Rolls and Royce

Inseparable as Gilbert and Sullivan or Victoria and Albert, Rolls and Royce created the world's most recognisable brand name 110 years ago, Wednesday 4 May 1904. They met at the Midland Hotel Manchester not only producing “The Best Car in the World” (Rolls-Royce was never modest), but aero-engine excellence throughout the Second World War and ever since.

Right: Merlin in a Spitfire.

Only a little of the credit belonged to The Hon Charles Stewart Rolls,

(below)

an Edwardian gentleman to his elegant fingertips, complete with uniformed chauffeur and mechanic, but famously stingy. The late Sir Thomas Sopwith described him as, “curiously unlovable.” Rolls felt he had little to learn from Royce, a northern engineer, a crane manufacturer with an infinite capacity for taking pains. But as an ardent balloonist and aerial adventurer Rolls’s lifestyle was expensive, and the sales company set up with £6,500 from his father, Lord Llangattock, needed a new line to augment his imported French cars. Flying exploits were his undoing. Rolls achieved the melancholy distinction of being the first pilot killed in a British air crash at Bournemouth on 2 June 1910.

Workaholic, obsessive, sickly Frederick Henry Royce’s pursuit of perfection knew no bounds and, ill from overwork, he dismantled his Decauville to make it function properly. It was a car, he concluded, “...marred by careless workmanship,” so he set about designing something better. The result was an experimental car Rolls drove out of the Midland Hotel's carriage court (demolished in the 1930s to make way for a reception area) and realised that this 2-cylinder was as smooth and quiet as a 4-cylinder. Rolls instructed his partner, Claude Johnson to take on the Royce car, and negotiate for C S Rolls & Co

(Royce below)

to have exclusive rights.

The great engineer and the parsimonious aristocrat signed their agreement on December 23, 1904. Claude Johnson thought double-barrelled names had a ring to them, and made his contribution to the motoring lexicon, inserting a clause stipulating that the cars would henceforward be known as Rolls-Royces.

Later one of the 40/50 cars was painted silver and called The Silver Ghost. It was the fashion to apply names to individual cars, rather like ships. The title stuck, and the Silver Ghost remained in production for eighteen years. Phantoms, Wraiths, Shadows and Spirits followed. Rolls-Royces were always beautifully made although scarcely inventive, and never above taking somebody else's component (an automatic transmission from General Motors, or a patent suspension from Citroën) and adapting it to its own exacting standards. An engine from Munich, transmission from Friedrichshafen, even an aluminium body from Dingolfing, has not been entirely out of character.

In 1914 the Admiralty instructed Lieut Walter Owen Bentley of the Royal Naval Air Service to find out why its new French aero engines were overheating. By 1916 he had designed one himself the Bentley rotary

(below)

, which saw service in Sopwith Camels, and was used by the RAF until 1926.

After the war Bentley wasted no time getting into car production. His 3 Litre appeared at the London Motor Show in 1919, yet the foundations of the Bentley legend were laid at the Le Mans 24 Hours race in France. Bentleys won it five times against opposition from Mercedes-Benz, Alfa Romeo, and Bugatti, but following the 1929 depression even the extravagant Bentley Boys had to economise. In July 1931 Bentley Motors called in the receiver.

Napier had not made a car since 1925, it was now predominantly an aero engine manufacturer, but was so impressed with the new 8 Litre opened negotiations to buy Bentley Motors. In September The Autocar confidently announced that an agreement only awaited formal approval. The receiver called for sealed bids, but the mysterious British Central Equitable Trust dashed Napier’s hopes. Weeks later the subterfuge was revealed. Rolls-Royce, learning of Napier's interest, had pre-empted its rival.

Bentley never forgave what he regarded as Rolls-Royce's deceit, and although he joined Bentley Motors (1931) Ltd soon left, forbidden from ever applying his name to a car again.

In 1933 Rolls-Royce announced the Derby-built Silent Sports Car, and with a few memorable exceptions, Bentleys became little more than badge-engineered Rolls-Royces. The exceptions included the splendid Continentals of the 1950s, with sweeping lines inspired by a contemporary Buick, and the new Continental developed by the VW-owned company. More in

The Complete Bentley also available as an ebook THE COMPLETE BENTLEY.

