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).
Need for coachwork quality to match the high standard of the chassis.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 5\2\ 02-page091 | |
| Date | 12th April 1927 | |
| To B.J. from Hs.{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair} To L.H.S.{Lord Herbert Scott - Chair} from Hs.{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair} X5830 Hs{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair}4/LG12.4.27. COACHWORK. X5830 X3993 With reference to LHS{Lord Herbert Scott}/WZ/11.4.27. If we sell to a customer a complete car, we should expect him to criticise the whole car as a R.R. product. To the owner of the car, a noise will be XXXXXXXX just as irritating to him whether it comes from the body or the chassis. We go to no end of trouble to produce a chassis which is quiet and will remain quiet. Our chassis are condemned and have to be stripped down and put right for slight noises which can only be heard by raising the bonnet and listening intently. We do not complain about this criticism with the chassis. Surely, if we take all this trouble with the chassis, it is only right for us to criticise the coachwork, if it does not conform to the same standard. To the passengers, a noisy uncomfortable body entirely masks the excellence of the chassis. If we are told, or we have reason to believe (as we have frequently in the past) that a certain car is better in some respects than the one we are making, we buy one and find out all we can about it. We cannot see why this cannot apply to the coachwork. We do not think it can be disputed, if a R.R. car is run several thousand miles, the average body will cause more discomfort to the passengers than the chassis. We quite appreciate the coachbuilders have their own troubles; but we are not certain that the same effort is contd. | ||