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).
Visit to Mr. Geoffrey Summers regarding springing and handling issues with his New Phantom 117-MC.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 47\1\ Scan242 | |
| Date | 4th February 1926 | |
| COPY. W/S. Hr. c. to St.{Capt. P. R. Strong} c. to Hm.{Capt. W. Hallam - Head Repairs} EP{G. Eric Platford - Chief Quality Engineer}2/H4.2.26. Re "New PhantomCodename for PHANTOM I" 117-MC. Geoffrey Summers Esq. In accordance with arrangements made I visited Mr.Summers on Tuesday. Originally, the chief reason of my visit was to deal with the question of springing. I therefore propose to deal with this first. (1) On testing Mr.Summers' car I was agreeably surprised to find that the springs were so good considered from the point of view of our standard of springing, and it was only after a considerable amount of time had been spent in trying different cars, including st's car, Minerva and Vauxhall cars, that I was able to settle on two actions which could be taken to give Mr.Summers what he requires - (a) The upholstery of the car was very hard, and in my opinion, not the correct shape to give comfortable riding, and from this point of view fulfilled Mr.Summers' complaint that it was "like riding on a plank". Mr.Summers appreciated that the upholstery of this car compared very unfavourably both with St's car and with the Minerva car. He stated that this matter should have attention as the car would shortly be going to the Coachbuilders. (b) "Dithering" of the axles when driving at highspeeds over pot-holes and other bad roads. This is greatly accentuated in Mr.Summers' case, as he continually drives the car "all out" on all sorts and conditions of roads. He is very emphatic in pointing out that the car is for this purpose. He has no use for, nor does he require consideration given to springing of a car for town use etc. The tyre pressures were checked and found already low but improvement was obtained by attention to the fittings between the axle and the frame, such as shock absorber ball ends, etc., which were found to be in a slack condition, also by tightening up the shock absorbers. I felt he was very much surprised by the way in which the springing effects and characteristics could be changed by such attention, and in the end I am sure he did not feel that the springing was so bad as he had originally stated it to be, the "vices" in the springing of the contd. | ||