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).
To Mr. Hives detailing a car demonstration for Mr. Arthur Gibbs, discussing performance, design considerations, and experimental test findings on car 1.EX.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 49\1\ Scan360 | |
| Date | 12th July 1921 | |
| X4299 Mr. Hives. PN {Mr Northey} 23/CM12.7.21. X.3763 X.3457. RE CAR 1.EX. X.4299 I gave Mr. Arthur Gibbs a demonstration of the performance of your 1.EX yesterday and he was, undoubtedly, very much pleased with the acceleration, relatively to that of his existing post-war Rolls-Royce, which incidentally, is not such a bad car. It is being considered whether we should design a specially light body for Mr. Gibbs having little windage and fit this to a nicely tuned up chassis having a 14-tooth axle, in order that he may create an impression in his surroundings, where there are many monied people, who at the present moment, are using mostly Packards, Cadillacs and such. These people all talk of seventy and eighty miles an hour, but my own impression is that they never get their Cars up to this speed and that a Car whose performance is excellent from zero to 65 miles an hour will be a winner. Incidentally, I found your Car had practically no brakes, the pistons rattled about at low temperatures, the axle hammered and beat about on the road, the foot brake jaggered and when applied, produced a jazz dance with the Car, all of which, doubtless, are features which you have arranged on purpose for experimental reasons. What really constitutes a puzzle to me with 1.EX is that it gives me an impression of very high speeds, to which the speedometer (which, I understand, has been carefully calibrated by you) gives the lie - for instance, at 40 M.P.H. on 1.EX vide speedometer, I feel I am going at least 50; at 60 M.P.H. I feel I am going at least 75. 65 M.P.H. under good conditions, appears to be the limit of speed, and this, in spite of the fact that there does not appear to be undue engine fuss. Am I right in understanding from you that if I were to average 40 M.P.H. between London and Derby on 1.EX, I would consume 10% only more fuel than in the case of averaging 40 M.P.H. with a similar weighted Open Touring Car having a fifteen tooth axle? P.N. | ||