The story of this vehicle is quite fascinating.
It looks interesting and almost become British… 
In 1933, a Hungarian engineer, Miklos Straussler, was living in England. He came to an agreement with the Weiss Manfred Factory of Csepel, in Budapest, about producing prototypes of his special vehicles. One of them was an off-road armoured car, designed for the British Army. This was the AC I experimental vehicle, which was created in 1934.
On the basis of the experiences of trials and fabrication a new enhanced version was designed and designated as the AC II. In this version a second driving position was created in the rear which was a must in scout cars. The modern construction, designed for military purposes, gained the Hungarian high command’s approval.
Trials with the AC II proved that the construction would satisfy the demands put on it by the Hungarian Army for armoured cars. The vehicle’s turret was built with the guidance of the Hungarian Institute of Military Technology. The armoured car was made of 9mm armor plate with rivets. The form of the body was more modern and more successful than the English version. The vehicle was equiped with a 20mm heavy gun and an 8mm machine-gun. Both driving stations were covered by opening armored plates.
In 1939, after the successful tests, the vehicle was supplied to the Hungarian Army under the name 39M Csaba armoured scout car.
Meanwhile, 61 of them were ordered for reconnaisance units. Its engine was a 90 hp Ford engine, built in Koln, Germany. In 1940, another 40 cars were ordered. Twenty of them were straight armoured cars for combat and 12 served as command cars with radio equipment installed. The production of the next series of these cars was delayed until 1944 because of the greater importance of the Hungarian tank program. No records show that any more were ever produced.
Do you have any info about Csaba performance in battles on the Eastern front?
Cheers,
Lancer44
