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).
The performance and characteristics of a 1½ Litre Alfa-Romeo car.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 124\5\ scan0002 | |
| Date | 13th November 1928 | |
| To R.{Sir Henry Royce} From Hs{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair}/Rn.{Mr Robinson} Y4482 c. to BJ. Wor.{Arthur Wormald - General Works Manager} c. to E.{Mr Elliott - Chief Engineer} DA.{Bernard Day - Chassis Design} c. to BY.{R.W. Bailey - Chief Engineer} SG.{Arthur F. Sidgreaves - MD} Hs{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair}/Rn{Mr Robinson}2/LG13.11.28. 1½ LITRE ALFA-ROMEO. Y8770 2.44" X 3.22" 6-cyl. 5 main bearings - top gear 5.4/1. We spent last week trying the latest model of one of these cars fitted with a 4-seater fabric body. This was the property of Mr. G.{Mr Griffiths - Chief Accountant / Mr Gnapp} Summers, a Phantom owner. Mr. Summers is an engineer and has almost extensive knowledge of the performance and characteristics of modern cars. His views are interesting because he is not a speed fanatic and cares nothing for high speeds per se. His first consideration is comfort and road holding, maneuverability and braking. His cars usually display the optimum performance for touring from point to point in comfort and silence. The 1½ litre car we tried had two O.H.V. camshafts with dampers on the front. The whole car was very low, the ground clearance was insufficient at the rear under tank and exhaust pipe. A double Zenith carb. was fitted. No crankshaft damper. The valve gear was noisy when idling but surprisingly silent once the engine reached a reasonable rate of revs. on the road. The features which immediately impressed themselves upon us were :- (1) Feeling of security in the car. The car was so low and small, though it would hold four people without acute discomfort, that in spite of the fact that the tyres were dead-smooth (the car has done 8000 miles), | ||