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BIG4 sidecar (details) variations  (iss. 129)

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This page intends to categorize all variations found on military BIG4 sidecars. I do not pretend to have it complete, but it will cover most variations. If anybody can add more (proven with photographs) I will be glad to hear. The sequence is arbitrarily taken from the front to the rear. Parts which to my knowledge have not changed are not mentioned.

Variation one:
Sidecar for armed passenger use with provisions for the spare wheel on the front shield.

Variation two:
sidecar for armed passenger use with provisions for the spare wheel at the rear of the wooden box.

Variation three:
Sidecar for transport of goods with a so called "AA type" sidecar box.

(This later type apparently referred to the pre war (UK) Automobile Association sidecars which were used to carry tools and basic spare parts to keep members of the AA mobile in case of break downs. Similar boxes were also used by the Dutch "Wegenwacht" after the war, but then mounted to BSA's or Harley Davidsons.)

Special variations:
Two  special outfits were modified at the Small Arms School (S.A.S.)  to carry a 3.2 inch Stokes mortar on a platform mounted onto the chassis of the sidecar for training purposes (ref. O&M). 

Another was fitted with a machine gun mount for the driver and a Motley machine gun mount for the passenger.

First variation mentioned in each row is the oldest, variations in one column not necessarily same time frame between rows.

  Item Variation one  Variation two Variation three Variation four
Body Body

Standard passenger body rear mounted spare wheel (prototype with windshield and missing valance on front mudguard)

Standard passenger body front mounted spare wheel

AA type box sidecar, spare wheel at the rear

Stokes 3.2" mortar mounted on sidecar chassis

   

Standard passenger body heavily armed

     
Electrical parts Side lamp  
  axle flood light Lucas L-WDAF1  

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