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).
The unsatisfactory and weak mechanical construction of a Barker body on a 7-EX car.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 71\1\ scan0206 | |
| Date | 29th May 1926 | |
| X8830 To LHS{Lord Herbert Scott} ) from R.{Sir Henry Royce} Hs{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair} ) C. to BJ.C.PN.{Mr Northey} BARKER BODY ON 7-EX.CAR. X.8830. R3/M29.5.26. As far as I can tell this body is very unsatisfactory, not in shape or finish, but in mechanical construction. It is too weak and flexible. The scuttle and door posts are not rigid and so the whole front wobbles like a jelly. It is built on a subframe with completely detached scuttle, but I do not believe it is the support of the subframe or the twisting of the main frame which is the chief fault, but the want of soundness of construction of the body itself. This is easily demonstrated by opening any of the 4 doors, and alternatively pressing down and lifting them, also the door posts on which they shut move about in both directions quite a lot, so that closing one door opens another, and the doors cannot be closed without a rough crude bang. I do not believe much can be done without some very drastic alteration which may mean stripping and spoiling the paint, re-arranging the strength and joints at the bottom of the doorpost by suitable steel reinforcements, and somehow cross bracing the scuttle or effectively strengthening the corners. It is usually thought that the back of a well constructed front sheet should-be steady the doorpost. I should like to see such a body before it is hidden with finish: certainly something different must be made. R.{Sir Henry Royce} | ||