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).
Internal memorandum discussing body mounting for models B.III and B.50, comparing practices with Rover and other competitors.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 111\1\ scan0066 | |
| Date | 23th April 1938 | |
| Secret. To Rm.{William Robotham - Chief Engineer}. from Da{Bernard Day - Chassis Design}/Ev.{Ivan Evernden - coachwork} c. to By.{R.W. Bailey - Chief Engineer} c. to Da.{Bernard Day - Chassis Design} c. to RHC.{R. H. Coverley - Production Engineer} c. to Hn.{F. C. Honeyman - Retail orders} 8041 Da{Bernard Day - Chassis Design}/Ev.{Ivan Evernden - coachwork}2/N.23.4.38. Re: Body Mounting - B.III and B.50. We would like to make some observations on Mr Finney's remarks at the Coachwork conference held on March 29th. and with respect in particular to minute No.2. concerning body mounting. It was stated that in his opinion body brackets in the wheel arch are undesirable, and should be left off, on the grounds that Rover's do not use such brackets. At the time we had not all our information marshalled, but since then we have made investigations as suggested by Hs.{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair} into what other people do. The first outstanding fact is that Rover's cannot mount their body on the wheel arch, because they have an underslung frame. The same remarks apply to Jaguar, Lanchester, Hillman Minx, and Talbot, and a large number of other small cars. We cannot therefore argue from Rover practice. The second point was that Rovers have only three supports each side for the body, between the dash and wheel arch, and that they may go to two. We can quite conceive of their doing this, in as much that it is pointed out the body has the equivalent of a subframe, to which the body appears to be attached at six points per side. This sub-frame rests on long brackets on the chassis frame. Here again it would not seem wise to compare our case with the Rover. With respect to what other people do, we find it very difficult to draw any definite conclusions, in fact one is led to believe that body mounting positions are controlled by ~~eex~~ other circumstances, than the scientific conclusions concerning the body itself. On the small cars, which have almost universally all-steel bodies, we cannot find instances of mounting in the arch. Cont'd.{John DeLooze - Company Secretary} | ||