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).
Performance review of the Streamline Bentley, comparing its comfort and high-speed capabilities on European roads to other vehicles.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 160\4\ scan0047 | |
| Date | 16th March 1939 | |
| -2- When considering speeds such as these, one usually conjures up a picture of a very small and uncomfortable open touring car with a noisy exhaust. The Streamline Bentley is as quiet and comfortable as an ordinary car. It is docile and pleasant to handle in traffic. As will be seen from the photograph it has a pleasing appearance. It can carry four people in comfort, and there is accommodation for luggage. It is even fitted with a wireless set. Speeds of 110 m.p.h. may, to the ordinary individual who is only conversant with English roads, sound suicidal. In actual fact, however, in Germany, and to a lesser extent in France, high speeds are springing up with great rapidity. These roads bear a much closer resemblance to railway tracks than do the present English arterial roads. On the German autobahn, in particular, it is perfectly possible and safe to average 80 m.p.h. for two or three hundred miles at a time owing to the fact that there are no crossroads, pedestrians or cyclists, and all traffic is 'single way'. In reviewing the march of progress, it is interesting to remember that the Phantom I had a top speed in still air of something less than 70 m.p.h., and its engine dimensions were 50% bigger than those of the existing Bentley. There is no doubt that this streamline Bentley | ||