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).
Departmental memo discussing the company's coachwork strategy, comparing English and French suppliers, and outlining future design improvement plans.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 74\1\ scan0028 | |
| Date | 14th July 1910 | |
| R.R. 348c (50 H) (F 901. 10.6.10.) E.P. 6883 DEPARTMENTAL MEMO. HS{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair}2/E14710 cont. Issued July 14th.10. This column is for Name of Person addressed. DATE. As I before said, coachwork is far more of an artistic trade than mechanical. We employ some of the best draughtsmen of the first coachbuilders in England for designing coachwork viz. Barkers, Hoopers, Mulliners, Thrupp & Maberly, etc. and these firms possess the finest workmen obtainable under the expert supervision of such men as Mr. Findlay, Mr. Robertson, Mr. Mulliner and Mr. Thrupp. We are however, having specimen bodies made by the best French body builders. Of English work, taking it all round, Barkers compare very favourably with any of their competitors and defective as our bodywork may be in comparison with the very perfect chassis Mr. Royce has so ably designed for us, I will not admit that our coachwork is inferior to that of any of our competitors at the present moment. I believe on the other hand it is in advance of anything on the market today. The termination of our agreement with Messrs. Barker in September next, will give us a free hand for the future as to the placing of orders for our coachwork and by raising competition among the foremost coachbuilders of England, I have full confidence that fresh novelties in design and general improvement in the work throughout will be the result. Reviewing the past three years' coach-work done for this Company, I took over our Coachbuilding Dept. in 1907. The designs then were generally ugly and heavy - see our catalogue of that date. In 1908 we were This sheet must be filed with the correspondence to which it refers. | ||