| In 1941 it was decided to raise an Australian armoured division and this led to a requirement for a scout car to carry out reconnaissance duties. As
delivery of suitable vehicles from the Allies was unlikely a vehicle was designed from scratch utilising as many locally produced parts as possible.
The pilot vehicles were built at the Ford Motor plant in Geelong and were ready by late 1941 when they were sent for testing. They were based on the
Ford 30 cwt commercial chassis with a 110 inches wheelbase and a Ford V8 side valve petrol engine. 2x21-gal fuel tanks were at the rear of the Dingo,
and shaped to fit the slope of the rear armour. Armour on the vehicle front was 30mm with 10mm on the sides. The driver was seated on the right and
gunner-radio operator on the left. Two vision ports and a weapon port were fitted into the front plate.
Several problems were soon discovered with the lack of ventilation and the weakness of the front axle being the worst of them. The front axle was to
remain a problem through out it's production life even after a remedy was concocted which consisted of welding steel plates to the axles inboard of the
steering joints.
Other modifications made during the production run of the Dingo included fitting of a radiator protection guard, drainage holes in the air-cleaner box,
adding handles to the engine cover, modified aerial mounts, changing the angle of the gear change lever to make it more comfortable to use, adding
shock absorbers and finallyb curved mudguards instead of the angualr type of the early production vehicles.
When production commenced the vehicles were sent to units to serve as Liaison and reconnaissance vehicles, with the newly created Australian
Armoured Divisions. They were employed in the liason role within armoured car or armoured regiments, augmented the reconnaissance work of
the MG carriers in the motor battalions and were aslo found in engineer field squadrons. In all some 245 Dingo scout cars (registration numbers
77001-77246) were manufactured, and served with the Australian Army until superseded by the Canadian Lynx I scout car in 1944.
When the vehicles were no longer required they were quietly phased out or converted to armoured cargo vehicles for use by US forces in the Pacific.
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VARIANTS OF THE SERIES
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Dingo [Scout Car] - Scout car version used for reconnaissance.
Dingo [Utility Car] - Cargo carrier version.
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GENERAL RECOGNITION POINTS
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- Four wheeled vehicle with angular mudguards.
- Vertical side with raised central crew compartment.
- Small hatch/door in left hand side of the crew compartment.
- Large sliding hatch in crew compartment roof
- Sloping nose.
- Two visors with a weapon port in the front of the crew compartment.
- Sloping rear plate with visor between radio antemnnae mounts.
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WEBSITES
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