Henry Royce was not actively involved in the construction of this car, he did however experience it. His work in the factory was finished in 1920, although he only died in 1933. His philosophy lived on in the factory,
something that can be seen in many aspects of the car. It was a car, that because of its durability, was often bequeathed as a heritage. This does not mean that it didn't require care. For this reason, the chauffeurs
were trained for a fortnight in the factory, and the results of their final examination were turned over to their bosses.
In the case of a Rolls-Royce, not only the successful sale is important. Basically, the factory accompanies such a car for life, and here, it's not the owner that's meant. It doesn't matter whether he/she lives in Great
Britain or not, after a while, they enquire after the buyers satisfaction. The predecessor was the Silver Ghost and apart from automobile production, during the first world war there were also tanks- and aircraft engines.
Something that is perhaps less well known, is that at that time, Rolls-Royce was quite a sports car. Not only in long-distance racing, where it depended on the staying power. In 1911, e.g., it even broke speed records.
Despite the enormous size of the car, one could still call it a sporting vehicle, perhaps also because of the long bonnet, which in the case of the saloon, the more privileged rear seat passengers were forced back to
over the rear axle.
In the videos below, you'll notice that during the trip you actually can't hear the engine running. The gearbox on the other hand is distinctly louder. The third video shows the starting procedure with the closing of the
radiator shutter, setting the ignition in the direction of 'late', the switching on of the start-carburettor, the regulation of the the idling mixture, setting the carburettor to 'rich' and the switching on of the electric fuel pump, at
least one didn't have to crank it.
The accelerator locking is an early form of cruise control, which basically, parallel to the throttle-flap cable, keeps the vertical flow carburettor in a certain minimum position. Thus, with this amount of cubic capacity, the
once adjusted speed was guaranteed. At night the giant headlamps lit up the road well, by no means to be taken for granted in cars of that time. To avoid dazzling the oncoming traffic, the height of the headlamps
could be adjusted from the driver's seat.
The seat was of course fixed, it could only be customized by using leather cushions. The rear seats were separated from the front by a crank operated window which incorporated a small speaking-window. In the rear
it also had wind-up windows, in fact they even had laminated glass, something unbelievable for that period. And for those who today, brag about their 21 inch rims, they were around at that time as well.
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