The alteration of back springs and new mandatory testing procedures for cars.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 80\2\ scan0261 | |
| Date | 17th February 1920 | |
| X3981 chassis To Bn. {W.O. Bentley / Mr Barrington} from CJ. To WOR {Arthur Wormald - General Works Manager} from CJ. Copy to R. {Sir Henry Royce} BP. Hs. {Lord Ernest Hives - Chair} Re Alteration in Back Springs. CJ6/E.17.2.20. It seems to me that the alteration in back springs, which is now recommended, would never have been necessary if the Engineering Department would realise what I have been striving for years to make them realise, namely, that there is only one proper way of testing a Rolls-Royce car which has a novelty on it and that is with a landaulet body, fully loaded, open at the back and carrying luggage on the back grid. For the Future I shall refuse to look at any report on the behaviour of a car or a new part unless this has been made under the above conditions. I shall always be happy to receive reports as to the behaviour of a new part with an open car but I will not agree to the standardisation of any new part or the acceptance of any new type of chassis until the testing, which has hitherto been carried out on open cars, has been carried out on closed cars above referred to. The fault in this case was not discovered by the Engineering Department; it was not discovered by the Test Department; it was discovered owing to my personal discomfiture in the landaulet at Christmas time and the remarks which I then heard from Crawford and the opinions expressed by de Salamanca when he arrived at Le Canadel(Henry Royce's French residence). This fact is most distressing and shows the necessity for the regulation above referred to. Please arrange in future that all standardisation sheets and all other reports of road trials should state definitely whether the trials are made on a closed car subject to the above conditions. CJ. | ||
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).