, Dove Publishing Ltd.

(right, WO Bentley bust at Bentley Motors, Crewe)

Roger Crathorne and Land Rover

Roger Crathorne had already been with Land Rover 16 years when I met him on a windy hill in Kintyre. The best Land Rover driver in the world, he was there to endorse a full page advertisement in the Daily Telegraph claiming you could drive across the peninsula. I had failed. Crathorne’s assignment was to show how.
Roger now says he is retiring. It is surprising how much an individual can influence a company culture. Lotus had Colin Chapman. MG had Cecil Kimber. Rover had a handful of Wilkses; Jaguar Sir William Lyons and Bentley WO. Test and development driver, engineer, the cross-country pre-eminence of Land Rovers and Range Rovers owes everything to his skill and (I do not exaggerate) devotion. He has achieved it, furthermore, while remaining one of the most courteous approachable and unostentatious individuals in an industry where such virtues are rare. I was honoured when he agreed to a foreword in the 65th anniversary edition of my Land Rover book.

There are not many jobs-for-life these days, but it has been my luck to have had one of them. Land Rover has been my career; I have loved every minute of it, so I am delighted to introduce a new updated edition of a book that details what has been, in effect, my life’s work. Fittingly it celebrates 65 years of Land Rover and my 50 years with the company, describing every phase, every up-and-down and every important product to bear the name. The story of a stop-gap model that became a world wide success has been told in hundreds of books, some written not only about one model or series, but just about one particular car. The Land Rover File covers the entire span in one work of reference that answers most of the questions people ask. Departments and executives inside Land Rover rely on what Eric Dymock and his researchers have chronicled so as an independent author, we may not agree with him on absolutely everything. We use this book as a working document and I commend it as objective, truthful, packed with good pictures and down-to-earth detail. Roger Crathorne: Enthusiast and Technical PR Manager.
Retire? It is not in Roger’s nature. He will be fettling his own classic Land Rover. He will be advising, consulting in his quiet-mannered way. Royce was lucky to have Rolls for the practicalities, to perfect the imperfect, to work out ways and means. Land Rover was just as lucky to have Roger Crathorne.

Longest employee in the oldest Land Rover Roget Crathorne in HUE 166 (top) And with the Best 4x4s he created.

MG 90

MG’s 90th year is, apparently, off to a strong start with over 1000 orders for the MG3. “Since the first MG went on sale 90 years ago in 1924…” according to SAIC Motor Corporation, MG’s Chinese owner.

Unfortunately MG is awash with first car claimants. They’re detailed in Classic MG and, as anybody will tell you, go back to 1902 when Morris Garages was set up at old livery stables in Longwall Street, Oxford (above). William Richard Morris started business alongside Magdalen College. Longwall Street was named after the old city wall in the grounds of New College, and it was another two decades before Morris Garages created MG. Romantic histories of MG by Alfred Edgar Frederick Higgs, or Barré Lyndon as he called himself, are no help. Barré Lyndon gained fame as a Hollywood scriptwriter and his books lent MGs as dramatic a quality as his films. His legacy of myth and legend went well beyond anything so prosaic as a car.

Morris Garages’ manager, Edward Armstead unfortunately left in 1922 and committed suicide. Mr Morris was too busy buying up Morris Motors’ suppliers and in the course of taking over axle manufacturer EG Wrigley, came across Cecil Kimber a bright executive steadily losing his savings as the firm failed. Morris knew a natural salesman when he saw one, appointing Kimber as replacement for Armstead. Morris was careful not to take Kimber on to Morris Motors; he had something more specialized in mind. Wrigley was bought cheaply from the receiver in 1923 and recast as Morris Commercial Cars Ltd
.
MG started with Kimber developing a premium profitable Morris Garages sideline. Besides selling, servicing, and repairing cars, he fitted Morrises up with a variety of coachwork. Like young William Lyons in Blackpool, busily laying the foundations of Jaguar at the same time, Kimber had an eye for style. He encouraged customers to specify individual designs much like their betters did in the luxury bespoke market. Even though the chassis was made by the humble WRM Motors, Kimber had coachwork designed for them by Raworth of Oxford, or Carbodies of Coventry. WM Morris didn’t much like the interruptions this caused to production, but put up with it for the money.

