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).
Confidential internal memo providing a road test review of the Cresta car, with commentary on its performance and features.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 111\4\ scan0192 | |
| Date | 3rd April 1940 guessed | |
| SECRET. 800a To Rm.{William Robotham - Chief Engineer} from Sg.{Arthur F. Sidgreaves - MD} Copy to Hs.{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair} re Cresta - 4-B-50. Sg{Arthur F. Sidgreaves - MD}7/E2440 I was very glad to have the opportunity of trying this car. Generally speaking, the performance seemed to me very good indeed but, as I have never driven the 12-cylinder Lagonda, I am unable to make any comparisons. I imagine that we have some information on this point so, when we have our next chassis meeting, perhaps you can give us some information as to how the performances of the two cars compare. The steering seemed to me to be excellent, delightfully light etc. I noticed from the card on the car that it has a low gear ratio. This I had noticed but only when more or less using full lock. The brakes seemed to me to be very good. I am very glad to see that we have at last got the automatic starting device which seemed to function very well. I noticed a very unpleasant feature and that was the heat at the back of the back seat. This seemed to be worse about the middle of the seat and [strikethrough]xxx[/strikethrough] on the near side. It will have to be corrected as even under present conditions it is very unpleasant and on a hot day would be unbearable. The bonnet fastening seemed to be rather a poor affair and very difficult to operate. The instrument board layout seemed to me to be poor and capable of considerable improvement. For instance the switch block, which it is quite unnecessary to be able to see easily, occupies the best position on the Board from a visibility point of view. There are one or two points on the body about which I have sent a separate note to Ev.{Ivan Evernden - coachwork} Sg.{Arthur F. Sidgreaves - MD} | ||