Trado

The Trado III suspension system, an improved version, was a considerable commercial success and applied to many existing and new civilian and military truck types.

The first project, the Pantrado 1, envisaged a very long type with a good trench-crossing capability, brought about by applying the principle of the articulated vehicle: it was to consist of two fully tracked truck hulls attached back to back, connected by a large horizontal articulated cylinder. The full track was to be achieved by extending the track over the rubber-tired front wheels. The cylinder could be split, creating two tanks, each with the engine in front and the fighting room, crowned by a gun turret, at the back.

The second project, the Pantrado 2, was in the form of a single half-track.

The third armoured project, called the M39 Pantserwagen, or Pantrado 3, dispensed with the track option entirely and was a pure armoured car. In view of the intended reconnaissance role of the vehicles to be procured, the Royal Netherlands Army was only interested in this third type.

In the autumn of 1937, the army ordered a single prototype to be built; Van Doorne and Van der Trappen had indicated this could be finished quickly as they had already prepared the manufacture of a demonstrator vehicle. The claim to superiority to British design was based on the use of a welded monocoque construction combined with a consistent use of the sloped armour principle, which was predicted to lead to a much improved weight-efficiency.

This type did thus not utilise an existing truck chassis, as was common for contemporary armoured cars.