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).
Car radio and aerial options from Delco, including pricing and a comparison to British and German radios.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 178\2\ img025 | |
| Date | 13th April 1940 | |
| Serial No.76. COPY. OY.1/D/Apr.13.40. Rolls-Royce, Ltd., Derby, England. Rm.{William Robotham - Chief Engineer} Car Radio. I have made several attempts to reply to Rm{William Robotham - Chief Engineer}/RC.{R. Childs} 1/BA, January 4th, 1940. By the assistance of J.H.Hunt, I have now been able to have a talk with Ray Ellis of the Delco Radio Division. He suggests that our best reply will be for him to ship the following to us for R.R.Ltd. Car Aerials. 1) Buick, mounted on center bar of windshield. 2) Pontiac, external whipsocket manual adjustment. 3) Oldsmobile, internal whipsocket manual adjustment. (i.e. the downward extension of the aerial comes within the cowling.) 4) Cadillac aerial of similar type with vacuum operated extension and retraction. Also, Ellis will ship us a standard Oldsmobile radio 6 tube set with drawings of the box and grille, wiring diagrams, etc. The cost of all this to us will be about $30.00. The retail price of the radio itself is around $30.00, i.e. the wholesale price is about $18.00. These parts will be sent to us forthwith, and with due precautions about import licenses, etc., we think they should be in your hands within a month. In addition to these, I got the following information from Ray Ellis :- 1) Delco recently tested several makes of British radios. His criticism of these is that they all showed poor workmanship, poor coil insulation and an attempt, long abandoned in this country to use home radio parts in car radios. The point being that home radio parts will not stand up to the vibration and temperature variations incident to use on an automobile. He has also tested various German radios, mostly confined to Robert Bosch types, and he said that these were worse in workmanship and design than the British sets. | ||