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).
Barker's accessories, their quality, and a request to collect weight data for various cars.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 18\1\ Scan051 | |
| Date | 2nd March 1931 guessed | |
| (2) Messrs Barker's have a large engineering dept. created originally to produce dipping lamps for Morris Oxford cars (which contract Lucas' now have). They are anxious to keep it occupied and so manufacture and try hard to sell their own accesories by exhibiting as many as possible on trials cars. It is our experience that these accesories are not mechanically good and are heavily conceived - e.g. dipping lamps, bumpers, visors, screen mechanism, arm rests, and sliding rear seats. We shall be very interested to learn from HS.{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair} the real weight of some of our experimental cars as we feel that we may have imagined achievements that have not been realised. It would also be of great value to us to know the weights of other equivalent English, Continental, and American cars, and to have an analysis shewing the chassis and body weights. Here we have to rely on figures published in Journals which may not be too reliable. We would be glad if Derby (HS.{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair}) and Sales (HO.) would take available opportunities of weighing such cars and report to us so that we can collect the data. OA/EV.{Ivan Evernden - coachwork} | ||