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 from Government House, Pretoria, regarding the maintenance, performance, and issues with Chassis No. 3.BT-25.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 107\3\ scan0170 | |
| Date | 11th August 1939 | |
| COPY. GOVERNMENT HOUSE, PRETORIA. 11th August 1939. Messrs. Rolls-Royce, Ltd., DERBY. Dear Sirs, re CHASSIS NO. 3.BT{Capt. J. S. Burt - Engineer}-25. ---------- As I am about to decarbonise His Excellency's Rolls-Royce, (mileage 20,000), I will be very grateful if you will inform me of any modifications which may have become necessary or that will, in your opinion, improve the performance of the above car, so that I may be able to carry them out during the decarbonising process. Any fresh advice that you can give me on the latter operation I shall also appreciate. I am still having trouble with the intermittent water leak from the radiator. I shall dismantle it during the time the car is laid up with a view to subjecting it to air pressure in order to discover the source of the leak. I have just completed a tour with five cars (snaps enclosed) of the Transkei Territories; a district most noted for its bad roads. His Excellency warmly congratulated me for the way in which the tour was conducted, but the real praise was deserved by the Rolls for she never once gave me an anxious moment. Nobody must say to me in future that a Rolls is no use in South Africa, for such a doubt is just a fallacy. Their Excellencies were very appreciative of the comfort which the Rolls provided for them. The only defects which occurred were caused through the inadequate support of the two heavy Lucas horns which their makers thought fit to use only two 7/32" bolts to secure them to their respective brackets, and the wooden packing pieces as fitted between the running boards and the step irons. These having rotted, caused the running board to come adrift in one place. Otherwise the body is still as sound as a bell. I shall be obliged if you will forward the enclosed snaps on to Mr. Buckley after you have looked at them as I am sure they will interest him. The Shell people might also be interested in one of them. No. 1, (as marked on back of snaps) shows His Excellency -continued- | ||