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 regarding the return of his Jaguar car after technical evaluation and comparison.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 89\1\ scan0188 | |
| Date | 30th June 1936 | |
| X261a Exptl. Dept. Hs{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair}/Rm.{William Robotham - Chief Engineer}20/KW. 30th June, 1936. R.{Sir Henry Royce} Summers Esq., Denna Hall, Burton Point, Chester. Dear Dick, Your car will be ready for delivery on Thursday, the 2nd July; where would you like us to send it? I do not want you to think that I always crab about other manufacturers' products, but by the time I got home I was heartily tired of the Jaguar, in fact I do not think it compares with the Rover in any respect. The secret of the car's smoothness appears to be the massive construction of the engine. The cylinder head weighs 20% more than our 4 1/4 litre Bentley head, and the crankcase is in about the same proportion. The engine certainly has quite a good power output, the top gear performance, however is mainly due to a somewhat low overall gear ratio. Actually they agree that under no circumstances will the engine run at more than 4500 r.p.m., at which speed the Saloon car is geared to do. The exhaust valves are in shocking condition, how they succeeded in becoming like this after 4,000 miles we cannot quite understand. We have made a reasonable job of them. Thank you very much indeed for lending us this car, we are ready to remove the noise from your valve gear any time you can spare the car. Yours sincerely, | ||