Armoured BMW in Classifieds!

[Andy ap]

Am i allowed to post this? Spotted an Armoured E39 in the classifieds would make a great idea for pissing off some Gangsta's YO! then running them the fk over.



http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/b...

[Krikkit]

Pretty cool, but if your gangster enemies pick up some AK's instead of 9's you'll still die.

[longblackcoat]

Krikkit said:

Pretty cool, but if your gangster enemies pick up some AK's instead of 9's you'll still die.

If it really is B4 armoured, then as specified you're AK-47 proof - B4 armour is designed to stop 7.52x51 rounds

[cptsideways]

That's a cheap armoured car, I'm sure that'll be making its way to Russia soon

What B4 spec, small arms fire only? google says B4 .44 Magnum

[CampDavid]

Nice as an idea but only useful when you're being shot at. At other times it's a 540i which weighs 500kgs + more than standard and as such isn't actually that quick

[ArsE92]

CampDavid said:

Nice as an idea but only useful when you're being shot at. At other times it's a 540i which weighs 500kgs + more than standard and as such isn't actually that quick

Yes, but it's got an outside PA system!

<pssshk>Show us your sponge!</pssshk>

[Krikkit]

longblackcoat said:

Krikkit said:

Pretty cool, but if your gangster enemies pick up some AK's instead of 9's you'll still die.

If it really is B4 armoured, then as specified you're AK-47 proof - B4 armour is designed to stop 7.52x51 rounds

Apparently not, according to a couple of armouring company sites I can find; B4 is handgun/shotgun, B6+ is assault and non-piercing rifles, B7 is for armour piercing.

[Snoop Bagg]

Loads of them on ebay!

[schmalex]

ArsE92 said:

<pssshk>Show us your sponge!</pssshk>

[zcacogp]

Serious Q: How do they make the car armoured? It looks entirely normal (apart from a few additional bits on the front bumper). Do they put additional material in the doors? If so, what sort of thing and how do they make the window winding mechanisms and central locking mechanisms and speakers and whatnot fit around the additional bits? Or are the door pressings themselves different?

What is armoured and what isn't? Is the glass different? What about the boot - is that armoured? And the engine; I'd guess that one of the requirements is that the car can be shot at and still carry on driving, in which case the engine bay would need to be armoured as well. How does that work given that you'd still need to arrange airflow for the radiator and oil cooling and whatnot?

The tyres look pretty normal - how would they deal with being shot at?


Oli.

[anonymous-user]

zcacogp said:

Serious Q: How do they make the car armoured? It looks entirely normal (apart from a few additional bits on the front bumper). Do they put additional material in the doors? If so, what sort of thing and how do they make the window winding mechanisms and central locking mechanisms and speakers and whatnot fit around the additional bits? Or are the door pressings themselves different?

What is armoured and what isn't? Is the glass different? What about the boot - is that armoured? And the engine; I'd guess that one of the requirements is that the car can be shot at and still carry on driving, in which case the engine bay would need to be armoured as well. How does that work given that you'd still need to arrange airflow for the radiator and oil cooling and whatnot?

The tyres look pretty normal - how would they deal with being shot at?


Oli.

Loads on YooToob. Fifth Gear, Discovery channel etc although it's usually shrouded with the usual "Obviously we can't show you how it's done" thing, but basically it means adding ballistic resistant material to the doors, bulkheads and floor pan (whether that be plates, moulded composites, spray-on stuff or whatever) increasing the overlap at the door boundaries, protecting the fuel tank with an aircraft style self-sealing foam layer that expands on contact with fuel, and replacing the windows (which will be permanently shut usually due to weight and lack of space for a winding mechanism. Tyres will be Run-Flats.
Not entirely convinced by the "Supplied by BMW Germany to the UK Govt" bit in the advert. I know the days when ministers and the like only ever wafted around on the best (?) that Longbridge and Cowley had to offer, but I was under the impression most UK Govt VIP transport was all JLR-sourced these days.
Having said that, there were a few G-Wagens knocking about Kandahar a while back, driven by blokes with goatee beards and a penchant for Rohan trousers.

Edited by anonymous-user on Wednesday 6th November 10:31

[madbadger]

zcacogp said:

Serious Q: How do they make the car armoured? It looks entirely normal (apart from a few additional bits on the front bumper). Do they put additional material in the doors? If so, what sort of thing and how do they make the window winding mechanisms and central locking mechanisms and speakers and whatnot fit around the additional bits? Or are the door pressings themselves different?

What is armoured and what isn't? Is the glass different? What about the boot - is that armoured? And the engine; I'd guess that one of the requirements is that the car can be shot at and still carry on driving, in which case the engine bay would need to be armoured as well. How does that work given that you'd still need to arrange airflow for the radiator and oil cooling and whatnot?

