Jeffrey Armoured Car No.1
by Steve Fildes & Peter Kempf

The Jeffery-Quad was a four-wheel drive truck with four-wheel brakes and steering on all wheels. Large numbers of this versatile vehicle were built in the United States during the First World War. They were first used by the Allies as load carriers and gun tractors and, later, also by the U.S. Army.

In 1914 a factory super­intendent of the Thomas B. Jeffery Co. by the name of Jerry De Cou, designed and built an armoured car on the Jeffery-Quad chassis. Following this two other different types of armoured cars were also made, again with armour provided by the Bethlehem Steel Corporation. One of the three types had an octagonal central super­structure (with large opening flaps for weapons) and enclosed wheels; another had a comparatively low flat-topped hull with a circular revolving turret and the third type, known as Armored Car No. 1 to the U.S. Ordnance Corps m 1915, had a tall hull surmounted by a turret in the centre, with a second turret stepped down lower at the rear. The second car mentioned above was used by the U.S. Army on the Mexican border in 1916 during the rising by Pancho Villa and possibly also the third type.

These cars were built as experimental vehicles only, but yet a fourth type, something of a cross between the second and the third models, was manufactured in some numbers for the British Army.

This armoured car had a single rotating turret in the centre, but this was supplemented by four small semi­circular sponsons (each with two loop­holes) on the hull sides. The vehicle was provided with a duplicate steering wheel and driving controls at the rear and there were raised armoured driver's cabs both in front of and behind the turret. Over the cover for the engine (which was in the normal position at the front) were two curved bars to engage and cut wire obstacles. The suspension consisted of semi-elliptic leaf springs at front and rear and the wheels had solid rubber tyres. The cars weighed about 62 tons and the 40-h.p. Buda four-cylinder engine gave them a maximum speed of about 32 km/h, both forward and reverse.

Jeffery armoured cars of this pattern were imported into Canada by the Canada Cycle & Motor Co. Ltd. of Toronto (makers of Russell trucks). They may also actually have been assembled here, because identical armoured cars to the Jeffery-Quad appeared before the end of 1915 under the name of "Russell armoured cars".

From whatever source - the United States or Canada - they came, the British Army acquired a quantity of Jeffery-Quad armoured cars. The exact number cannot be ascertained, but in late 1917 forty had been sent to the British Army in India and there were twenty-two in Ireland in 1919. The cars in India (reduced to about nineteen at the end of the war) were used to equip one of the newly formed Armoured Car Companies of the Royal Tank Corps in October 1921 and some of these were kept going - more or less -until about Autumn 1924. Spares were in short supply, however and some cars had to be "cannibalized" to provide parts for the others. The bad roads of the North-West Frontier of India (as it then was called - now it is Pakistan) showed that the Jeffery-Quads were not strongly enough built. The remaining cars were taken out of service in 1925, sold by auction.

The original models of the Jeffery armoured cars carried four or more Benét-Mercier machineguns (see the photo below - from Pancho Villa State Park) but the cars in Ireland and India normally had only one 0.303-in. Vickers machinegun, mounted in the turret.

Technical Data

Below you can see photos of a very nice replica Jeffrey, taken by Steven Fildes at the Pancho Villa State Park, New Mexico. The starting point was a Jeffery Quad truck chassis and drive. On the replica, a real Jeffery running gear was used; the rest is new work in steel. The replica was built by volunteers and staff at Pancho Villa State Park. (Note for modellers: The rivets are spaced at 4 inches on center. Note also that the photos were made with a measuring tape, in hopes of giving a scale. Where it's legible, it's in feet and inches.)

Main Source
BT White: "Tanks and other Armored Fighting Vehicles 1900-1918". London 1970. For more info on the Jeffrey No.1 Armoured Car, click here!