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 and modifications made to a Sports Torpedo car body after road testing.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 12\3\ X704-0071 | |
| Date | 29th January 1928 | |
| ATTENTION OF T. CARPENTER, ESQ. "CAMACHAHenry Royce's office in West Wittering" WEST WITTERINGHenry Royce's home town. NR. CHICHESTER. SUSSEX. EV{Ivan Evernden - coachwork}/29.1.28. Messrs Hooper & Co.Ltd. 77, King's Road, Chelsea, LONDON. SW.7. JANUARY 29th. 1928. RE SPORTS TORPEDO. Dear Sirs, We have mounted this body and have had the car on the road. Herewith are our comments on the various items. Main Structure. The main structure appears to hold up well under all road conditions. The pillars at the rear supports appear to have opened outwards slightly. It would seem that we should strengthen this point in any future effort. To keep the deck battens in their correct curvature we should have done well to have lightly plated them with aluminium sheeting. The body has no rattles so far. Front Screen. The off-side panel of the front screen arrived cracked. The new glass supplied could not be fitted as it was too small. The cause of the fracture appeared to be that the frame had been distorted out of a plane when the screen was bolted down to the scuttle. We would have avoided this had the socket fixing which we asked to be used been carried out. The side flaps waggle when the car is on the road and would have fallen off had we not have fitted catches on the doors to steady them. It will be noted that in our sketch of these we asked that the fixing clamps should be in line with the top and bottom channels. By placing these away from this point a lot of flexibility has been introduced. We regret that the 3/16 ins. glass was fitted in place of the 1/4 as specified. Rear Screen. The rear screen itself is very satisfactory, but the fixings for holding it in the up position are too elastic. Left as it was we felt that the screen would soon come off. It was attached to the wooden board by two wood screws at each end. We have replaced these by two bolts. We have also made stiffer supporting brackets. We have alsoarranged that the screen screws up against two bolcks of fibre instead of against spongy Sorbo Rubber. The remaining source of flexibility lies in the fact that the friction clamps are not at the extreme end of the screen as we shew in our sketch, and some of the base tube is in torsion. The wooden board is too elastic. Valances. We removed the valances and made them to conform to the turn-under of the body side. The brackets have a poor fixing to the body. | ||