Weight: 12.7-tons (11,590-kg)

Length: 17' 3” (5.28-m)

Width: 8' 4” (2.54-m)

Height: 7' 10” (2.39-m)

Crew: 3

Armor:

Turret front: 32-mm

Hull front: 14-mm

Weapons:

-Primary

76-mm L5A1

-Secondary

2x 7.62-mm L3A3 machine gun

-Ammunition

42x 76-mm

2,750 x 7.62-mm

Engine: 5.7-liter, 8-cylinder petrol, 170-hp

Power/weight: 13.3-hp/ton

Fuel Capacity: 63-USG (241-l)

Range: 250-miles (400-km)

Speed: 45-mph (72-km/h)

The vehicle being offered, FV601 Saladin armored car, serial number 07BB39, is in excellent condition. The exterior paint is very good. It runs and drives well using fuel from its own gas tanks. All exterior lights and mirrors are present. The gun elevates and depresses manually. The turret rotates manually as well. All gunner's and driver's controls are present. A radio and some pioneer tools are also included.

In 1946, the British Army issued a requirement to replace the Daimler MkII and AEC MkIII of WWII vintage. Surprisingly, the initial request was for a four-seat vehicle armed with the pre-war 2Pr gun, albeit with the Littlejohn adaptor which worked on the ‘squeezebore’ principle and increased the gun’s lethality considerably. However, an attack of sense happened and it was decided in 1948 to use a new 76-mm gun then under design.

With prototypes built in 1955 with the new gun and only three crewmen, the design was approved and entered production in 1958. 1,177 were built by the time the line closed in 1972.

The vehicle has room for 42 rounds of ammunition; types fired are canister, HESH, HE, HE/PRAC, SH/P, Smoke/BE and illumination. All rounds are stowed vertically, with 11 between the gunner and commander, 23 behind the driver (12 to the left, 11 to the right), and 8 are in the left rear of the hull. The gun itself is a predecessor to the L23 cannon as found on Scorpion.

Saladin was removed from British service and replaced by Scorpion in the 1970s, but it continues to serve as a result of its moderate export success, where it was viewed as capable, cheap firepower: Australia Bahrain, Honduras, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Jordan, Lebanon, Mauritania, Portugal, Sudan, Tunisia, Kuwait and UAE all purchased them. The vehicle has proved quite useful in low-intensity operations such as Sri Lanka undertook, and one of the more enduring images of the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait was video footage of a Kuwaiti Saladin valiantly attempting to hold its position in a city square. Some Australian Saladin’s had their turrets removed and fitted to M113s.

FV601(D) was a variant built for the West German Border Police where it was known as the Geschutzer Sonderwagen III (SW III) (Kfz 93). It differed primarily by not having a co-axial machinegun and having new German headlights and smoke grenades.

An upgrade was proposed which involved replacing the petrol engine with a more efficient diesel, but it was only ever taken up by Indonesia.

Please note, this lot is a registered Destructive Device. Bidders for this lot must meet certain qualifications; please review the BATFE guidelines posted at Aucitonsamerica.com/littlefieldDD.

Transport Cost to Storage: $1,584