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Originally posted by ericnuyt
I put some threads on overvalwagens on the armour forum but got little reaction. No problem, but now I am trying it on this one.
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Eric, I have read your
Overvalwagen threads with great interest. Currently I do not have my material on KNIL vehicles at hand, but I think I will have a hard time adding to the information you have gathered. Keep digging, the fact that no-one replies (except for our resident GM Automotive Historian, of course
) is a sign of your research covering unknown ground, rather than being unappealing to the audience!
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Does anybody know if "not being able to drive backwards" would give some clue to what chassis was used? Was it normal in those days if there was no reverse gear? Or maybe it was because there were no mirrors and drivers could simply not look behind them?
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No doubt the truck chassis in question did have a reverse gear. I'm pretty sure "not being able to drive backwards" refers to the fact that these armoured trucks could not be driven backwards like some armoured cars of the period could. The state-of-the-art
Alvis-Straussler AC3D armoured car, of which the KNIL had 12, had two driving stations: one in the front for normal operation, and another one in the rear to drive the vehicle backwards equally fast as it would go forward. The idea was that when an armoured car ran into trouble, it could drive backwards out of trouble without having to turn around. This feature was deemed essential by many, other KNIL vehicles without this feature such as the South African Reconnaissance Car were condemned because of this omission.
Hope this helps,
Hanno