Saladin armoured car

(photos - Wikimedia Commons)

Crossley's final military contract came in the 1950s with the British army requirement for a new armoured car to replace the war time AEC Mk 3 and Daimler Mk 2. This was designated Saladin and was equipped with a new 76 mm gun to replace the existing 2 pounders. Alvis were at the time developing the Saracen armoured personnel carrier and this chassis was adapted to become the basis of the Saladin armoured car. A Rolls-Royce engine was fitted. As the Alvis factory was fully occupied final design and the first six pre-production Saladins were built in 1956 by Crossley Motors. The main production run of over 1000 vehicles began two years later at the Alvis factory in Coventry.

This example is one of the six made by Crossley, probably the only one of them to survive, and is at the Tank Museum in England.