Half-track armored personnel carriers like the M3A1 offered here were hugely important to the Allied Forces’ victory in World War II. They carried troops and ordnance to the front lines, besides fulfilling other roles. An M3 half-track is said to have been the first vehicle to enter Paris after its liberation in August 1944.

The M3A1’s half-track configuration, inspired by French designs dating back to the 1930s, was critical to traversing adverse terrain. The United States produced more than 40,000 M3 and M3A1 half-tracks, with the bulk being the later A1 evolution, which adopted a raised, armored mount for the .50-caliber machine gun over the front passenger seat and additional mounts for .30-caliber machine guns at the rear. The vehicle body was fully armored, with an adjustable front shutter to protect the engine and adjustable bulletproof panels for the windshield and side windows. The design employed commercial vehicle components where possible to improve reliability and expedite production.

Autocar Company and Diamond T Motor Car Company were awarded the first M3 production contracts in late 1940 with initial deliveries in May 1941. Demand was so great that White Motor Company, which had previously designed and was already producing the smaller M3 scout car, started producing half-tracks that year as well, eventually eclipsing both other manufacturers in volume. Meetings between the US Army’s Detroit Office of Ordnance and the three manufacturers led to the formation of the Half-Track Engineering Committee with representatives from each organization working together to standardize the vehicles and their components. Production concluded in 1943 with most of it having shifted from the M3 to the M3A1 design.

All M3A1s used a White Motor Company 160AX inline six-cylinder engine displacing 386 cubic inches mated to a Spicer constant-mesh four-speed transmission with two-speed transfer case. Twenty feet long, seven feet wide, with a gross weight of 18,425 pounds and a top speed of 45 mph, the M3A1 could carry 12 soldiers, including driver and copilot/gunner up front, along with 10 infantry in back.

This restored example is outfitted in the light machine gun or LMG configuration, with its decommissioned .50-caliber machine gun up front and two decommissioned .30-caliber machine guns in the rear. Brimming with authentic details, it is equipped with a correct Tulsa model 18G self-recovery winch and various period accessories, including side-mounted jerricans and shovels. “The Old Breed—Guadalcanal” insignia on both doors references the first division-sized US military amphibious strike force, which spearheaded the Pacific campaign, while illustrations of a “Sgt. Lena B.” on both sides of the rear compartment possibly make reference to US Marine Corp Sargeant Lena Basilonne, who served in the Women’s Reserve during the war and married Gunnery Sargeant John Basilone, known for his heroic actions in the jungles of the Pacific before later being killed in Iwo Jima just seven months after wedding Lena.

Though its history could not be confirmed by cataloguing time, this M3A1 Half-Track represents an important piece of WWII history and will certainly make a fine collection piece for the history buff and war memorabilia collector.