The Motor Scout was designed and built by British inventor F.R. Simms in 1898. It was the first armed petrol engine powered vehicle ever built. The vehicle was a De DionBouton quadricycle with a mounted Maxim machine gun on the front bar. An iron shield in front of the car protected the driver.
Another early armed car was invented by Royal Page Davidson at Northwestern Military and Naval Academy in 1898 with the DavidsonDuryea gun carriageand the later Davidson Automobile Battery armored car.
However, these were not 'armored cars' as the term is understood today, as they provided no real protection for their crews against any kind of opposing fire. They were also, by virtue of their small capacity engines, far less efficient than the cavalry and horsedrawn guns that they were intended to complement.
At the beginning of the twentieth century, the first military armored vehicles were manufactured, by adding armor and weapons to existing vehicles.
The first armored car was the Simms' Motor War Car, designed by F.R. Simms and built by Vickers, Sons & Maxim of Barrow on a special CoventrybuiltDaimler chassis with a Germanbuilt Daimler motor in 1899.and a single prototype was ordered in April 1899 The prototype was finished in 1902, too late to be used during the Boer War.
The vehicle had Vickers armor 6 mm thick and was powered by a fourcylinder 3.3liter 16 hp Cannstatt Daimler engine giving it a maximum speed of around 9 miles per hour (14.5 km/h). The armament, consisting of two Maxim guns, was carried in two turrets with 360° traverse. It had a crew of four. Simms' Motor War Car was presented at the Crystal Palace, London, in April 1902.
Another early armored car of the period was the French Charron, Girardot et Voigt 1902, presented at the Salon de l'Automobile et du cycle in Brussels, on 8 March 1902. The vehicle was equipped with a Hotchkiss machine gun, and with 7 mm armour for the gunner.
The Italians used armored cars during the ItaloTurkish War. A great variety of armored cars appeared on both sides during World War I and these were used in various ways.