Cecil Kimber carved out the octagonal initials, adding pedigree to Morris’s homely ingenuity, inventing what the world’s motor industry came to know as niche marketing. MGs could be priced 20 per cent higher provided they were 10 per cent faster, looked 10 per cent better, and hardly cost any extra to make.

Manufacturing a Morris Garages Cowley Chummy of 1924 actually turned out cheaper, so Morris stopped making the plain Sports Cowley, a poor seller anyway, setting the stage for a new car not only stylish but also fast. Morris owners had been buying engine conversions such as Pope Ricardo aluminium cylinder heads at £8 15s 0d (£8.75), or overhead valve sets from Chesterfield or Lap at around £25. They were in the market for speed although on its own it was not enough. Neighbours didn’t notice. MGs had to have a smart appearance and a good name. Wealthy Oxford undergraduates were eager buyers.

Kimber flattered them. MGs “…can be bought by those who know.” An MG octagon superimposed on a Super Sports Morris might be thought the first MG. It could be argued that MG as a make dated from an advertisement in The Morris Owner of May 1924.

Before the first batch of Super Sports Morrises was finished, an order came in from a customer who wanted an aluminium-bodied Morris Oxford 4-seater. Kimber liked it so much that he based another new Morris Garages model on it. Changes to the Oxford chassis, which was brought in complete then stripped and reassembled, included flattened springs, lowered steering, raised axle ratio and a “tuned” engine.

Mudguards were painted smoke blue or claret, or maybe something to match the upholstery. Colour co-ordinated hood and carpets enhanced a graceful aluminium body. Both 2- and 4-seat versions of the MG 14/28 were built in Pusey Street during 1924, with polished aluminium Ace discs on beaded-edge artillery wheels. The first MG at last? Not quite, although the octagon was for the first time embossed on door sill step-plates.

The 14/28 offered, “10 per cent better performance, 50 per cent better handling, and 80 per cent better appearance than the standard Morris Oxford.” Kimber achieved improvements at small cost for the 20 per cent increase in price. Early MGs were often road-going facsimiles of cars made for trialing up muddy hills. The only MG actually made at Morris Garages’ workshop at Longwall Oxford, which had simple machine tools and no space for production, was Kimber’s Old Number One, FC7900.

Although by 1924-1925 it could scarcely be the first-ever MG, its title was enshrined in MG folklore and whether Kimber ever really intended it to be “first” or “my first”, or “first competition” or first anything doesn’t much matter. It came to be called Old Number One and was put on show as such ever after.

In 1922 Kimber acquired premises in Alfred Lane to make the Chummy and the first 14/28s but more space was still needed and it was 1925 before he persuaded Morris to let him use the available space. The acquisitive Morris had bought a radiator supplier in Bainton Road Oxford, reorganized it as Morris Radiators, and allowed MG spare bays there until 1927. It moved once again to a factory, specially built at a cost of £20,000, in Edmund Road, Cowley, still lacking a paint shop so MGs had to be sent for mudguard fitting and painting to Morris Garages’ coachwork repair shop in Leopold Street Oxford.

So about 90 years since the first MG.

