Home Guard Equipment - Beaverette Armoured Cars

Variants

• Mk I - original version.
• Mk II - had all-around armour and the radiator grill was moved from a vertical position to a horizontal one.
• Mk III Beaverbug - had shortened chassis, redesigned hull without curved front wings, with top armour and a machine gun turret.
• Mk IV - glacis armour was redesigned to improve visibility.
• Beaverette (NZ), was produced in New Zealand Railways workshops, Hutt Valley 1941. The car used a Ford 3/4 or 1-ton truck chassis and plate salvaged from the ships Port Bowen and Mokoia for armour. They had a crew of 4 and 208 units were built in NZ between Feb abd July 1942.  They were used by the light Armoured Fighting Vehicle (LAFV) Regiments  until July 1942 when they were phased out of Army use, though some were taken over by the RNZAF for Airfield defence.