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Skoda-FIAT Torino

1920

Skoda-Fiat Turin History

In October 1918, towards the end of the First World War (1914-1918), Czechoslovakia declared independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire. With the declaration, the new state assumed many responsibilities, one of which was the self-defense of the standing army.

The MNO was formed as a materiel committee to supply the new army with suitable war materiel, one of which became an Italian FIAT 18BL military truck.

In 1919, a request for a new armored car came and the order fell to the Skoda factory. Engineers conveniently chose the 18BL truck as the backbone of the new car and added an equally new armored superstructure to it to protect the interior drive components and occupants. The armament is mounted along the roofline and consists of a pair of rotatable turrets.

A prototype was completed in 1920, and testing of the vehicle was deemed compliant. Dubbed the Skoda-Fiat "Turin", more than a dozen examples of the car will arrive by the end of the year.

Inside, the vehicle retains its Fiat truck origins with its front engine and 4x2 wheel arrangement. The rear axle employs twin tires to balance the weight of the armored superstructure, which itself has plate edges and rounded corners. Observation slots are cut into the design to allow the five crew members including a driver, a passenger, a vehicle commander and two dedicated machine gunners to have some situational awareness.

The armament became 2 x 7.92mm Maxim MG08 water-cooled machine guns, mounted on each mobile turret along the roof. The turrets are also offset from each other along the central axis of the roof to significantly improve the arc of fire at each location.

Armor thickness along key fairings reaches 6 mm.

Propulsion comes from a 64 hp Fiat 4-cylinder engine. This allows the 6.25-ton vehicle to reach a top speed of 10 mph.

Turin did not prove to be an absolute success, problems arose when it began actual service with the new Czech army (they ended up being used mostly as trainers before the end). By 1925, eight cars were out of service, and the rest would follow by the end of the century - marking the end of the Skoda-Fiat armored car project.

The line was eventually succeeded by the Skoda PA-I, which served as an experimental pair in 1922 and paved the way for the subsequent design of the legendary Skoda PA-2 "Zelva" ("Turtle").