The author samples Old Number One
Timeline from Classic MG

1902 Morris bicycle dealership 48 High Street Oxford, and 100 Holywell Street, known as Longwall.
1903 Morris enters partnership, The Oxford Automobile and Cycle Agency, at 16 George Street, George Street Mews and New Road. Business fails, Morris borrows money to buy back tools and never enters a partnership again. Resumes repair business at 48 High Street and motor trade at Longwall.
1907 Expands garage business at Longwall.
1908 Sells 48 High Street to Edward Armstead.
1912 Oct: WRM Motors established. £4000 capital from Earl of Macclesfield.
Nov: Morris shows designs of Morris Oxford at Olympia. Gordon Stewart of Stewart & Ardern buys 400.
1913 The Morris Garages (WR Morris, proprietor) established in Longwall, Queen Street and St Cross Road.
29 Mar: First Morris Oxford: body by Raworth, engine and gearbox White & Poppe, axles E G Wrigley, bull-nose radiator by Doherty Motor Components. Built at Temple Cowley.
1914 Jan: WRM Motors lists six Morris Oxfords. Standard £180. De Luxe coupe £255. Sports £220.
Apl: Morris sails to USA with Hans Landstad of White & Poppe, meets Continental Motor Manufacturing Company in Detroit, Michigan. Landstad joins WRM Motors.
1915 Apl: Morris Cowley two-seater with American engine and gearbox.
Sep: Chancellor of the Exchequer, Reginald McKenna, imposes 33-and-a-third per cent import duty on cars. First engines for Morris Cowley delivered from Continental. Supplies erratic due to war.

1916 Mar: Engine imports badly affected by wartime shipping restrictions.
1918 Nov: Last Morris Cowleys with Continental engines.
1919 Mar: Morris Garages manager, F G Barton, resigns due to ill health. Replaced by Edward Armstead.
Jly: WRM Motors liquidated. Morris forms Morris Motors. WRM Motors tied to unacceptable distribution agreement. First Hotchkiss engine.
Aug: Morris sets up Osberton Radiators at Cowley, helping HA Ryder and AL Davies (from Doherty Motor Components) to buy it.
1920 Jan: Cecil Cousins joins Morris Garages at Clarendon Yard. Syd Enever, aged 15, joins Morris Garages in Queen Street.
1921 Cecil Kimber joins Morris Garages as sales manager. Enever to Clarendon Yard.
1922 Mar: Kimber becomes general manager after Edward Armstead.
Autumn: First Morris Garages Chummy based on Morris Oxford with lowered springs, special paint and leather trim.
1923 1 Jan: William Morris buys Hollick & Pratt, coachbuilders, for £100,000 after a fire. Sold to Morris Motors in 1926. Morris also buys Osberton Radiators.
Feb: Chummy production from Longwall to Alfred Lane under Cecil Cousins.
Mar: Cecil Kimber takes Chummy on Land’s End Trial with Russell Chiesman.
May: Hotchkiss factory in Gosford Road Coventry bought by Morris for £349,423. FG Woollard becomes works manager.
16 Jly: The Morris Company formed.
Nov: First appearance of octagonal MG logo in Morris Garages advertisement in The lsis.
Dec: Morris buys EG Wrigley.
1924 Jan: Miles Thomas joins WR Morris to launch Morris Owner.
May: Morris Owner carries advertisement for Morris Garages with MG octagon.
1925 13 Mar: Carbodies begins building ‘Old Number One’. FC 7900 registered 27 March, 1925.
Apl 10-11: Land’s End Trial. Kimber and Wilfred Matthews enter in FC 7900.
Sep: MG production starts Bainton Road alongside Osberton Radiators.

Modern MG3. MG has announced over 1000 orders and more than 400 registrations of the supermini, since its launch in November 2013. Ten new retailer appointments have been announced so far this year. You can have one for £99 a month.

Bentley 3 Litre

Could a 1924 3 Litre Bentley do 70 in second? Third maybe, but although a bare chassis was guaranteed to do 90, its weight and with what they used to call the “windage” of even an open body would restrict speed to not much over 85mph. So I somehow doubt “Open Throttle” in the

Brooklands Gazette (later Motor Sport)

, writing enthusiastically in its very first issue that “With a slight pressure on the accelerator one can then speed up the Bentley in a few yards to fifty, fifty-five, sixty-five, and seventy quite easily—all on second. The leap forward when the increase of engine revolutions permitted by the sudden change from top to second, is a thing to be experienced to be appreciated.”

It was, he claimed, “one feature that may be described as unique… How many sporting cars will do seventy miles an hour in second gear?” His test car, moreover, had the five-jet water-jacketed Smith-Bentley carburetter, the 45BVS, used up till 1923, not the regular Speed Model’s two sloper SU G5s. Perhaps a 3 Litre Speed Model person can put us right.

