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).
Observations on seating arrangements for passenger and driver comfort, and personal notes on tyre preferences.
| Identifier | WestWitteringFiles\N\October1925-December1925\ Scan86 | |
| Date | 12th November 1925 guessed | |
| (2) (these screens were very unsatisfactory.) It came down to the floor of the car and so embarrassed the feet of the rear passengers. Naturally nothing should be in this position, and the back of the front seats should whenever possible follow the slope of the upholstery at the back of the seat, so as to leave plenty of room for the feet of the rear passengers, especially when additional seats are fitted. Regarding the driver's seat, in many cases I have seen, this has been made too high. It is a very serious fault to the driver, especially when he is wearing a heavy coat. My own impression is that the seat should be requisitioned too low because it can be so easily packed up, or a thicker cushion made, and also there should be sufficient width of the body opposite this driving seat so as to permit of elbow room, and when bucket seats are fitted, it should be carefully noted that these are not designed or proportioned in a manner that embarrasses the elbows, and therefore the steering. Regarding tyres, my own personal observations are that I should want to use moderately low pressure tyres, and I think we ought not to abandon hopes of fitting these, and well-base rims - (light-weight & waterproof) because high speed wobbles should not be frequent or dangerous with ordinary care, and we shall be fitting our own hydraulic shock dampers to a somewhat lighter front axle very soon now. Personally I am using balloons on the 20HP., and ordinary tyres at 40 lbs. pressure on the Phantom, and, going as fast as the roads will allow, any harder tyres feel like solids to me. R.{Sir Henry Royce} | ||