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).
Letter from India Tyre & Rubber Company discussing Bentley tyres, coachwork, door handles and steel body costs.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 29\4\ Scan184 | |
| Date | 18th April 1934 | |
| HEAD OFFICE AND FACTORY: INCHINNAN, RENFREWSHIRE INDIA TYRE & RUBBER COMPANY (GREAT BRITAIN) LTD. MILEAGE DEPARTMENT (AREA "B") 80 CLAPHAM ROAD LONDON, S.W.9 OUR REF. R/WBT. YOUR REF. TELEPHONES: RELIANCE 2662/3 18th April, 1934. Private W.A. ROBOTHAM, ESQ., Experimental Department, Messrs. Rolls-Royce Ltd., DERBY. Dear Robotham, Thank you so much for allowing me to call and see you on Monday. I was most interested in all you told me. I was very glad to hear that you were satisfied with the Bentley tyres; and I have passed on to the Factory your suggestion as regards the manufacture of a sports tyre, and I will let you know their decision in due course. I was also very interested, and most concerned, in all you told me about coach work. I have passed all your remarks on to Messrs. Park Ward, and they told me that several of the points you raised have now been discovered and dealt with, and the other points are receiving their attention. As regards hardware, the door handles on the Bentley were chosen from among a number of other by Messrs. Rolls-Royce themselves. The reason they are slightly loose is because it is a bolt and lever action, which was found necessary in order to avoid bending the neck of the handle itself, though this does not mean of course they should ever rattle. I understand there are 4 or 5 makers from whom hardware can be obtained. As regard steel bodies, I am told that the cost of the dies and press would be in the neighbourhood of £50,000, and such an expenditure could only be justified by a yearly output of from 2000 to 3000 bodies. I remember your telling me that the American steel bodies cost £400 each. I feel sure you will appreciate that, from a coachbuilder's point of view, when endeavouring to obtain a contract for bodywork such as that on the Bentley, they have to watch the cost in every detail, as most careful consideration is given to this point when the contract is awarded. Messrs. Park Ward's price for Bentley bodies (I think I am right in saying) is only slightly more than half of the above mentioned | ||