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).
Secret memorandum outlining the production programme for the Bentley V, detailing material supply, tooling costs, and chassis numbers.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 97\2\ scan0014 | |
| Date | 16th January 1939 | |
| Handwritten: QRY. We must fix a date when we can decide one way or other on the gearbox Rm{William Robotham - Chief Engineer} Hs.{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair} c. RHC.{R. H. Coverley - Production Engineer} c Rm.{William Robotham - Chief Engineer} c. By.{R.W. Bailey - Chief Engineer} c. Sg.{Arthur F. Sidgreaves - MD} Typed: Roy{Sir Henry Royce}/Les 15/ER 16.1.39. SECRET Bentley V.{VIENNA} Programme. It is now necessary that a final programme for B.V. be fixed immediately, if material supply is to commence by the beginning of May. Such items, as the hubs and the radiator, require up to 16 weeks delivery and may cause serious delay unless definite steps can be taken towards ordering. A further contingency must be allowed for, in that initial supplies of material from new, less expensive sources may cause a little trouble. We have already obtained alternative quotations for the majority of the material for 500 B.V. chassis, and this means that if the first series quantity is less than 500, a complete set of new enquiries would be necessary. Furthermore, production methods would require reconsideration for a smaller quantity, entailing, possibly, the transference of some items to other firms. It is therefore, very important for us to have the following information as soon as possible:- 1. Sanction to release £7,000 for tools to produce the material. This includes the frame tools which are already in hand. 2. Date by which the first set of material must be in our works, for the 50 chassis, and number of chassis to be produced per week. 3. Confirmation of the number - 500 chassis - of the first series. 4. Date by which the first set of material for the series of 500 chassis must be in our works, and the number of chassis to be produced per week. Roy{Sir Henry Royce}/Les.{Ivan A. Leslie} | ||