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).
Lord Furness's car fleet, his interest in competing brands, and fitting an aero engine to a chassis.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 47\1\ Scan002 | |
| Date | 6th December 1919 | |
| R.R. 88a (500 T) (S.D. 408. 28-4-17.) Bm. 2/156/13. 1.S. 2.Py. 3.BJ. Copies to - W. Wor.{Arthur Wormald - General Works Manager} N. BT{Capt. J. S. Burt - Engineer}3/TB/6.12.19. Re - Lord Furness' cars. I called yesterday on Mr. Barrett, who is the Engineer in charge of Lord Furness' fleet of cars, to get a small matter of repair of radiators cleared up for W. While I was there, I had a chat about the behaviour of the three Rolls-Royces, and learnt that two more have just been purchased. Mr. Barrett told me that Lord Furness had only one idea of what was desirable in a car, and that was speed. It appears that recently he was staying with one of the Mr. Rothschilds, and tried his car against Mr. Rothschild's 110 H.P. Delaunay-Belleville, with the result that he was badly beaten. On the strength of this, Lord Furness placed an order for a 110 H.P. Delaunay-Belleville, and is hoping for an early delivery. Mr. Barrett seemed to consider it possible that if this Delaunay-Belleville car was satisfactory, Lord Furness might replace his fleet of R.Rs{Sir Henry Royce's Secretary} with Delaunay-Bellevilles, in the same way as he is now busy replacing his fleet of Daimlers with R.Rs.{Sir Henry Royce's Secretary} Mr. Barrett has twice been to the Depots of the Aircraft Disposal Board, to try and find an Aero Engine suitable for the R.R. chassis. He wished to purchase a R.R. "Hawk" Aero Engine, but found that the engine turned the wrong way. He examined various other engines of other makes, but in each case found some undesirable feature. I do not know what our views would be as to the fitting of an Aero Engine in one of our chassis, but if there were no objections to it, it occurs to me that it would be quite a simple matter to take one of our "Hawk" Engines, and by fitting a different cam shaft and magneto, to make it turn in the opposite direction. If, as I understand, our post-War chassis is considerably faster than the pre-War chassis, it might be worth while for this fact to be brought to Lord Furness' notice, as all the chassis which he has at present are of the immediately pre-War type, viz., 32.E.D., 38.G.B. and 31.B.D. Bt.{Capt. J. S. Burt - Engineer} | ||