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).
Feedback report on the 'No. 1 Spectre' model, detailing issues with its appearance, comfort, and visibility.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 91\1\ scan0018 | |
| Date | 15th July 1935 | |
| SECRET Rm{William Robotham - Chief Engineer} x300 To... Sg.{Arthur F. Sidgreaves - MD} -> c. to Hs.{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair} -Wor.{Arthur Wormald - General Works Manager} -Er. re: No. 1 SpectreCodename for Phantom III. There are one or two points not mentioned in my long report, of special interest I think firstly, to the owner-driver. the performance, so far as acceleration and road holding are concerned, will appear very attractive, but to the man who does not drive himself, and we have many owners like that, he will only be attracted by this car by its exceptional luxury in silence and smoothness. Therefore we shall require a very high standard of these qualities for the average Rolls-Royce user to see much benefit over his present car. This car has a very unpleasant appearance from the driver's seat by reason of the rather rapidly falling bonnet line and the apparent slope at the top of the radiator, which looks as if the whole car is falling forward. In my opinion, it is not nearly so imposing from the driving seat as the P.II. I think perhaps this particular car may be rather bad in this respect because it seemed to be very heavy in the front.. more so, if I remember rightly, than No. 3 which has gone to France and which we saw before its departure. It is a characteristic which will be severely criticised if we are not able to cure it. I found the front seat of this car very shallow from the point of view of restfulness after a long distance, and am drawing the attention of those concerned to this particular point. I was very sorry to find that this car was rather like an American one to drive from the point of view of visibility of the nearside front wing. Sitting normally, it was completely out of sight and I had to lean forward and strain my neck to get a proper view of its actual position. This is a point which we were discussing last week after trying Packard and Ford, which we agreed we ought not to permit on an R.R., but here we are falling into it. I suppose the 18" wheels are something to do with it but it is a very undesirable effect and I feel sure we should try and prevent this unpleasant characteristic. Ox. [signature] Aueb | ||