The Coventry armoured vehicle mentioned in two Irish republican rebel songs

An armoured car built in Coventry in the 1960s was so ubiquitous in Northern Ireland, it was explicitly named in two controversial Irish rebel songs. The Alvis Saracen was produced in Coventry at the company’s Holyhead Road factory from 1952 to 1976 and was a common sight on the roads of Northern Ireland during the height of The Troubles in Northern Ireland.

The vehicle could carry 11 people, including a squad of eight soldiers and a troop commander and was used extensively during Operation Banner - the official name for the British military presence in Northern Ireland from 1969 until 2007. The vehicle was used to both transport troops and for patrols in predominantly nationalist areas that were hostile to the British military presence.

The vehicles stopped production in 1976 but continued to see active service well through the 1980s. Some of the more poignant images of the conflict including the vehicle came from Operation Motorman, when the British Army deployed 22,000 soldiers to regain so called ‘no-go areas’ in Derry and Belfast where the Provisional IRA had de facto control.

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The vehicle became so ubiquitous, they have featured in some of the more controversial Irish rebel songs. These are folk and pop songs in Ireland that recount rebellions and conflicts against British rule from a republican or nationalist perspective.

Many of these songs remain popular decades since the conflict in Northern Ireland ended and are often sung in pubs and at social events across the island. Bands like the Wolfe Tones, who specialise in these songs, are known to sell out concerts in minutes.

‘Kinky Boots’ and ‘My Little Armalite’, name the vehicle explicitly. More mainstream songs like ‘Men Behind The Wire’ more vaguely refer to ‘armoured cars and tanks and guns’, which would’ve included the Saracen.

It wasn’t just in Northern Ireland. The Saracen saw action in Aden, the Malaya Emergency, Cyprus, and was used in Africa by both the South African apartheid regime and during the Nigerian Civil War.

It’s a complex legacy that these vehicles have, with their usage being seen as a symbol of oppression or protection, depending on one’s perspective. Yet these vehicles, built in Coventry, have played a role in some of the 20th century’s most pivotal historical moments.