Well, I found a matching description for you mystery picture above in Crow and Icks Encycl. of Armoured Cars (page 110):
"(----), Ford 4x2 chassis (2dt), improvised faceted hull w/stepped hull top, fixed superstructure resembling a turret, rear wheels armour protected, horizontal radiator louvers, perforated disc wheels, used in the Netherlands East Indies. "
The following entry speaks of a similar NEI vehicle but with a octagonal turret with dual mg's, 1 mg front plate, wide bonnet, no louvers.
Now we have to find out where both this vehicle and the turreted one were stationed, how many were built, look for pictures...the hunt goes on!
If the crewman on this picture is indeed wearing a bamboohat (or is he wearing a KNIL helmet?-its not clear to me), it was a Stadswacht vehicle. But probably not Batavia, Soerabaja, Soerakarta, Medan, Makassar.
There seems to be no number-plate. It could therefor be pictured at its first appearance as a prototype at Bandung Arsenal.
Then, most Stadswacht vehicles were transferred to regular KNIL units throughout the archipelago as the war came nearer and the lack of armoured vehicles became urgent.
Armament: there seems to be a watercooled mg in the superstructure: a Vickers 7,7 or Browning .30?
The vehicle looks oldfashioned, fragile and surely was obsolete by 1942. Other observations can be made:
- the hull is a bit more advanced then the Stadswacht overvalwagen: there are side hatches (one for the engine and
one for the crew) as opposed to the full, continuous, but stronger looking hull of the overvalwagen (where even the driver had to enter or leave the vehicle through a rear door);
- it looks smaller (but is it?) then the overvalwagens and the crew was possibly just three men. the abundance of firing ports though might suggest a bigger crew then 3;
-the chassis may have been older and lighter then the other types?
-it bears some resemblance to the Canadian Hamilton Car.
Btw, Crow and Icks in the same publication mention the Braat overvalwagens as 1940 4x4 Ford-Marmon-Herrington and Chevrolet based.
Cheers,
Nuyt
