Å koda Fiat Torino
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The Å koda Fiat Torino was a
Czechoslovak Czechoslovak may refer to: *A demonym or adjective pertaining to Czechoslovakia (1918–93) **First Czechoslovak Republic (1918–38) **Second Czechoslovak Republic (1938–39) **Third Czechoslovak Republic (1948–60) ** Fourth Czechoslovak Repu ...
-designed armored car built by
Škoda Works The Škoda Works (, ) was one of the largest European industrial conglomerates of the 20th century. In 1859, Czech engineer Emil Škoda bought a foundry and machine factory in Plzeň, Bohemia, Austria-Hungary that had been established ten ye ...
in 1920, based on the Italian Fiat 18BL truck.


History

In 1919 the MNO (Czechoslovak Army Material Commission) sent specifications for Škoda for an armored vehicle that was to be both well armed and highly mobile. The Fiat 18BL was chosen for the chassis to speed up production as it had already been adopted by the army and was readily available. By January 1920 a prototype was completed, which was accepted after testing and a further eleven units were ordered and delivered the same year. These were initially numbered 3–14, but later designated NVII 753–764. The Torino's chassis featured dual rear wheels in a 4x2 configuration, with hard rubber tires and leaf springs. The hull consisted of a steel frame with 5-6mm steel plates attached with rivets. Armament consisted of two turrets fitted with water-cooled 7.92mm
MG 08 The MG 08 ( 08) is a heavy machine gun (HMG) which served as the standard HMG of the Imperial German Army during World War I. It was an adaptation of Hiram Maxim's 1884 Maxim gun design, and was produced in a number of variants during the war. Th ...
machine guns, positioned off-axis to the center to allow greater fields of fire. Propulsion consisted of a 64 hp 4-cylinder Fiat engine which allowed the cars to reach a maximum speed of 10 mph. Several construction defects were found once the vehicles were put into service where they served as training vehicles. By 1925 eight vehicles were out of service and finally scrapped in 1928, with the last four being scrapped in 1929.


References

{{Weapons of Czechoslovakia Czech brands Armoured cars of Czechoslovakia Military vehicles introduced in the 1920s Armoured cars of the interwar period