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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).
Frame and body stiffness tests, with comparative data from a 1935 Ford Sedan and a 1934 Olds 8 Sedan.

Identifier  ExFiles\Box 170\2\  img279
Date  2nd July 1935 guessed
  
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Modern American practice does not rely on the frame alone for this result. Take for instance the 1935 Ford Sedan:

Between Wheels D to R F to D
Bare Frame: 475 565 2970

Note: Fr Wheels to Dash is only 19½". Frame is not complete till body shell is mounted, since body floor is used as top-plate of X - member.

With bare body shell: 2100 3305 5705

With toe board and
and metal cover over
transmission: 2365 3905 6175

With engine: 2440 3650 7360

With front fenders
radiator shell and
core; and running
boards: 3225, 4360 12400

Note: All sheet metal including radiator is mounted solid and bolted into frame to reinforce stiffness.

Complete car with
rear-fenders, in-
strument panel and
steering gear: 3420 4700 12500


Here again are some interesting figures:-

Wheel Cens D to R F to D
1934 Olds 8 Sedan: 2030 3440 4960

A similar car on which the frame had been cut away, and the body (which had already run 17,000 miles) was married up to the front and rear axles by special devices, gave:-

3640 4200 25600

The front end of this car was entirely free from shake. The rear end was not stiff enough to give complete freedom from rear-end shake.

We now have a huge library of these tests taken both at Cadillac and at the Proving Ground, by the same method, and feel that the necessi-
  
  


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