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).
Market competition, the development of electrical equipment, and potential supplier partnerships.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 148\5\ scan0097 | |
| Date | 19th November 1935 | |
| -6- Hs{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair}/Rm.{William Robotham - Chief Engineer}3/KW.19.11.35. At present we know of many people who are buying Rover 14 HP. cars for their wives, not because they cannot afford a better car, but by reason of the fact that this is the pleasantest vehicle available in the smaller car class. The Rover balance sheet for the last two years speaks for itself. Their 14-HP. close-coupled saloon costs £320. One other point where we believe Design and development energy is not utilised to the best advantage is in the evolution of our electrical equipment. We are under the impression that this work occupies quite a large proportion of E's time; we know a good deal of money is spent on development, and the cost of equipment in the Works cannot be negligible. Without wishing to be unfair, we believe that the designers will agree that their efforts are directed at reproducing American practice. We believe that both their and our efforts would be better directed in simplifying and improving features of the car that cannot be bought off the shelf, such as suspension and engine units. We are certain that if it is thought undesirable to get Delco England to undertake the work for us, we could without difficulty arrange with Delco Remy or Autolite that we should manufacture the products they develop under licence, thereby getting the benefit of their manufacturing and experimental experience. We feel that at least the problem should have been explored from this angle to see whether the line we are adopting is the most efficient and economical. Though the majority of American cars are 6-volt systems, we found that they had wide experience on 12-volt circuits. At present we are just going into production with ventilated dynamos, which were current practice in the States when I was there two years ago. The 20/25's on test have a starter motor so geared that with Winter oil it will not start to turn the engine over at + 10°F.{Mr Friese}, and the SpectreCodename for Phantom III has an ignition system which, in the hands of our most expert tester, takes at least half an hour to time the engine. If we can get clutches, carburetters and electrical equipment developed by proprietary manufacturers, we can undoubtedly handle the experimental programme of the four cars outlined above with far greater ease and efficiency than the three chassis at present being produced. | ||