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).
Car body mock-up procedures, prototypes, and production timelines, including a proposal for a 'Myth Coupe'.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 144\2\ scan0030 | |
| Date | 14th February 1941 | |
| -5- Cont'd.{John DeLooze - Company Secretary} Rm{William Robotham - Chief Engineer}/EAG.1/RH.{R. Hollingworth}14.2.41. The usual procedure is to have a mock up car made from wood, painted and upholstered, which shows what the appearance and seating accommodation will be, and when approved, a body or bodies are made with wood framing and hand beaten panels, which are used for chassis testing and publicity purposes, such as photographs and sketches for the press etc. Sometimes, a full sized wood model is omitted and only a scale model made so that the general appearance can be judged. By following the usual procedure, a full size model can be more quickly produced as only a simplified full size drawing is required, which takes 600 to 800 man hours to make, and being in wood, changes can be quickly made if necessary. The wood and metal bodies can also be produced from simplified drawings, compared with those that we have in hand. The disadvantage of this procedure is that no check can be made on weight, acoustic properties or strength of body until production bodies are available, and if any serious faults are found and changes have to be made, a lot of delay and cost in tool alteration is incurred; also correcting faults in cars that are already made is both costly and very unsatisfactory to the owners. By departing from the usual procedure, we have not had to make preliminary drawings and we shall produce a car that will be a true prototype that will enable us to find during test, any weakness that may exist in the design and correct it before tools are completed. This may save an infinity of time, trouble and loss of reputation on production. The time necessary for producing this sample body is longer than for the wood frame and hand beaten panels, but the actual time taken in man hours for the drawing office is less as preliminary drawings do not have to be made. We are also in the fortunate position of having Park Ward who can produce a sample all metal body, which few if any other car manufacturers in this country can do. The average time taken to produce a new model for quantity production is two years after the design has been approved i.e. 12 months for preliminary drawings and test models and 12 months for working drawings, specifications, tools, shop layout and any new equipment required. ------------------------ MYTH COUPE As it is proposed to use as many parts as possible of the saloon for this body and to make the remainder by hand, the time required for drawings will be approximately three months. We shall | ||