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).
Letter to R. Summers detailing failures experienced with a competitor's cheaper high-performance car during testing.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 89\1\ scan0254 | |
| Date | 23th March 1939 | |
| 261a Rm{William Robotham - Chief Engineer}8/R.{Sir Henry Royce} 23rd March, 1939. R.{Sir Henry Royce} Summers, Esq., Messrs. John Summers & Sons, Limited, Hawarden Bridge Steel Works, SHOTTON, Chester. Dear Dick, Thank you for your letter of the 22nd. We do not believe in running down other people's products. We have, however, had experience of one of the cheaper high performance cars, which in a way is a competitor. It was not flogged, but driven in the ordinary way in which we drive our experimental cars. At 3,000 miles the gearbox failed, the exhaust system failed, the battery failed, and the final catastrophe occurred at about 9,000 miles when an exhaust valve head dropped into the cylinder. When we stripped the engine there were signs that some of the bearings were beginning to look uneasy. Incidentally, you may be interested to hear that we have just put up our standardisation endurance test to 50,000 miles. Yours sincerely, | ||