Eland-90 Mk7 South African Wheeled Tank (armored car)

[Special T]

This is a follow up post from the MV spotted thread. I got to follow up with my customer that has been fixing this for his customer. My Ability to visit and crawl around this rig is a result of good Karma I believe. This Elands were made from the early 1960's to the late 80's. This one was made in Late 86. There were 3 variant the Eland 20, 60, & 90. The Mk7 were in introduced in 79 and what made them different were the windows in the turret and the increased cabin size... Which i must say did not help me much. Im 5"10 and 235lbs and it took some climbing in order to fit my fat rear in there. I cant imagine climbing in an earlier version.

This late version has a 90mm cannon is 4wd and has pivoting axles.You can flip a lever to tilt the axles to make it easier to side hill terrain. It has a crew of 3. Driver up front. Gunner on the right of turret and moves the turret via hand crank around and up/down, Commander on the left with a 7.62 browning machine gun next to the main gun on a coax. It has a corroborated gas engine in line GM 2.5l 4cycle 100hp engine.

I am not sure of the exact history of this particular vehicle. An Eland was sold at a private auction in Portola Valley, United States, on July 11–12, 2014 at the "Little Field Auction but from the Pics it does not appear to be the same one because it is missing the replica 7.62 machine gun. I was told third hand that is came straight from South Africa. According the the Mechanic doing some of the repairs there was some damage that he though was from gunfire. Bullet fragments in a flat tire some in the front hub that had some damage and needed fixing. A pretty cool rig weighing in at 12 metic tons 6 forward gear one reverse capable of 100km/h (62mph) This one runs, drives, and the turret moves with the hand crank with ease, or at least i can tell you the swing does the elevation was a little tougher. Its located int he Skagit Valley WA area but i am not at liberty to discuss the actual location. Supposedly when its done being fixed it will be shipped off to a private island in the San Juans as a play toy for island transport.Currently the reverse and gears 1-4 work but the high end 5-6 are not able to engage.

Wikipedia has some pretty good info on the history of this armored car. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eland_Mk7

 

[Special T]

Outside pics

 

[Special T]

 

[turnkey]

Cool looking rig...South Afr I think it was made...I know they used them there.

 

[Another Ahab]

Cool looking rig...South Afr I think it was made...I know they used them there.

Agreed there; it's hard not to like anything armored.

Wonder what the deal is with the perforated plank at the front "fender"position:

- Maybe as extraction back-up when stuck (remove, and place under the offending wheel-kind-of-thing, you think)?

Because WHY would armor need a bumper, right!!?

 

[dk8019]

Always liked the looks of these, the gun seems massive for such a small vehicle. It's like a Ferrett with a giant cannon!

that front plate is exactly that I believe, a plate to be removed and placed under a wheel when stuck. I suppose it adds some much needed armor as well

 

[Special T]

Thats exactly what its for. They are just connected wirh some wing nut like nuts bolts since they are wheeled they would likely need some help at one pont or inother in the soft dirt or sand.

 

[B3.3T]

Same as the French AML-90 but different engine. TINY inside and extremely top-heavy, but very cool. The French have sold the AML-90 all over the World, especially in Africa. The 90mm was effective against T-55 and T-62s during the Angolian and Congo wars.

 

[Another Ahab]

Always liked the looks of these, the gun seems massive for such a small vehicle. It's like a Ferrett with a giant cannon!

that front plate is exactly that I believe, a plate to be removed and placed under a wheel when stuck. I suppose it adds some much needed armor as well

Thanks for the confirmation, dk8019.

And I hadn't picked up on the weapon, but you're absolutely right! That tube looks like it might be close to like 4" (100 MM).

 

[Special T]

Its a 90mm and the ferret was a predecessor idea that was built/improved upon. The wiki page has lots of good Info. The big plus for this rig is its speed, agility, and the fact its air mobil armor. Its actually a pretty small ride and the mk 7 was increaded in size and the last of its series. The negatives is the gas motor (gas is easier to explode) and its rlativly light armor when confro ted with the traditional russian tanks. They only way they coul kill one was multiple direct hits or a perfect shot from behind. Thier agility and speed helped with that.

 

[dk8019]

Was it possible to fire that big gun when aiming perpendicular to the direction of travel? Even with that huge muzzle brake, I would imagine the recoil energy is fierce!

 

[Special T]

Aiming was an all mechanical hand c rank system. It hat to come to a stop in order to shoot

 

[Special T]

Same as the French AML-90 but different engine. TINY inside and extremely top-heavy, but very cool. The French have sold the AML-90 all over the World, especially in Africa. The 90mm was effective against T-55 and T-62s during the Angolian and Congo wars.

Mostly when mulitpal were used to attack at the same tim. Especially on th t62

 

[Another Ahab]

Its a 90mm and the ferret was a predecessor idea that was built/improved upon. The wiki page has lots of good Info. The big plus for this rig is its speed, agility, and the fact its air mobil armor. Its actually a pretty small ride and the mk 7 was increaded in size and the last of its series. The negatives is the gas motor (gas is easier to explode) and its rlativly light armor when confro ted with the traditional russian tanks. They only way they coul kill one was multiple direct hits or a perfect shot from behind. Thier agility and speed helped with that.

Being behind the armor is NOT always the best place to be, and my hat's off to the crews in these who went (knowingly), up against the heavier armor.

 

[Winterboer]

I have had the opportunity to examine both an AML-90 and an Eland up close. The Eland has a longer nose (more room for the driver's legs) due to the fact that the South Africans were generally larger than the average Algerian War era French conscript, but I'm about 6" and had to still take out the back rest of the seat to get comfortable. Agreed that it was an extremely cramped fit; the distance from the end of the AML hull to the steering wheel was about the length of my leg below the knee!

 

[Winterboer]

According to some of the SAAC okes I've spoken to over the years, it's not impossible to fire on the move. An exceptionally strong gunner can keep the turret on alignment, even when that cranky vehicle is in motion over rough terrain.

The reason for stopping before shooting is accuracy. It's not stablised and there's no fire control computer to compensate, so the gunner needs the time to perform last minute ranging calculations before he shoots.

 

[Another Ahab]

Thank you for the clarifications, Winterboer, and you look relatively new on-board here, so:

- Welcome to you from the USA here in Virginia.

 

[M813rc]

Was it possible to fire that big gun when aiming perpendicular to the direction of travel? Even with that huge muzzle brake, I would imagine the recoil energy is fierce!

Yes, seen it done, it is a routine firing position. It rocks the vehicle quite alarmingly, but not dangerously.

I grew up seeing those (the AML-60 and AML-90 versions) regularly on the roads in Ireland, the military provide(d) a lot of the internal security there. I also had "connections" in Defense, so got to go to a lot of military training and display events and watch the gear in action. The AML was a great little vehicle, small and quiet, for the shoot-and-scoot tactics the Army used.

Cheers

ps - An Irish AML-90 in UN service, firing the 90mm