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).
Criticism of the difficulty starting a Bentley from cold, with a comparison to a Hillman Minx.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 3\6\ 06-page119 | |
| Date | 26th January 1934 | |
| X4553 To Hs.{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair} from Sg.{Arthur F. Sidgreaves - MD} re Bentley. Copy to Hives I have seen quite a few criticisms of the difficulty of starting the Bentley from cold under cold weather conditions from an unheated garage. For instance I lent one of the cars last week-end to Mr. Gordon England who writes on this point as follows: Starting from cold after standing all night under cold weather conditions presents great difficulty. The starter, due either to being too small, too high-geared or to the battery being in bad condition, fails to turn the engine over easily or with sufficient speed for a sure and certain start. A Hillman Minx was garaged under identical conditions and was tested in starting against the Bentley. The Minx engine was turned over by the starter at considerable speed and started immediately; whereas the Bentley was extremely sluggish and had to have several efforts before the engine would fire and keep running. Have you any developments in hand to improve this point? If not I will take it up with Design. Sg.{Arthur F. Sidgreaves - MD} | ||