Otherwise “Open Throttle” doesn’t materially contradict

The Complete Bentley also available as an ebook THE COMPOLETE BENTLEY.

(Amazon e-book - £12.31). This first Brooklands Gazette of July 1924 gave the price of a 3 Litre with 4-seat body as £1,125 and with two seats £1,100. My research was based on contemporary advertisements and other accounts. I gave the Red Label Speed Model a couple of decimals’ difference in the top gear ratio. You could have any colour you liked on the badges but speed models were all red. “Open Throttle” discovered the “system of dual controlled magnetos” but surprisingly doesn’t seem to have counted the spark plugs. He gives the weight at 19½cwt although that was for the chassis only. Bodywork added 5-6cwt. I think I prefer Motor Sport’s later practice of initialling contributors, such as WB and DSJ.

A lot of 3 Lire Bentleys were burdened by heavy saloon bodywork.

1924-1929 3 Litre RED LABEL SPEED MODEL

Essentially a development of the TT Replica, Speed Models brought in four wheel brakes, and twin SU carburettors. WO maintained that hydraulic brakes had been tried on EXP2, but production cars had a mechanical system based on Perrot principles, which had a shaft with sliding universal joints. The front axle section was increased to take the strain, and instead of cast iron linings as used in the rear drums, all eight brake shoes had fabric linings. The handbrake operated an additional set of shoes and a single adjustment beneath the floor took up lining wear on all four wheels. There was no servo, but WO and FT Burgess developed and patented a mechanical compensator used subsequently in Bentleys up to the 8 Litre. There were several stages of Perrot-Bentley brakes, improvements having been tried out on Burgess’s experimental car ME 2431, that was doing effective duty as EXP4. The stage 1.1 Perrots ran to 1926, stage 2, which pinned the sliding keys, to 1929. There were gearbox developments and a larger sump as well as a gradual thickening of the chassis frame from 0.144in (3.7mm) to 0.156in (3.96mm), and in 1928 0.188in (4.78mm). Chassis flexure was problematical. LJK Setright: “(WO) carried over to his cars the notions of scale he acquired in railway locomotive workshops. So far as his chassis were concerned, the effect was almost always disastrous; everything about them was of heroic dimensions and villainous proportions, the outcome being an aggregation of components that was grotesquely heavy without being particularly stiff. Indeed the main chassis rails, though of very thick channel section, were only 4in (10.2cm) deep and their inadequate beam stiffness made it necessary for supplementary trusses to be bolted beneath, an arrangement which improved matters in bending but did nothing to improve the torsional stiffness of the chassis.” The reinforcements were struts and stiffeners below the main chassis members giving the effect of a deeper beam section. The radiator header tank was enlarged, making the domed shell 1in (2.5cm) taller and adding dignity to the prow. In 1926 steel rocker arms were replaced with duralumin even though they proved fragile at Brooklands in 1927.

INTRODUCTION 1922

BODY various coachbuilt; chassis weight 20cwt (1016kg); 1925 23cwt (1168.4kg); maximum with body 26cwt (1320.8kg) to 28cwt (1422.4kg)

ENGINE 4-cylinders, in-line; front; 80mm x 149mm, 2996cc; compr 5.6:1, 6.1:1; 85bhp (63.39kW) @ 3500rpm; 28.4bhp (21.18kW)/l; RAC rating 15.9HP

ENGINE STRUCTURE 4-valves, double springs; hollow overhead camshaft gear-driven from front; cast-iron non-detachable cylinder head, cast iron cylinders; aluminium crankcase; cast aluminium 2.5gal (11.4l) sump with gear-driven pump; long securing studs from block to crankcase; two sloper SU G5 carburettors; 2 spark plugs per cylinder; two ML CG4 later some RG4 magnetos, Autovac fuel system; 5-bearing Laystall forged steel crankshaft; water-cooled, L8 hourglass or BHB split skirt aluminium pistons.

