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).
Proposal to create and test six Sports Models, detailing nine specific modifications and mentioning a potential car for the Prince of Wales.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 65a\1\ scan0194 | |
| Date | 20th December 1927 | |
| To Mr. Hives from W.O. c to Hs.{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair} Wor{Arthur Wormald - General Works Manager}3/T.20.12.27. By.{R.W. Bailey - Chief Engineer}, Hs.{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair} and myself met this morning to discuss the question of the Sports Model. It has now been agreed to by R.{Sir Henry Royce} that the Sports Model which Hs.{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair} took down to WW. the other day could be made and sold as a Sports Model. This Model is only different in a few items, which are as follows:- 1. New Type Radiator with Integral Shutters. 2. Modified Cylinder Head to avoid detonation. 3. Steering column (the main external tube of the Steering Column, carrying, is increased 2 1/4" dia. (mainly owing to the Steering Column being in a more horizontal position. 4. Dashboard, Cast type. 5. Battery Box inside the Frame with the two unit Battery, (to facilitate removal. 6. Special wheel carrier, spare, horizontal type. 7. Dipping head lamps mounted on Front Cross Member. 8. Frame Ties not required. 9. Hartford Friction Shock Absorbers added in addition, front and rear. It seems that we ought to get very busy indeed in making some of these Models; the time factor decides this. We suggest that we immediately commence making six Sports Models in the Exptl Dept. (instead of three), and we also suggest, for your consideration, that you order three more bodies, so that we shall have a few cars available for any purpose you decide on. You will see that we have to run the first Sports Model 10,000 miles, which will take three or four weeks, and if we get half a dozen of these models made we should have a much better chance to get an ideal car for the Prince of Wales, and possibly one or two more for the special purposes in connection with this campaign of getting orders. There is really no extraordinary expense about all these, because the chassis, with the exception of a few items mentioned above, is standard, so we are taking little or no risk. I would like to have your definite decision at once, because, if we start now, it will be a difficult job to get through in time. | ||