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 to Park Ward & Sons Ltd. discussing faults with an all-steel body on a Bentley chassis after a 16,000-mile test.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 84\3\ scan0001 | |
| Date | 3rd June 1936 | |
| x204 Exptl. Dept. Hs{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair}/Rm.{William Robotham - Chief Engineer}20/KW. 3rd June, 1936. C. Ward Esq., Messrs. Park Ward & Sons Ltd., 473, High Road, Willesden, LONDON, N.W.2. Dear Mr. Ward, All-Steel Bodies on the Bentley. We have just concluded another 16,000 miles' running, a considerable portion of which was on the Continent, on the all-steel body fitted to B-56-BN{W.O. Bentley / Mr Barrington} chassis. We are disappointed to find that we have had much the same minor faults with the body which occurred on my original run last Summer. Things like rattling doors make all the difference between a pleasant and an unbearable motor car. It is possible that you have modified the production bodies you are making, having regard to the troubles which we experienced on this first body, but the fact remains that we think you have lost a certain amount of valuable experience by not having made a thorough job of B-56-BN{W.O. Bentley / Mr Barrington} body when you had it last time. I must say that the American type of door wedges appear to me to be much sounder than the type of article which we use, which seems highly susceptible to climatic conditions and has little or no capacity for accommodation. You will remember that we obtained some Buick wedges for you and I have never heard why it was not possible to fit these to English cars. | ||