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).
Small car design, focusing on weight control, stability, and the advantages of steel body construction.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 170\3\ img202 | |
| Date | 25th July 1939 guessed | |
| 10 to avoid "brake-dive", and "rearing" in acceleration. And a severe control of weight is necessary, to keep the kerb weight (full tanks) within 2400 lbs. Such small cars have to be built low, for stability, ^for appearance, a 13" floor and 63" standing height are about maximum. The frame then becomes so shallow that the body must really carry the loads. And this leads directly to steel body construction. The deep draw cold-rolled steel body sheet, as now being made successfully in England by Richard Thomas, is an excellent material for the purpose. As received it is quite soft but work-hardens automatically in the dies. Properly rust-proofed and with good priming coats the steel built body is entirely permanent under all climates. As compared with all other types of construction the steel shell is immeasurably safer against collision damage. It is also lighter than all other methods for a given strength and stiffness. (However, we are finding that, due to the incidence of "buckling" which in many cases can be easily avoided, the sheet steel structures are not nearly as stiff as they can be ^made without ^adding additional weight) | ||