1st Light Car Patrol was formed in Melbourne during 1916 and was at first named the 1st Armoured Car Section but was also known as the 1st Armoured Car Battery. Equipped with three armoured cars built at the Vulcan Engineering Works in South Melbourne, a 50 hp (37 kW) Daimler, a 60 hp (45 kW) Mercedes and a 50 hp (37 kW) Minerva. All were armoured and the Daimler and Mercedes were armed with Colt machine guns. The unit fought against the Senussi in the Sudan and Western Desert. The 1st Armoured Car Section became the 1st Light Car Patrol on 3 December 1916. As their original 3 vehicles became worn out from hard use in the Western Desert and were irreparable due to shortages of spare parts, the unit was reequipped with six Ford light cars. Extra drivers and motorcycles were provided. The cars were given names: Anzac, Billzac, Osatal, Silent Sue, Imshi and Bung. These were traded in for six new Fords on 11 December 1917. In May 1917 the unit was redeployed to Palestine by rail, and served throughout the campaign there.
Famous quotes containing the words light and/or car:
“Do we write books so that they shall merely be read? Don’t we also write them for employment in the household? For one that is read from start to finish, thousands are leafed through, other thousands lie motionless, others are jammed against mouseholes, thrown at rats, others are stood on, sat on, drummed on, have gingerbread baked on them or are used to light pipes.”
—G.C. (Georg Christoph)
“Did ye not hear it?—No; ‘twas but the wind,
Or the car rattling o’er the stony street;
On with the dance! let joy be unconfined;
No sleep till morn, when Youth and Pleasure meet
To chase the glowing Hours with flying feet.”
—George Gordon Noel Byron (1788–1824)