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).
Comparison of British and American automotive design, critiquing engineering, materials, and manufacturing.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 170\3\ img199 | |
| Date | 25th July 1939 guessed | |
| economical to run and yet of good performance, has now forced the British industry to make real progress in design and construction. In several matters of car structure the British industry is definitely more enterprising than the American. For instance the need in smaller cars of a 13" Floor height, a 63" standing height and an 8" ground clearance has made it evident that the function of a frame (if any) is to transfer stresses into the necessarily much larger and stiffer body structure, rather than to stand up by itself and carry the body. Hence in England, as also in Germany, one sees a more thorough workout of body structure as a stiff fuselage. Real progress is being made in England in the design of car structures, and engines, which is liable to spread to other parts of the car. British cars, in my opinion, are still inferior to American in performance and in value per penny. But this is mostly due to inferior and more expensive materials, incomplete "tooling", less accurate workmanship, lack of fundamental research, in fact lack of engineering. | ||