White Scout Car at Fort Knox 1939
M3A1 White Scout Car Camp Forrest 1942
French M3A1 Scout Paris 1944
M3A1 F35416 Guards Armoured Division
French 2nd Armored Division Scout Car
55th Field Artillery Soldiers Guard Key Bridge in DC December 1941
White M3 Scout Car of 1st Armored Regiment at Fort Knox 1940
German M3 Scout, Panzerspahwagen M3A1 210(a), surrender at Iserlohn 1945 4
1st Cavalry Troops with M3 and 37 mm AT at Fort Bliss 1941
German M3 Scout Surrender at Iserlohn 1945 2
Soldiers in M3A1 in Downtown Philadelphia
M3A1 White Scout Car at Fort Knox 1939
Brand new M3 Scout Cars in White Motor Co Cleveland 1942
USS LCT-420 Unloads M3A1 Scout Car during Operation Husky, 1943
German M3 Scout Surrender at Iserlohn 1945 3
M3A1 of the 754th Tank Battalion
German M3 Scout Surrender at Iserlohn 1945
German M3 Scout Surrender at Iserlohn 1945 5
Soviet M3A1 in Berlin 1945
M3 Scout Cars in White Motor Co Yard Cleveland 1942
Gen. Keyes Arrives at Palermo Royal Palace in M3A1, 1943
Beute M3 of the Wehrmacht, Ostfront 1944
Russian M3A1 #112 Austria 1945
German M3 scout car of Afrika Korps
M3 was an armored car in U.S. service during World War II. This armored car was used for patrol, scouting, as command vehicle, ambulance and gun tractor. The vehicle was developed in 1937 by the White Motor Company. The original order was for 64 units, all of which were given to the 7th Cavalry Brigade. Eventually the Army decided to adopt an improved version, designated M3A1. The new version had longer and wider hull. In front of the bumper a roller was mounted. The M3A1 could carry up to seven infantry and provide fire support with three machine guns – one .50 Caliber (12.7 mm) and two .30 Caliber inch (7.62 mm) – mounted on a skate rail around the hull.
Production of the M3A1 started in 1941 and lasted until 1944, with 20,918 vehicles built.
The design influenced the later US halftrack designs such as the M3 halftrack and the post-WW2 Soviet BTR-40. The early M2 halftrack copied the armor layout as well as the skate rail machinegun mounts.