TRANSMISSION rear wheel drive; Ferodo-lined 42.25in (107.3cm) cone clutch; separate 4-speed A-type gearbox, or C-type on Speed Models; right hand change; one-piece plunger joint propeller shaft; spiral bevel final drive 3.78, or 3.53:1

CHASSIS pressed 35ton steel channel section frame, 4 riveted cross members; half-elliptic leaf springs (different leaves according to body weight) suspension; Hartford, Duplex friction dampers; 15.75in (40cm) drum brakes with Bentley-Perrot shafts to front; worm and wheel steering; 11gal (50l) fuel tank with 2gal (9l) reserve; Rudge-Whitworth centre lock wire wheels, 820x120 tyres. Dunlop after 1926

DIMENSIONS wheelbase 117.5in (298.4cm); track 56in (142.2cm); length 159in 403.8cm); width 68.5in (174cm); ground clearance 7.25in (18.4cm); turning circle short right 46ft (14m) left 42ft (12.8m).

PERFORMANCE maximum speed, 86mph (138.1kph); 24.3mph 39kph app @ 1000rpm;

0-60mph (96kph) 40sec; fuel consumption 20mpg (14.12l/100km)-25mpg (11.3l/100km).

PRICE chassis only, £1050, 1924 £925; complete car (mostly VDP) £1275-£1475; 1924 £1125-£1350 PRODUCTION 513

FROM THE BROOKLANDS GAZETTE, July 1924

THE sporting car, as a class, has characteristically more distinction than that possessed by touring types. Being essentially out of the ordinary, and representing the result of concentration upon a design intended to emphasise particular motoring qualities, the sporting car usually has quite an individuality of its own. Some sporting cars, of course, are much more conventional than others; whilst there are those which seem to stand quite apart from orthodox standards.

In the latter category one may place the three-litre Speed Model Bentley. This car embodies all the qualities which one has come to consider essential in a sporting car. In addition, it has features and characteristics quite its own. A brief review of the chassis reveals at once how interesting a proposition the Speed Model Bentley is, and this opinion is vastly enhanced when one takes the car for a trial on the road.

The engine is a four-cylinder monobloc of 2,996 cc. capacity and 15.9 h.p. on the R.A.C. rating. Its design has much originality, which has been well justified by the results obtained. There are two inlet and two exhaust valves in each cylinder, arranged in the head and operated by a totally enclosed overhead camshaft and rockers, running in oil. Both crankshaft and camshaft are carried in five bearings. The pistons are of aluminium, designed for high compression service. Cooling is by pump circulation controlled by an automatic thermostat. Ignition on a sporting car is, of course, a factor demanding the most careful attention. One usually has to “drive on the spark” more than is requisite on a touring car, and if one desires to obtain really the best running from the Speed Model Bentley one makes no exception to this rule with it. On this car one finds two M.L. high-tension magnetos, having a synchronised firing point control. The system of dual controlled magnetos enables one to obtain particularly effective ignition. Lubrication is by pressure to the main bearings and big ends, and by splash to the pistons and gudgeon pins. There is a pressure lead from the main oil supply to the hollow crankshaft, through which the camshaft bearings, cams and valve rockers are lubricated.

Carburation is by a five-jet water-jacketed Smith-Bentley carburetter. A notable point is that a petrol consumption of 25 m.p.g. at 30 m.p.h, is guaranteed. The speed model Bentley, considering its wide capabilities, is not under any condition excessive in fuel consumption. The clutch is of the inverted cone type, lined with Ferodo. It has compensated withdrawal mechanism automatically lubricated, and there is a special automatic lubricator for the clutch spigot. The four-speed gear-box gives ratios in the forward speeds of 9.35 to 1, 3 78 to 1, 4.72 to 1, and 3.53 to 1.

It is operated by a simple right-hand gate change carried on an extension of the box. The frame of the chassis is of particularly strong construction, and does not rely on the engine or gearbox for part of its bracing. Double Hartford shock absorbers are fitted to the back axle and single to the front. There are oil lubricated Wefco gaiters on all springs. Steering is by worm and wheel.

