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).
Evaluation of competitor cars, a Jaguar and a Humber Super Snipe, and proposing a part exchange.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 126\2\ scan0092 | |
| Date | 31th January 1939 | |
| COPY FOR FILES. To Sg.{Arthur F. Sidgreaves - MD} c. Hs.{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair} By.6/MH.{M. Huckerby}31.1.39. CARS OF OTHER MAKES IN THE EXPERIMENTAL DEPARTMENT. The last "foreign" car to be bought by the Experimental Dept. was the 3½-litre Jaguar. The objects in buying this car were to see for ourselves the finish of the parts of a car costing £450; to see the forgings for which we knew how much they were paying, and to get some idea of the reliability of this competitor. The strip examination provided the answer to the first two questions. As regards reliability, various things have gone wrong, such as leakage of the petrol tank, failure of the brake rod, gears jumping out of mesh, and finally, a valve head which went through a piston. During the strip at 4,000 miles various other points were noted which were not wearing well. At the failure of the valve at 7,000 miles the big ends were in a poor condition. Jaguars have been repairing this car for about 8 weeks. We recently borrowed from the Humber Experimental Dept. one of their latest Super "Snipes" which has a performance on direct gear up to 50 m.p.h. better than anything we make in this factory. The car only weighs 31 cwt. Before Rm.{William Robotham - Chief Engineer} went away he asked Gry.{Shadwell Grylls} to find out what was the best price that could be got for the Jaguar against a Super "Snipe", as we considered that this might be the best way of effecting the change. The local Humber Agents, who frequently do us good turns, would want about £130 for a Super "Snipe", taking in part exchange the Jaguar. We think it would be profitable to the Department to find out how the "Snipe" has been made for 31 cwts., and we therefore ask your sanction to change the Jaguar for the Super "Snipe". By.{R.W. Bailey - Chief Engineer} | ||