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).
Gear change lever design for the American market, comparing column-mounted shifters to floor-mounted ones.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 136\2\ scan0138 | |
| Date | 21th October 1939 | |
| 1153 To Ev.{Ivan Evernden - coachwork} from Rm.{William Robotham - Chief Engineer} Rm.{William Robotham - Chief Engineer}6/MH.{M. Huckerby}21.10.39. The more we see of the change speed on the column the more certain we are that by the time it is developed and produced it will be out of date. The Americans themselves think it is a transient phase, and had they not been saddled with a large gear change lever in the middle of thefloor I do not suppose they would have perpetrated such an obviously unmechanical atrocity. We ourselves admit that we are doing the whole job for the American market. We have decided that what we must do is to give the Americans a left hand change exactly similar to our present right hand change which is fully developed and can be available for sale immediately the War is over. If, at the same time we could bring the gear lever further back this would be an added advantage. Rm.{William Robotham - Chief Engineer} | ||