The tyres look pretty normal - how would they deal with being shot at?



Oli.

I don't think you wind the windows down on an armoured car. Better to use the aircon.

[longblackcoat]

Krikkit said:

longblackcoat said:

Krikkit said:

Pretty cool, but if your gangster enemies pick up some AK's instead of 9's you'll still die.

If it really is B4 armoured, then as specified you're AK-47 proof - B4 armour is designed to stop 7.52x51 rounds

Apparently not, according to a couple of armouring company sites I can find; B4 is handgun/shotgun, B6+ is assault and non-piercing rifles, B7 is for armour piercing.

http://www.alpha-armouring.com/ballistics.html caters to the European market and is probably more reliable than the Texas Armouring webite.

Not that I have any need of or desire for an armoured car......

[Andy ap]

zcacogp said:

Serious Q: How do they make the car armoured? It looks entirely normal (apart from a few additional bits on the front bumper). Do they put additional material in the doors? If so, what sort of thing and how do they make the window winding mechanisms and central locking mechanisms and speakers and whatnot fit around the additional bits? Or are the door pressings themselves different?

What is armoured and what isn't? Is the glass different? What about the boot - is that armoured? And the engine; I'd guess that one of the requirements is that the car can be shot at and still carry on driving, in which case the engine bay would need to be armoured as well. How does that work given that you'd still need to arrange airflow for the radiator and oil cooling and whatnot?

The tyres look pretty normal - how would they deal with being shot at?


Oli.

Glass can be made pretty tough, not sure about the other stuff. I remember hearing or reading somewhere that certain tyres are actually quite hard to shoot out with 9mm rounds (or snub nose rounds) as the tyres absorb all the energy and the bullets just bounce off. Especially if the round hits it at a few degress beyond perpendicular. It would make sense i suppose as i remember reading in a McNab book (yeah i know) that their CQB or room clearing house they used for training had thick sheets of rubber hanging down the walls to absorb the SMG rounds.

I would imagine a lot of the car just has Bullet proof wadding stuffed in the door card cavities etc to dissipate the rounds energy etc. The actual body panels will just be normal car skin and wont stop the round. Same for light clusters etc etc. As to how they'd protect the radiator..Dunno?

[ambuletz]

I wonder how much heavier it is over a regular 540i, and how much has it worsened the MPG

[GC8]

B4 is good for a single big 7mm round. Im not sure about two close together though, although yoots with a gangsta shooting style arent ever going to manage grouping like that...

[Engineer1]

cptsideways said:

That's a cheap armoured car, I'm sure that'll be making its way to Russia soon

What B4 spec, small arms fire only? google says B4 .44 Magnum

The thing is unless the supplier actually tells you what testing regiem they are using a B4 from one armourer could be better armoured than a B2 from another, ISO B4 is 22 rifle or similar.

[Martin4x4]

Not so suprising, you can hire Armoured Range Rovers for £1,000 per day.

[Engineer1]

madbadger said:

zcacogp said:

Serious Q: How do they make the car armoured? It looks entirely normal (apart from a few additional bits on the front bumper). Do they put additional material in the doors? If so, what sort of thing and how do they make the window winding mechanisms and central locking mechanisms and speakers and whatnot fit around the additional bits? Or are the door pressings themselves different?

What is armoured and what isn't? Is the glass different? What about the boot - is that armoured? And the engine; I'd guess that one of the requirements is that the car can be shot at and still carry on driving, in which case the engine bay would need to be armoured as well. How does that work given that you'd still need to arrange airflow for the radiator and oil cooling and whatnot?

The tyres look pretty normal - how would they deal with being shot at?



Oli.

I don't think you wind the windows down on an armoured car. Better to use the aircon.

Speaking with my work hat on, the windows are thicker by a considerable ammount, they can be fixed or moveable but obviously fixed is better as the VIP can't open the window at the wrong time, one window is likely to be operable to a limited degree to allow paperwork to be handed in or out. There are options with regard to how much is armoured, most will go all out to protect the passenger cabin as it really doesn't matter if the boot is full of holes as after an attack the car will need some work.
The general aim is to make the car look as close to stock as possible re-using as much trim as possible so that it doesn't attract any extra looks, given most armouring is done by specialist firms they aim to re-use the existing internal trim as un altered as possible as it maintains parts availaibilty. The exact way door openings etc are armoured depends on the vehicle and the size of the door opening, as while you need the armour to overlap the glass you still need to leave access for driver and passengers.

[cptsideways]

I've driven an armoured Phantom, 5 tons it weighed!! just don't try opening the doors on a side slope as they'd take your leg off. The only giveaway was the odd looking tyres & nigh on 2" thick glass.