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).
Minutes of a conference discussing left-hand drive steering, gearboxes, and carburation issues.
| Identifier | WestWitteringFiles\F\February1921\ Scan16 | |
| Date | 12th January 1921 | |
| COPY. MINUTES OF CONFERENCE HELD ON WEDNESDAY EVENING JAN. 12. Present - Mr. Bagnall. Mr. Beaver. Mr. Belnap. Mr. Castell. Mr. Hives. Mr. Keim. Mr. Manning. Mr. Nadin. Mr. Olley. Mr. Southern. LEFT HAND STEERING POSITION. It was agreed that there is no necessity for Derby to consider the changing of the present car from right-hand to left-hand steering. It was also agreed that it would be out of the question to offer for sale a car with right-hand steering and the gear lever in the centre of the car. 4-SPEED GEAR BOX. Mr. Keim agreed that there was no difficulty in selling our cars in America, fitted with a 4-speed gear box. On the other hand, from a sales point of view, there would be no loss in prestige if we changed to a 3-speed box. Only two namely, the Locomobile and the Winton. It was agreed that with a lower geared axle, a 3-speed gear box would be satisfactory for this country, and even desirable. CARBURATION. It was agreed that poor carburation in cold weather with the American low grade of petrol is our most serious problem at the moment. Although only about 60 post-war cars are in use to date, we have received a large number of complaints which are directly traceable to carburation. Next Winter we shall have 500 post-war cars in the customers' hands many of them far away from our service depot. So serious is the position even for this Winter, that we must immediately do something effective to satisfy our customers. Mr. Hives has tested and certified that an improvement Contd. | ||