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).
Issues with spark plugs in Bentley cars due to ethyl lead fuel, and potential solutions.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 150\1\ scan0275 | |
| Date | 19th January 1937 | |
| M282 H. {Arthur M. Hanbury - Head Complaints} from Rm. {William Robotham - Chief Engineer} Rm {William Robotham - Chief Engineer} 6/R.19.1.37. USE OF ETHYL LEAD FUEL IN BENTLEY CARS. Replying to H3/H.12.1.37, we have never expected Bentley owners to change their own plugs, any more than we have expected them to wash their own cars. In view of your list of customers' complaints, we sent one of our head testers down to Kingsbury to discuss the matter with them, and to hand them a supply of plugs which we believe will overcome the trouble. We attach a copy of his report on the subject. We do not wish to belittle the existing plug trouble, because it has been having a very large share of the available experimental attention for some considerable time, but the evidence tends to show that one or two unreasonable owners are making the lives of people at Conduit Street a burden, when really such a state of affairs hardly seems to be justified. Referring to your last paragraph:- (1) We believe the ceramic plug is the solution to the lead problem. It is not the solution to oiling up, sooting up, or the normal maladies from which the sparking plug suffers. (2) If the plugs we have left with Kingsbury are satisfactory, we can get supplies of these; unfortunately they are American - they are a special plug. (3) The reason we are not recommending them is because they are not produced by an English Company. K.L.G. have just completed a £20,000 plant to make ceramic plugs, and we have received the first batch from them; obviously we cannot standardise these without some testing, but tests are going forward as fast as possible. Perhaps, therefore, you will use the Champion plugs on the difficult cases which at present exist. We shall be very disappointed if, within the next month, we do not get the K.L.G. plug for the job, which could be applied retrospectively and cheaply. It is certain that customers have got to overcome their prejudices of lead, because if we cannot make our cars as good as the 20 million American automobiles Bentley | ||