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).
Comparative analysis of the chassis rigidity and bodywork between a Cadillac and a Rolls-Royce.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 125\1\ scan0165 | |
| Date | 30th January 1935 | |
| CWW/MO. -2- 30th January, 1935. As regards the Cadillac, one immediately noticed the absence of any vibration and also one had the feeling of rigidity, even going over the same sets, and there was no tearing action or noise at all, which we assume was due to the rigidness of the chassis frame. It gave one the impression that the whole frame, when it was necessary to alter its position from a parallel line with the road, simply moved either down or up, front or rear, in a straight line; whereas with the 25-HP. Rolls-Royce when the nearside front went down one immediately could detect some movement which gave the impression that the chassis members themselves were twisting. Working at this theory on paper, one can quite easily see the action of this twisting chassis frame. It also defines quite clearly the tearing action from the joints of the pillars and different structural members. One feels very strongly that if this same action was taking place in a steel body it would eventually pull asunder and split, whilst an English body, being made on a wood foundation, has a certain amount of flexibility which allows the wood to go back to its normal position, and this is proved by the feeling that immediately one came to a fairly good road the twisting was not so apparent and there was no tearing and creaking of the joints of the body. It would be a most interesting experiment if you were to have this Cadillacbody mounted on a Rolls-Royce chassis and run some 10,000 miles on your test roads. It would then be absolutely proved as to whether the body was of a super nature or not. Personally, we think the body would not stand the harsh treatment as well as the English coachwork. Speaking of the lack of vibration, we showed your representatives that the top hinge of the offside front door was loose on the pillar, the door handles were loose in their escutcheons, a window lift handle knob was loose on the spindle and yet running on the worst possible road there was no noise at all coming from these parts. From experience of the Rolls-Royce | ||