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).
Report page discussing the high performance, comfort, and features of the Streamline Bentley, contrasting it with other cars and its suitability for German autobahns.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 27\3\ Scan048 | |
| Date | 16th March 1939 | |
| -2- 16.3.39. When considering speeds such as these, one usually conjures up a picture of a very small and uncom- fortable open touring car with a noisy exhaust. The Streamline Bentley is as quiet and comfortable as an ordinary car. It is docile and pleasant to handle in traffic. As will be seen from the photograph it has a pleasing appearance. It can carry four people in comfort, and there is accommodation for luggage. It is even fitted with a wireless set. Speed of 110 m.p.h. may, to the ordinary individual who is only conversant with English roads, sound suicidal. In actual fact, however, in Germany, and to a lesser extent in France, high speeds are springing up with great rapidity. These roads bear a much closer resemblance to railway tracks than do the present English arterial roads. On the German autobahn, in particular, it is perfectly possible and safe to average 80 m.p.h. for two or three hundred miles at a time owing to the fact that there are no crossroads, pedestrians or cyclists, and all traffic is 'single way'. In reviewing the march of progress, it is interesting to remember that the Phantom I had a top speed in still air of something less than 70 m.p.h., and its engine dimensions were 50% bigger than those of the exist- ing Bentley. There is no doubt that this streamline Bentley | ||