In a car of such advanced design as the Bentley, one naturally expects to find front wheel brakes, and the system of fully compensated internal expanding brakes operating on all four wheels and controlled by pedal is very effective. The hand brake operates direct on the rear wheels. Wear on the four wheel brakes can be taken up by a single adjustment.

The tank holds eleven gallons of petrol, and a two-way tap near the filling cap gives access to a reserve supply of two gallons. The cardan shaft is hollow and is loaded with oil through a plug, this reservoir providing an oil supply for the back universal joint. Chassis lubrication is by oil, supplied from an oil-gun through screwed oil plugs. The only grease cup on the chassis situated on the water pump. After the chassis has been lubricated it can be run for three months of normal mileage without further lubrication, apart, of course, from the engine’s requirements.

The wheelbase of the sporting Bentley is 9 ft. 9½ins., and the wheel track 4 ft. 8ins. The weight of the chassis is 19½cwts., and it runs on 820 x 120 m.m. tyres. The annual tax is £16.

From the foregoing it will be appreciated that the Speed Model Bentley is a particularly interesting car. Our road experiences with this model, although not at the moment as extensive as we should like, have convinced us that this car must possess a fascination for every sporting motorist.

The sporting Bentley is naturally a fast car. But that is by no means the sum total of its outstanding attraction. Very few sporting cars arc really docile in control, many are not at all comfortable to ride in. The Speed Model Bentley is a happy exception to this too prevalent rule. We drove the Bentley quite comfortably on top gear at an exceptionally low speed, and found it very docile in traffic and those places wherein “sporting” characteristics are not over appreciated. Owing to its high gear range one must, of course, remember that the four speeds are there to be used. Gearchanging is so easy a matter, however, that one finds not the smallest objection to always starting in first and to a fairly frequent use of the lower ratios in traffic. On each gear the car is instantly responsive its life and acceleration under all conditions being admirable.

Later Sloper carburettor

There is one feature of the Bentley that may be described as unique, and to this we would give due prominence. How many sporting cars, or cars of any sort, will do seventy miles an hour in second gear? Their number must be very few indeed. The Bentley, however, makes light of this. One can speed up in the ordinary way on the successive gears until one is going along smoothly and comfortably at, say, forty-five miles an hour on top gear. One then changes down direct to second gear, missing third - and things begin to happen. With a slight pressure on the accelerator one can then speed up the Bentley in a few yards to fifty, fifty-five, sixty-five, and seventy quite easily—all on second. The leap forward when the increase of engine revolutions permitted by the sudden change from top to second, is a thing to be experienced to be appreciated. The acceleration is quite remarkable, as remarkable as the fact changing down at forty-five miles an hour itself. The Bentley will hang on to round about the seventy mark on second gear indefinitely, and the change down at speed with a quick double-clutch is not unduly difficult. One can change into top at practically any speed, slow well as fast, and the Bentley will attain the neighbourhood of the eighty mark without much forcing.

Steering of the Bentley is delightfully easy, comparable in its comfort to that experienced on a high quality light car. The four-wheel brakes, operated by pedal, remarkably powerful, and very easy and smooth in operation. Although there is not an over abundance of seating room the Speed Model Bentley is quite comfortable to ride in.

The electrical and other equipment is very complete and the general lay-out of the car very pleasing to those who desire a high quality sporting vehicle which is quite

practicable for ordinary touring and exceptionally attractive amongst sporting designs for town and general use.

The price of the Speed Model Bentley with four seater body is £1,125 and with two-seater body £1,100, purchasers being afforded the option of choosing the colour of body and upholstery. The manufacturers are Messrs. Bentley Motors, Ltd., 3, Hanover Court, Hanover Street, London, W.1. The extensive Bentley factories are at Cricklewood. London, N.W. 2.

Interest in the Bentley is naturally enhanced by this car’s splendid victory in the French Grand Prix d’Endurance last month. The Bentley was the only British car amongst some forty competitors, and its outstanding performance throughout the race provided a notable tribute to British engineering in general, and to Bentley design and workmanship in particular Magnificently driven by Duff and Clement, the Bentley maintained a thrilling struggle with some of the best representatives of French automobile science throughout the twenty-four hours that the race occupied. This event is indeed appropriately named, a trial of endurance, for it is difficult to imagine a more exacting test under road conditions than this gruelling struggle of speed throughout a day and a night.

