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).
Typed letter comparing American and British automobile gearshift designs and pricing.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 124\4\ scan0076 | |
| Date | 13th December 1939 | |
| ROLLS-ROYCE INC. ROOM 2-251 GENERAL MOTORS BUILDING DETROIT, MICHIGAN TELEPHONES TRINITY 2-1135 & 2-1136 1046 December 13, 1939 Rolls-Royce, Ltd. Derby, England Car Work. Gearshift. Rm{William Robotham - Chief Engineer}: Yours of November 25 with copy to Inskip just received. Pardon me if I get a bit caustic. Your attitude on this reminds me of the definition of British automobile progress "watching the Americans whiz by and, if they don't come back within two years, strolling along after them." The only difference is you have already waited too long. Stg. column shift is standard on every American passenger car of 1940. (Am not able to speak of the Willys Overland.) It is certainly here to stay and reversion to the joystick is unthinkable. Good examples are Packard, Pontiac, all Chrysler jobs, and, on a different system, Cadillac and LaSalle. The worst job ever done was the '39 Buick. One difficulty is disturbance of the lever by engine oscillations. This, as proved at Vauxhall, is very easily mastered by modification of the engine mounts, working on a suitable bump rig. Cadillac system is less bothered by this. Four speed or "three row" shift is no insuperable obstacle. (Consult Maurice Platt and experimental outfits on Vaux. 25.) If properly done from the gearbox up column-shift actually costs less than the old type. If properly done it is much easier to handle. As compared with the horrible little lever with sticky side movement hidden between the driver's thigh and the wall of the car, the column shift is as different as daylight. You guys persist in criticizing American cars on a basis which either disregards price or assumes that the fictitious English price represents the real selling price instead of 2 1/2 times the real price. You also don't make allowance for machining costs double the English. The average American car sells to the dealer at about the price for the material of a 14 H.P. Vauxhall. Hence a lot of things under the hood which sear your aesthetic souls. | ||