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).
Premature launch of the Spectre model, its unresolved issues, and a subsequent bearing failure.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 148\5\ scan0091 | |
| Date | 29th October 1935 | |
| -4- Hs{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair}/Rm.{William Robotham - Chief Engineer}7/KW.29.10.35. In our opinion SpectreCodename for Phantom III has been launched prematurely and there are still a dozen features which want clearing up. We think that now is the time to warn Wor.{Arthur Wormald - General Works Manager} that we are handicapped on car work because of their failure to give us the promised room, rather than wait until they start throwing bricks. We are sure that owing to them insisting on putting the SpectreCodename for Phantom III in Olympia there will be a great deal of trouble which might have been avoided. Since writing the above we have had a wire from Hancock saying that two of his main connecting rod bearings have failed. These were of white metal. This brings home the fact that we ought to have been able to run sufficient endurance on white metal bearings to make sure that they were O.K. We have never been able to do this. Hs{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair}/Rm.{William Robotham - Chief Engineer} | ||