Ford Mk V Armoured Car

The Ford Mk V Armoured Cars were built in Ireland by Thompson & Son of Hanover Works, Carlow.

Specifications
The Ford Mk V was built with .5 inch mild steel plate, onto a Ford chassis of 122 inches. Fitted with a 85 horsepower petrol Ford V8 3,621 cc engine, the Mark V was much smaller, cheaper to build and had better performance than its predosesor the GSR Ford Mk IV.

Empty of all unessential equipment the Mark V weighed just over five tons, with a max speed of 45 km per hour (28 MPH) and a range of 150Km (93 miles). After the prototype was built, inspected and passed, the remaining 13 Ford Mk Vs were built and sold by 1954.

Fourteen were built in total with Peerless armoured car turrets and Hotchkiss .303 machine guns fitted. The vehicles were designed by Maj. J. V. Lawless and Comdt. A. W. Mayne, using ideas taken from the Rolls Royce Armoured Car as well as from the Leyland Armoured Car.