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).
Letter clarifying plans for the new Bentley V, including production quantities and cost reduction strategies.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 117\2\ scan0090 | |
| Date | 23th November 1939 | |
| c Mr. Green - 1021 Rm.{William Robotham - Chief Engineer}8/MH.{M. Huckerby} 23rd. November, 1939. C.W.Ward, Esq., Messrs. Park Ward & Co. Ltd., 473, High Road, Willesden, LONDON, N.W.10. Dear Ward, Many thanks for your letter of 22nd. inst. I am sorry I did not make the proposed body project clear to you. I thought my letter of the 30th. October was reasonably clear, but apparently there is still some confusion. What we are after is as follows. We have built a car which we have called Bentley V.{VIENNA} By putting a Rolls-Royce radiator on it we are going to double the amount we can sell. Because the car is fairly expensive to run, however, we anticipate that the total production with 3 1/2-litre engines and upwards, with both the Rolls-Royce and Bentley radiators, will not exceed 800 a year, of which only 500 will be fitted with standardised bodies. To get bigger quantities we have got to do two things - (1) make the car less expensive to run (2) get the price down. To make the car less expensive to run we are providing two engines of reduced RAC rating, one 18 horse power, the other 14 horse power. To get the price down we have got to take advantage of the increased quantity to improve our manufacturing methods. | ||