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).
Article from 'Motor Sport' magazine discussing the company's history and wartime contributions, alongside a table of car model specifications from 1904 to 1938.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 160\5\ scan0260 | |
| Date | 1st January 1941 | |
| MOTOR SPORT 262 JANUARY, 1941 ON SOMETHING IN THE ENGLISH TRADITION—continued morning and got Col. Bridges safely to Antwerp, 400 miles away, just after 10 p.m., where pyjama-clad King Albert waited to receive Sir John French's plea for continued support—the car, of course, was a "Silver Ghost." Rolls-Royce. Royce's letters relating to aero-engine design, written to Claude Johnson during 1914-18, were subsequently published chronologically in a book marked "Private and Confidential" and given to the heads of the designing and engineering staff, with instructions that they must always be kept under lock and key—as the holders keep this "Rolls-Royce Bible" to this day. Royce was knighted for his aero-engine researches only a short while before he passed away in 1933. After the war, car production continued alongside that of aero engines. In 1922 the "Twenty" broke into the one-model policy instituted in 1907 and in 1925 the o.h.v. "Phantom I" broke the nineteen year run of the "Silver Ghost" model. In 1929 the "Phantom II" appeared, and to-day we have—or had, until R.{Sir Henry Royce}-R.{Sir Henry Royce} had to cease car-production in order to create weapons to hasten Hitler's destruction—the V12 "Phantom III" and the "25/30" "Wraith." Rolls-Royce, Ltd., also took over the Bentley Company in 1931 and produced the 3½-litre Bentley sports chassis to R.{Sir Henry Royce}-R.{Sir Henry Royce} standards, until the 4¼-litre superseded it, due to give way, after the next Armistice, to the independently-sprung Mark V Bentley. Then there were the experimental cars, though it would be unfair to Nockolds to say more than that they included such as the 3-litre Rolls-Royce straight-eight, and a quite small-engined model—chassis which are entirely unknown to many well-informed people in the motoring world, until they read "The Magic of a Name." I have quoted freely from this book, but I have only been able to outline something of Rolls-Royce history and not to touch at all on the character of Royce himself or on the personalities of Rolls, Johnson, Sidgreaves, Hives, Secretary De Looze, Edwards, Briggs, the apprentices Platford and Haldenby and the many others who piloted the Rolls-Royce Company through its early ventures, and many of whom share in its successes to this day. Nor have I been able to record all the Rolls-Royce outstanding achievements, while I have written nothing on the methods whereby the world-famed refinement and reliability is built into its products. Nockolds tells of all these things in the book, and it makes a fascinating story. I sometimes wonder if Sir Henry Royce, of humble birth and in every sense a hard and tireless worker, ever pondered on the kind of folk who were to ride in his luxurious cars and whether he would not have had greater admiration for the young men who now defend us, behind his engines, in the sky; as I'm sure Charles Rolls would have done. These gallant young men would do well to read Nockolds's book, I think, while their present keen appreciation for Rolls-Royce products is at its height. Indeed, anyone who finds himself, as a war worker, associated with the "Merlin," should be inspired by Nockolds's story, as no less should those who, helpless on the ground or under it, are so magnificently defended by Rolls-Royce-engined fighters. This article was, indeed, inspired by my own sense of indebtedness to the firm which powers all our fastest fighters and most of our bombers. In conclusion, I would like to mention that the publishers (Foulis & Co., 7, Milford Lane, London, W.C. 2) still have a number of copies of the book I have taken as my source of reference ("The Magic of a Name" by H.{Arthur M. Hanbury - Head Complaints} Nockolds, 225 pages) for disposal at fifteen shillings each, and to drop a hint to the effect that it would constitute a very appropriate gift to those young men of the R.A.F. now daily associated with the magic name and who serve us so nobly. SOME ROLLS-ROYCE CARS Year Model H.P. Bore & Stroke No. of Cyls. No. of Speeds REMARKS 1904 "Ten" 10 95 x 127 2 3 The first Rolls-Royce. Chassis price £395 1905 "Fifteen" 15 95 x 127 3 — Chassis price £500 1905 "Twenty" 20 95 x 127 4 — Chassis price £650 1905 "Thirty" 30 95 x 127 6 — Chassis price £890. Three blocks of two cylinders. Dual ignition 1905 "Heavy Twenty" 20 — — — Introduced in February, 1905, to meet demand for bigger bodywork. Started research on R.{Sir Henry Royce}-R.{Sir Henry Royce} light alloys 1905 "T.T. Twenty" 20 95 x 127 4 4 Overdrive top gear, nickel-steel forged front axle, 18 b.h.p. at 1,000 r.p.m. 1905 "T.T. Twenty" 20 100 x 127 4 4 As above, but 20 b.h.p. at 1,000 r.p.m. 1905 "V8" 20 83 x 83 8 3 Designed to compete with electric brougham. Engine at side. Low top gear 1905 "Legalimit" 20 83 x 83 8 3 As above, but with normally placed engine and open three-seater body. Governed to run everywhere at 20 m.p.h. First car sold to Lord Northcliffe (then Sir A.{Mr Adams} Harmsworth). 1906 "T.T." 20 101 x 127 4 — 22 b.h.p. at 1,000 r.p.m. 1906 "40/50 Silver Ghost" 48.6 114 x 121 6 4 Two blocks of three cylinders, leather clutch, overdrive top gear. 48 b.h.p. at 1,700 r.p.m. 1908 "Silver Rogue" — — 6 4 Built for International Trial. Longer stroke and higher compression ratio than original "Silver Ghost," modifications later incorporated in that model as standard. Overdrive top gear. 1909 "London-Edinburgh" — — 6 3 Overdrive top gear, giving virtually only one in direct gear. Flexible engine mounting. 1913 "Continental" — — 6 4 Built for Austrian Alpine Trial. Cantilever rear springs. 1920 "Silver Ghost" 43.3 4½" x 5½" 6 4 F.W.B. in 1925 1922 "Twenty" 21.6 3" x 4½" 6 3 Later models had four speeds 1929 "Phantom I" 43.3 4¼" x 5½" 6 4 O.H.V. engine 1929 "Phantom II" 43.3 4¼" x 5½" 6 4 Half-elliptic rear springs 1930 "20/25" 25.3 3¼" x 4½" 6 4 1937 "Wraith" 29.4 89 x 114 6 4 In production up to the war 1938 "Phantom III" 50.7 82.5 x 114 12 4 In production up to the war | ||