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Originally posted by ericnuyt
My friends, I hope I am not exaggerating, but here is another Marmon-Herrington mystery (I just cant stop):
"Marmon-Herrington, 1938, T13-type scout car w/rear of hull cut off and replated, ring mounted .30 calibre mg rear of hull, .30 cal mg pedestal mounted on right outside, .50 calibre mg on high pedestal behind right front mudguard, radio-equipped,sold to the NEI"
Does anybody have a picture of a MH T13 (as in National Guard) or possibly of this particular NEI-delivered vehicle? I reckon if this is true (and it is really worthwhile I think to follow this lead) they might have been delivered pre-war and numbers would be maximum 10-15 cars (or else they were buying off the shelve left overs since they were desperate enough).
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In "Early White Scout Cars" (
Classic Military Vehicle Magazine October 2002, p.15-17) mention is made of the T13: "Marmon-Herrington's contribution [to the Scout car development], the T13, had a more rounded hull and featured swept rear wings which gave it a rakish air. It was based on a 1-ton Ford/Marmon-Herrington 4x4 truck chassis, retaining the Ford V8 engine of 3622cc, and 38 soft-skin examples were purchased by the National Guard in training exercises. Neither of these went into series production."
One of the pictures in this article shows a pair of Marmon-Herrington Scout Cars (one of which is W 60583) during 'war games' near Fort McCoy, WI, during August 1940. It clearly shows the well-known M3A1 Scout Car was patterned on the M1 and M2 Scout Cars, albeit with a wider body. These early Scout cars all had a variety of machine-guns placed on them as described above. A postcard featuring an M1 even shows how the three Browing machine-guns were intended to be used for AA defence.
As stated, only a handful of these T13's were built, but no doubt Col. Herrington tried to sell them to the NEI as well as other armies. Judging by Crow & Icks' description, I assume M-H sold only one for testing. Was it used to fight off the Japanese invasion? Who knows....
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Officially KNIL listed by Jan 1942 a number of 40 Scout Cars (no reference to make or name). Also Martens and De Vries in their book on KNIL small arms mention both White AND MH Scout Cars as armed with Colt Browning w/c .50's.
In the actions on Java in March 1942 I can count in the best study on that (by NOrtier) at least 37-38 Scout Cars with different units.
So if this is true that besides White's KNIL owned some other Scout Car type, what did it look like? I have never so far seen any other type of scout car in KNIL service then the White...
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The August 1941
US Army mission report lists 40 "White Scout Cars", which must be the M3A1. The NPC was "negotiating for contracting remaining need for
80 White Scout-cars". Possibly the need was (partially) filled with Ford/M-H MGT's rather than Scout Cars?