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The hulks of four 1942 Chevrolet T17E2 Staghound armored cars have been deteriorating outside Veermata Jijabai Technical Institute (VJTI) Matunga, Mumbai, India for over three and a half decades.



Manufactured by Chevrolet USA for British use, the Chevrolet Staghound first entered combat in Italy in 1943. A total of 2,844 T-17E1s were built, however only 789 T-17E2s were built of which four are at VJTI !

The Staghound was propelled by two naturally-aspirated,
inline 6-cylinder, 4,425 cc GMC-270 carbureted water-cooled OHV engines,
each of which developed 97 bhp @ 3000 rpm.

Each engine drove its own four-speed GM Hydramatic automatic transmission.

Both transmissions drove a central differential connected to the front and rear axles through a part-time 4x4 two-speed transfer case.
The driver could start or shut down any of the two engines, "on-the-fly" and drive the vehicle on any one or both the engines, as required!
Despite being automatic the staghound could be tow started if the on-board batteries failed.

Its fuel tanks could hold 623 litres of petrol.

Speed and Economy
The Staghound's top speed was 90 km/h with a range of 724 km (112gals of fuel in the tanks).

Tires
The Staghound's 14.00-20 tires come up to chest height and the roof is as tall as my head. It could be driven through water 3-feet deep.

The armored cars at VJTI still wear WW2 14.00-20 COMBAT, run-flat tires manufactured by USRC (United States Rubber Co.) The run flat tires were so heavily made that despite 1-inch deep sidewall cracks, you could still not push a knife through to the tube.
There was no distance limit on the flat running life of the run-flat tires.
The Staghound came with a detachable compressor which could be hooked-up to either of the two engines, so that the vehicle could inflate its own tires. This could be done without tools and without opening the engine bays.

The Staghound armored car was very advanced for its time. It had two separate Bendix HydroVacs (fore and aft) powering a twin chamber master cylinder along with twin vacuum tanks.
It also had (electrically powered - hydraulic pump) power assisted steering

The interiors were pretty rusty. But here are two pictures I took.




Armament
The T-17E2 Staghound had a Frazer-Nash powered anti aircraft turret, carrying twin M2HB Browning 0.5 inch calibre heavy machine guns. A single gunner sat in the turret between the two brownings.


The armored cars at VJTI are T-17E2 Staghounds. These are rarer. Only 789 were produced and 4 are at VJTI, Mumbai, India.

Geographic Location
If you're familiar with Google-Earth, check out
this Google Earth Community post.

In that post, click on where it says


If you have Google Earth installed on your computer, it will take you to the spot where the four Staghounds are located.

"Tripod" no likey hot-linking.....

If anyone else has problem viewing, try "copy-paste" of the properties to your URL window and "enter"....worked for me.

- Doug_Kibbey

"Tripod" no likey hot-linking.....

If anyone else has problem viewing, try "copy-paste" of the properties to your URL window and "enter"....worked for me.

Thanks Doug.
I've since rehosted the images at xs.to
Hope that's better!
Ram

Yep, that works! Thanks for posting...

WOW....!!

Excellent find! Up until now, the one at Jacques Littlefield's had been the only known surviving T17E2.

Ramrao:

Thanks for the post and welcome aboard.

There is a Staghound at the War Museum in Ottawa. I think it came from Australia in trade for something with less of a Canadian connection than the curators needed. I saw the Stag running a few years ago when the mechanics on staff had an open house. I do however, hear whispers that some of the vehicles were damaged from bad driving and rough handling during the big move of AFVs from Vimy House to the new building. No idea how the Stag fared.

Great post and excellent photos. Let's hope that something can be done to preserve at least one of these rare vehicles.

We have quite a few Staghounds in Australia as they were in use with the reserve forces until quite late but they are all the 37mm armed version.

I have been attempting to build a model of the AA version and your photographs will certainly help.

David

I've got nothing new to add....

Great photos - thanks for sharing them !

Dirk

Great photos! Is the drum on the left an auxillary fuel tank? If so, how much did it increase the range? Thanks!