Leonardo da Vinci’s wooden armored vehicle was an armored car intended for four soldiers.
Leonardo designed this vehicle around 1487–1490 while working for Ludovico Sforza in Milan. Its conical, turtle-like body was covered with wooden panels reinforced with metal plates. Small cannons were arranged around the vehicle so that it could fire in several directions.
The vehicle was powered by cranks turned by people inside. Historical reconstructions note that the surviving drawing appears to contain a gearing problem that would prevent the machine from moving as drawn. This may have been deliberate, since Leonardo sometimes concealed technical details in presentation drawings.
The design is often called a “tank,” but that modern term should not obscure its actual purpose: it was a proposed Renaissance fighting vehicle, not a working modern tank. It was never built by Leonardo and never used in battle.