Jeffery armored car Information

The Jefferey four wheel drive chassis was independently used to make a number of different armoured cars. One design was the first US Army armoured car. Canadian built armored cars saw service in India.

The Jeffery Armored Car No.1 was developed by the Thomas B. Jeffery Company in Kenosha, Wisconsin in 1915 with a hull from the Rock Island Arsenal

The armored car No.1 was used in General John Pershing’s 1916 Pancho Villa Expedition in Columbus, New Mexico for training. Pancho Villa was far into Mexico at that time and there are no records on its use in fighting.

The Russel company in Canada built a number of armored cars on the four-wheel drive Jeffery chassis. After serving in Canada for a while they were sent to the UK. From there they were sent on to British India. Forty were added to the "Field Force" that was operating to contain the Mohmand rising of Haji Mullah on the North West Frontier. The "Mohmand blockade" involved British armoured cars patrolling unpaved tracks between blockhouses. Maintenance of the cars was difficult as the ship carrying spares had been torpedoed. They were armed with a single Vickers machine gun. Although the four-wheel drive with independent transmission and wide range of gears should have been an advantage, the narrow solid tyres negated that and running at more than 12 mph caused problems with engine bearings.

A different model of armoured car basing on the Jeffery Quad chassis was built in Russia by Ukrainian officer Victor Poplavko who was the Odessa city commandant (1917–18), and was known as Jeffery-Poplavko.

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