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 and analysis of a Cadillac car body.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 125\1\ scan0199 | |
| Date | 1st March 1935 | |
| x1729 Ron Dodd To Sg.{Arthur F. Sidgreaves - MD} from E.{Mr Elliott - Chief Engineer} E.1/HP.1.3.35. c. Wor.{Arthur Wormald - General Works Manager} Hs.{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair} By.{R.W. Bailey - Chief Engineer} EV.{Ivan Evernden - coachwork} re Cadillac Body. Referring to your enquiry Sg.{Arthur F. Sidgreaves - MD}6/E.26.2.35, respecting my visit to see the Cadillac body, we are preparing a careful report and analysis with photographs and sketches, and we will compare this with the London report, and let you have final conclusions. In general, I personally was very much impressed with certain features of the Cadillac body, the construction of which appears to me to make the body much more in one piece than what we normally use over here. I do not agree with the coachbuilders who say that their coachwork on the Cadillac chassis would stand up as well as the Cadillac body, firstly, because it is fairly certain the Cadillac Co. would not put a lot of unnecessary work and cost into their bodies; secondly, the Americans themselves carried out a series of tests which demonstrated that although they had considerably stiffened their chassis frames by the introduction of crosses and other features, the torsional rigidity of the body was still by far the preponderating feature. In rough figures the frame rigidity with the old construction represented about 15% of the total, and with the new construction about 30% of the total. This left 70% as the share of the body work. There is a considerable amount of pressed steel work about the Cadillac body which could not be used with our construction here for individual bodies. On the other hand I feel that there are a number of pressed steel features which could be standardised for certain body types within the range of variation normally experienced, and which could be reproduced by welded construction. There is no doubt that low rating springing materially reduces the strain on bodies, and the tendency to develop rattles. | ||