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).
Conditions in Germany, covering industry, cost of living, and the experience of driving on the Autobahnen.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 160\4\ scan0024 | |
| Date | 3rd March 1939 guessed | |
| - 6 - We will not spread ourself on the subject of Germany. Let it merely be said that the Germans are working very hard. Lorries, tractors and trailers are everywhere in large numbers, and we see clearly there how heavy a responsibility has been shouldered by those of our Statesmen who, by means of drastic decrees and regulations have weakened an industry which is as necessary to national defence as the production of guns and ammunition. We have no cause to complain of the hotels or the food served to us. To pay Frs.70 for a good room is fairly reasonable; but, for seven Martinis to which the Britishers asked to have a dash of gin added, we were charged I5 Mks., which is equivalent to Frs.240 if reckoned in ordinary Marks, and Frs.I20 in tourist Marks. At such rates, however, the 50 tourist Mks. to which we were entitled daily did not go very far. Petrol - we used high grade commercial petrol - came to Frs.26 (in ordinary Mks.) per 5 litres! This is a small consolation for what we now pay in France! x x x As to the Autobähne, they are very fast and well kept tracks, where very high averages are possible and where the kilometre seems shorter, but they very soon become tedious. In the "Streamline" it can be borne, but in a common or garden IO H.P., how dull! | ||