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).
Plan for testing experimental car bodies, including a Van Vooren body and comparing steel versus aluminium panels.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 90a\3\ Scan088 | |
| Date | 5th July 1935 | |
| To Hn.{F. C. Honeyman - Retail orders} C. to Eg. +203 Hn{F. C. Honeyman - Retail orders}/Rn.{Mr Robinson}19/KW.5.7.35. Experimental Bodies. There seems to be some misunderstanding with regard to the position of 6-B-IV and B-23-AE chassis, which have been allotted for experimental bodies. The original arrangement was that, since we must have an up-to-date experimental Saloon body on one of our cars, we should allot 6-B-IV chassis for this purpose, and this is now at Park Wards. When we car was completed we thought we might scrap B-23-AE, the present streamlined car. It being decided at the last Conference, however, that we ought to try a Van Vooren body, we pointed out that in our opinion it would be more valuable to have this body mounted on B-23-AE than to scrap the chassis. We are certainly interested to try the Van Vooren body under English conditions, to find out exactly how it affects the chassis, and we imagine it will be of great interest to the C.E.C. We feel, however, that it is essential that our next car should be run with a standard Saloon body, so that we can get the maximum amount of information to pass on to the customer. For this reason we had not thought of substituting the Van Vooren body for the Standardised Saloon on 6-B-IV. With regard to 5-B-IV, we want this to be panelled in steel so that we can get a direct comparison as to the relative merits of aluminium and steel. The aluminium wings having failed completely, we want a set of steel wings fitting to this car. Park Wards removed the steel wings and fitted aluminium the last time the car was with them, and our records show that they still have the steel wings down there. Hn{F. C. Honeyman - Retail orders}/Rn.{Mr Robinson} | ||