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 to M. Olley at Cadillac regarding the automotive industry, a new Bentley, and streamlining challenges.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 170\2\ img142 | |
| Date | 10th May 1933 | |
| Hs{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair}/Rn.{Mr Robinson}8/KT. May 10th 1933. M.Olley Esq, Cadillac Motor Car Co, Detroit, Michigan U.S.A. Dear Oy, I have just been reading your letter to Wor.{Arthur Wormald - General Works Manager}, and am glad to hear that you are surviving the depression. It is a peculiar fact that over here we have had a record year in the automobile industry though most of the heavy industries and cotton have been in a bad way. We have at last given birth to a Bentley, but it is not yet in production. If we could get the weight down to that of the V.8. Ford, it would be my ideal motor car, but at present we do not know how to do it and give the owner brakes and transmission that will stand up to the power unit. When we come to high speed cars we are, of course, up against wind resistance. We were very interested in W.E.Lay's article on streamlining in the S.A.E. Journal of April, but it is very difficult to apply the results to a normal car. To start with, the track of the front wheels in the model is about 2/3 only of what we have to use to get a decent steering lock. Again the passengers have to use one central door, which is somewhat unconventional. However we are having a go at doing the best we can with the existing chassis. It seems quite clear from these tests that the front of the car is the worst offender, and as far as I remember, from the Buick I saw at the Proving Ground, it was most difficult to get the windage down to more than 30% with anything like a conventional front ended body. The rear engined car has not really had much work cont'd | ||