I have always admired armored cars crews. I think their vehicles are fast enough to get themselves in trouble, but not armored enough to get themselves out of trouble.

The M8 started its life as a “tank destroyer” vehicle. Very quickly, it was realized that the 37mm cannon wasn’t enough to take out a tank, and the vehicle got re-assigned mainly to cavalry and reconnaissance units. The M20 is a spin-off of the M8, based on the same hull but with a different top and used, for the most part, as a command vehicle, fitted with different radios and a folding map board.

The book is profusely illustrated with over 250 photographs, a dozen line drawings, and six color profiles. The drawings are very helpful in learning to distinguish the features of M8 vs. M20. Almost all pictures are in color, of units preserved in different museums or private collections. As with most restored vehicles, some details are not appropriate for a wartime vehicle. The author is very careful to point out when this is the case. The few black and white pictures are high quality period pictures, utilized to depict the vehicles in different locations or situations.

The captions are very descriptive and detailed. The layout of the photos on each page is such that when reading this book, you get the feeling of literally “walking around” an M8/M20 while a museum curator is giving you a private tour of the vehicle.

I highly recommend this book to any modeler who is into Allied armored cars.

I would like to thank Squadron Signal and IPMS/USA for the review sample.