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).
Vehicle performance and issues encountered during testing in American winter conditions.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 178\2\ img169 | |
| Date | 27th January 1934 | |
| COPY OF REPORT RECEIVED FROM HH. in U.S.A. DATED 17.1.34. From Hs{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair}/Rm.{William Robotham - Chief Engineer} C.c. to Nor. C.c. to H.{Arthur M. Hanbury - Head Complaints} C.c. to Ey. Ev.{Ivan Evernden - coachwork} C.c. to Ba. Gx. C.c. to Hdy.{William Hardy} Mx.{John H Maddocks - Chief Proving Officer} C.c. to EP.{G. Eric Platford - Chief Quality Engineer} Rn.{Mr Robinson} I am now suffering American winter conditions. Yesterday I came about 220 miles on ice and snow and finished up in a minor blizzard. The sunshine roof lets clouds of powder snow in under these conditions. The front number plate gets flattened out by drifted snow. A heater is more or less indispensible with temperatures 5° below zero, one has to get out every fifty miles to thaw. The radiator shutters are not right yet, they run practically closed and then will not open any further, when one goes fast; they have the improved leverage so this cannot be considered a cure. This morning I set out for Buffalo (Harrison Rad.) but had not gone far before my front brakes seized on. I suspected freezing but though I could move the shaft with the wheel hammer it would not unstick. I therefore laboriously dismantled the pivot without any special tools which took three hours hard work (I commend the job to E.{Mr Elliott - Chief Engineer} when considering a re-design of brakes), and having done this found the warmth of the garage had melted the ice, which was apparently the cause of the trouble all the time, and the shafts were more or less free. Powder snow apparently penetrates the place where the torsion spring is, melts during the night in the garage, and freezes solid the next morning when one has done a few miles. A contributory cause may have been the engine oil in the Bijur tank which under these conditions will hardly flow. Hoping for the best I have replaced it with something like shock absorber oil. The frozen snow tracks give the car a terrible hammering as they are all hillocks of ice, and rattles are re-appearing. I'm afraid that it will not be very good advertisement by the time I get to Detroit. RHC.{R. H. Coverley - Production Engineer} went off to Indianapolis by train on Tuesday night. I have had no mail atall yet, presumably it is waiting at Detroit. | ||