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).
Comparison of American car manufacturing practices regarding body rigidity, aesthetics, and power unit silence.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 178\2\ img126 | |
| Date | 4th April 1934 | |
| -3- This may be discarded on all except custom built jobs where it may survive for the time being as such body rigidity does not equal all steel construction. The G.M. practice of mounting the running boards, front wings and radiator shell on a single point and so removing their inertia from the frame has a technical as well as an optical value now that it is necessary to raise the torsional frequency of the chassis. The G.M. products seem to be accepted by the public as being the best looking of this year's cars, the new La{L. A. Archer} Salle line eight as the leader, this car is worth close inspection for its looks alone. No one except Chrysler claims technically an appreciable reduction in wind resistance from the adoption of the so-called streamlined bodies and wings. POWER UNITS. The degree of silence, smoothness and performance of the medium priced American engine unit is quite remarkable. The present American public is highly critical, and intolerant of any mechanical noise; the Bentley valve gear and timing gears were criticised wherever the car went. The Pacard 8 is a good example of the refinement expected in the £500 class. One reason for the silence of American cars seems to be the chain front end drive, which is almost universally employed. Another that with side valves they can get specific outputs comparable with our 20/25 unit with overhead valves. Again on the £1000 cars hydraulic lash adjusters are standardised. More efficient radiators permit of less noisy fans being used, and continuous work on engine mounts has also given them an advantage in this respect, a good example of which we believe to be the Essex Terraplane. On exhaust and intakes they have apparently a slight fundamental silence advantage over us for the moment in that the line eight is easier to silence than the line six. | ||