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 body design features against their own, focusing on pillars, ventilators, hinges, and wings.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 19\4\ Scan358 | |
| Date | 11th November 1931 | |
| -2- WHr{Mr Wheeler}5/D11.11.31. of the back pillars of the front window and of the head lean forward to meet the sloping screen. The small ventilator just forward of the door looks as if it would catch all the hot air coming out of the louvres in the bonnet. Speaking generally, it seems that in America they do not take the sides of their bodies down quite so low as we do. In addition, they apparently do not favour - i. concealed hinges; ii. carrying the slope of the front screen down the front edge of the door so as to give better entrance; iii. making the screen narrower at the top than at the bottom so as to give an impression of tumble home; iv. front seat control to the backlight blind. Finally, as far as one can judge from the photographs, the pillars, particularly the central ones, are heavier in section than ours. It seems that in America they do not make the outer edges of their wings so deep as we do. The consequence is that one sees more of the clearance over the tyres. Yours sincerely, (Sgd.) S.G. Wheeler. Export Manager, ROLLS-ROYCE, LTD. | ||