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).
Reasons for not using Lucas as a distributor for Bentley, citing poor quality and issues with their electrical equipment.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 165\1\ img022 | |
| Date | 16th March 1937 | |
| new file To Sg.{Arthur F. Sidgreaves - MD} from Rm{William Robotham - Chief Engineer}/Wst. c. to Hs.{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair} Rm{William Robotham - Chief Engineer}/Wst.5/AP.16.3.37. RE. L U C A S Further to your telephoned request, the reasons why we did not ask Messrs Lucas to submit a distributor for the Bentley were:- (a) We considered at that time (18 Months ago) that Delco's knew more about ignition problems and had more experience with battery ignition than Lucas. (b) The undoubted bad reputation of Lucas electrical equipment would cause a bad impression with our customers and lead them to think we were lowering the standard. Most people complain bitterly of the poor quality of Lucas equipment. The first failure I had with my own Hillman was with a Lucas windscreen wiper.! Messrs Lucas'reply to this is that the car owners are to blame in forcing them down to low prices, but surely as Messrs Lucas have the monopoly of the British car equipment business they ought to insist on a minimum price to safeguard quality. Our own experiences with Lucas units have not been to their credit. (1) Headlamps. Owing to the failure of P.100 headlamps on Bentley chassis, serious accidents have occurred, and we have been driven, at extra expense to ourselves, to provide a separate fuse for each headlamp. This involves a special footswitch (again more expense) for use with headlamps fitted with double filament lamp bulbs. These headlamps are supposed to be articles representing Messrs Lucas' best efforts in the lamp industry. (2) Mellotone Horns. The history of these horns since we started to fit them has been monotonously depressing. First of all we had trouble with the trumpets being badly soldered. Secondly, the horns failed intermittently in cold weather which Messrs Lucas claim (although we have never substantiated the fact) they have cured by altering the diaphragm clearances and adjusting the horns in their cold room. continued | ||