built car(s) was built on a commercial truck chassis fitted with a 48 horsepower 6-Cylinder gasoline engine. Although it is probable it could mount weapons, no photographs have been found showing them fitted. The only known offensive/defensive capabilities were provided by passengers using their own weapons through the rear gun slots. The Mack armored car in this series of vehicles used the Mack Model AB 2-ton truck chassis and powered by a 45 horsepower 4-Cylinder gasoline engine. It carried two (2) shielded, pedestal-mounted .30 cal Colt machine guns in the rear of the vehicle, although it appears they were not always fitted. Finally, the White-built vehicle(s) used a 1 1/2-ton truck chassis and was not seen with weapons in photographs, only having the rear gun slots for use. Due to the use of the standardized armor hull used on all three (3) armored cars, they are hard to distinguish between each other. However, at sometime in their careers, the vehicles had unique markings applied: "B1" on the Mack, "B2" on the Locomobile and "B3" on the White vehicle.