Panhard EBR 90 F2

Type: Armoured Car
Nation: France
Period: Cold War
Location: Musée de l‘Abri de Hatten, France

What you see is what you get

The Panhard EBR was an armoured reconnaissance vehicle and that is literally what “EBR” stood for: “engin blindé de reconnaissance”. Wheeled vehicles were generally deemed faster than tracked vehicles and – important for a scout – less noisy. In 1940 the Panhard company had built a low-silhouetted 8×8 prototype, but the German invasion in May and the following four years of occupation put an end to this project. After France was liberated the idea was revived, because the French Army was not too satisfied with their American-supplied M8 Greyhounds. The production EBR looked very similar to the aforementioned pre-war prototype and was eventually put into service in 1951.

Where’s the front?

The 13.5-ton EBR’s silhouette could be kept fairly low due to its very flat opposed-piston 12-cylinder engine. It produced 200 hp and allowed for a top speed of 100 kph on the road. When going off-road the four inner steel wheels, which were also powered, would be hydraulically lowered. The vehicle could be driven forwards and backwards alike. It had one driver at each end so that it was able to quickly disappear the way it came from without having to perform a time-consuming three-point turn. This symmetrical layout can also be found on several other recce vehicles, for example the German wartime Sd.Kfz. 234 or the Spähpanzer Luchs from the 1970s.

Swapping turrets

This particular vehicle at the Musée de l‘Abri de Hatten is a modernised 1964 version with a 90 mm smoothbore gun in its innovative two-part oscillating turret. This arrangement allowed for a relatively heavy weapon to fit into a light and compact turret. The commander’s and loader/gunner’s seats were attached to the top half of the turret so that they would always be aligned to the gun. The initial EBR 75 had carried a less powerful 75 mm gun in the same turret. The 1954 variant with the AMX-13 light tank’s turret and an automatically loaded long 75 (comparable to that of the German Panther) was deemed too heavy and high-profile, so that eventually the 90 mm smoothbore was put into the original turret.