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).
Customer's complaint regarding the suspension and ride comfort of their Phantom II, chassis No. 183-XJ.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 47\2\ Scan330 | |
| Date | 19th September 1930 | |
| B/W. (W.O.R). c. to C. c. to Hs.{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair} c. to EE. c. to H.{Arthur M. Hanbury - Head Complaints} re. Mr. Muhlenkamp's Phantom 11. Chassis No. 183-XJ. This is one of the cars which Hs.{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair} and BP had an opportunity of testing with me and the Owner's Driver on Wednesday last from the point of view of springing comfort. It is not pretended that this Owner is likely to be easy to please - he never has been - but he is a great supporter of our cars and at least on this occasion there would appear to be a justification for his criticism. He always has his car driven very fast and as he lives at Brighton and frequently drives to London he, unfortunately, has a South going Arterial Road which is wellknown for its unevenness and bumpy places. The Owner complains of his neck getting badly jerked fore and aft and also that Mrs. Muhlenkamp who is a very small woman, gets altogether too much bounced about in the back of the car. The original 1,225 lbs. springs on this car were altered to 1,400 lbs, also an effort was made sometime back to improve the running conditions by increasing the hydraulics up to 100 lbs, but the Owner would not put up with this and they remained at 80 lbs. We undoubtedly agreed on Wednesday on testing this car that there is altogether too much tendency to pitch and at Hs{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair}'s suggestion the car will come to the Works in order that a special light set of front springs can be fitted, such as in the case of Sg{Arthur F. Sidgreaves - MD}'s car recently, directly they may be available. Mr. Muhlenkamp, who called on me yesterday by appointment states that the car can be available on the 6th of October when he goes to France for one week and this is the date we should endeavour to work for. I explained to the Owner that the rear squabbing of his car was more than likely to account for the discomfort felt by Madam as described above, because we found an entire absence of "damping" in this squabbing, which is accentuated by the fact that a special small cushion is located for Madam to lean against, which presses only against the centre of the undamped squabbing. | ||