Performance of the Continental Touring Saloon Chassis, particularly the 26-EX demonstration car.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 19\1\ Scan072 | |
| Date | 27th November 1930 | |
| S/W. {Sales / Derby Works} Wor. {Arthur Wormald - General Works Manager} COPY. re - Continental Touring Saloon Chassis. We have, as you know, 26-EX running as a Demonstration Car, and it appears to have an all round very fine performance, and those who have tried it, both at home and abroad, have expressed their admiration for the chassis. I am wondering whether we are likely to get the same performance from the chassis of this type that are now on order with you and which are having bodies of a similar type fitted. I am a little nervous as to what will happen if those who receive them do not consider the performance up to the standard of our Demonstration Car. In support of this feeling I would state that I have heard it said at various times that the engine of 26-EX is so particularly good that we shall have some difficulty in producing another one like it. I hope you may be able to assure us that that is not really the case. Before it was decided to put this car on the market Sg. {Arthur F. Sidgreaves - MD} asked Hs. {Lord Ernest Hives - Chair} whether there were any differences in the chassis affecting its performance other than those differences which we know about - i.e. angle of steering column, springing and its auxiliary Hartford shock absorbers. He was assured that it was standard in all respects with these exceptions. It may be that you have already heard that this car has on at least one occasion shown a speed of 100 m.p.h. on the speedometer. What we are anxious to do, with your assistance, is to make sure that customers who receive this type of chassis are not able to compare it unfavourably with our own car and that we should make every effort, as no doubt we are doing, to see that the duplicates come up to the original in performance. Whether this would necessitate your giving any special instruction to EP. {G. Eric Platford - Chief Quality Engineer} , of course, I cannot say, but I think that "to be forewarned is to be forearmed" in this matter, and if you can by any special instructions ensure our giving immediate satisfaction to the recipients of these Continental Touring Saloon chassis, it will be of considerable benefit to the Company as a whole. I would in due course be very interested to have your views on this point, and to know in what way you can help us bring about that very desirable end. Cx. {Major Len W. Cox - Advertising Manager} | ||
From the Rolls-Royce experimental archive: a quarter of a million communications from Rolls-Royce, 1906 to 1960's. Documents from the Sir Henry Royce Memorial Foundation (SHRMF).