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).
Challenges and considerations in coachbuilding, specifically regarding body height, weight, and headroom for 20 HP and 40/50 HP cars.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 71\1\ scan0376 | |
| Date | 12th December 1927 | |
| To R.{Sir Henry Royce} from BJ. Copy to WOF. Copy to Hs.{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair} Copy to By.{R.W. Bailey - Chief Engineer} Copy to DA{Bernard Day - Chassis Design}/By.{R.W. Bailey - Chief Engineer} HS{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair} / 8830 (handwritten) 20 HP and 40/50 HP Cars. With reference to R1/M28.11.27, it is to a certain extent unfortunate that of necessity you are unaware of the continuous and almost daily endeavours made by those at Conduit Street who are responsible for the coachwork to induce the body builders to make them more perfect, and at the same time the difficulties which are sometimes not apparent until they are fully discussed with the coachbuilders in detail. I asked LHS.{Lord Herbert Scott}, C. and Sg.{Arthur F. Sidgreaves - MD} to try to give you some idea of how far they are endeavouring to meet your wishes and make improvements and they, the Coachbuilding Sub-Committee, known as the C.S.C., have reported as follows: ¶ The CSC. have for years endeavoured to induce Coachbuilders to make lighter bodies and to keep the inside height measurement as low as possible consistent with the requirements of customers. The height of the body, however, is of course governed by the height of the rear seat and the head clearance which is required when sitting on the rear seat, and the height of the rear seat is governed by the axle and wheel-arch clearances which the Coachbuilders have to allow for in accordance with blue prints issued by Derby. ¶ The CSC. are satisfied in respect of coachwork over which they have control (which represents a very large proportion of the coachwork fitted to our chassis) that the Coachbuilders keep the floors and seats as low as our clearances permit. They are certainly encouraged to keep the height of the bodies down from the point of view of appearance, etc., and this is to some extent determined as above - that is to say, we cannot, from a selling point of view, give head clearances below a certain minimum, as the majority of our type of clientele refuse to accept less head room. ¶ The CSC. are unable to understand how the long 40/50 HP chassis will enable the height of the rear seats to be reduced unless the body room generally is reduced, which would defeat the object of the long chassis, for which incidentally we charge £50 extra. ¶ Referring to the question of height generally, this is, of course, largely controlled by the height of the chassis, which has been a subject of criticism by Coachbuilders and others for some time past. ¶ With regard to the remark that rather than have very heavy bodies we had better lose the order, the CSC. have been working for years with a view to reducing the weight of coachwork all round, and | ||