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).
Fitting of car radios, the quality of British sets, and aerial design challenges.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 63\2\ scan0079 | |
| Date | 10th July 1935 | |
| 16153. Cx.{Major Len W. Cox - Advertising Manager} From Hs{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair}/Wst. Hs{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair}/Wst.1/MA.10.7.35. Re. CAR RADIO. We regret that Sg.{Arthur F. Sidgreaves - MD} is not interested in the Ekco Set because we do feel that this set is the best British made set. Will you therefore please arrange to fit it to your car as we shall be debited with the cost. The attitude of the Experimental Dept., is that we must persevere with car radio until we can offer something equally as good as the Cadillac. We must do this in view of the fact that quite a percentage of our customers ask for radio and also that the cheapest car, i.e. the 10 HP. Ford is already radio equipped with really tolerably good reception. Undoubtedly the aerial arrangement is the biggest factor and we have experiments in hand using a new type of tubular aerial designed to be fitted under the running board. If this is successful we hope to forget about roof aerials as they are always a problem. Car radio should be an additional attraction to motoring if it is really successfully arranged as on American cars, and if we are to succeed we must have the active co-operation of the coach builders in the matter. We have already issued comprehensive instructions regarding the fitting of radio sets to our cars but we have not issued any notes to coachbuilders indicating how aerials should be arranged and what faults to avoid when wiring the body accessories. This question is under consideration between ourselves and Ev.{Ivan Evernden - coachwork} Hs{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair}/Wst. | ||