The Bentley had no mechanical trouble, and at the end of the race was in good condition and still lapping consistently. The distance covered by the Bentley in twenty-four hours with Duff and Clement alternately at the wheel, was exactly 2,188 kilometres, or 128 laps of the course. Second place was taken by the Lorraine-Dietrich, driven alternately by Stoffel and Brisson with 2,016 kilometres to its credit.

Jaguar R-Coupe

Richard Bremner was right. In his astute and entertaining Autocar column, THEY WERE THE FUTURE, ONCE, on September 4 2013 he wrote:

Bold R-Coupe had XK150 grille

A dozen years ago, Jaguar was a maker of new old cars for middle-aged men occupying the verdantly gardened mid-century detached homes of Warwickshire. Many worked for Jaguar itself. They drove little and large X-type and XJ throwbacks to the 1968 XJ6, visually troubled S-types or XK8s redolent of E-types but missing the original’s delicacy and drama. Jaguar needed to break from its past, and slowly, sometimes painfully, it has. And no more completely than with today’s boldly original XJ. Yet the car that triggered the big cat’s escape from the formaldehyde world has almost been forgotten.
Jaguar concept cars were once rarer than back-to-back Browns Lane profits and were more likely to be produced by design houses than Coventry. The XK180 and the F-type changed that, their debuts at last century’s end a prelude to a failed attempt at a production F-type. But these two were worryingly retro, despite their voluptuous details.

1998 XK180 with epitome of Jaguar heritage, a long-nosed tailfinned D-type

The 2001 R-Coupe, on the other hand, boldly launched forward. True, it had the Mk2 ‘mouth eating a banana’ grille, its long-bonnet short-tail proportions referenced the XK120 and it carried enough wood and leather to furnish a Regency drawing room. But this was no antique Jaguar.
The R-Coupe’s cabin was as on the money as London’s Met bar and just as desirable to occupy. Rich, smooth-contoured wood swept along the lower reaches of the doors and as deep-walled central console, while crisply-seamed leather sheathed curve-topped bucket seats redolent of an early E-type’s and the dash was packed with a battery of enticingly silvered instruments. More arresting still was a floor surfaced with the same pale blonde Connolly leather that upholstered the seats. This was the Jaguar cabin gone modern, but one still lightly tethered to a past that the company’s managers could just about feel comfortable with.

Crisp, clean, 2000 F-type concept
They also felt eased by the back-catalogued echoes of the R-Coupe’s crisply sculpted contours. The fuselage-like section of its body sides, the voluptuous bunching of the bonnet over its quarter of headlights, the shallow glasshouse and the full-length waistline crease were all to be found on Jaguars past. So was there something really new in this concept? There was. The bold air vents flanking its grille, a dynamic wide-tracked stance, 21-inch alloys, the subtle air vents in the front wings and its confident, untroubled sweeps of surface and form have characterised Jaguars since.
Yet at its 2001 Frankfurt show debut there were plenty who didn’t know quite what to make of the R-Coupe. It was less dramatic than the XK180 and the F-type, it was far from wildly futuristic and many were surprised to see the S-type’s grille. But there’s something about the elegantly contained muscle, its carefully teased proportions and confidently spare jewellery that appealed then and still does now. The R-Coupe made a fine start on a slow-burning revolution - and it’s still playing out today.

Bold, subtle, four headlamp R-Coupe


Richard was right about the 2001 R-Coupe concept being an unsung hero of the Jaguar revolution. What follows is the entry in my Jaguar ebook.

No Jaguar – no car ever – quite matched the E-type. UK stamp immortalised.


Jaguar celebrated the centenary of Sir William Lyons’ birth on September 4 2001, and a week later showed a concept car at the Frankfurt Motor Show illustrating how Jaguar design might develop. The Frankfurt car was never going to be a production reality, it was scarcely even a running prototype yet several of its features emerged later. Built in six months, it had no engine and only rudimentary S-type suspension and was not based on any current or proposed Jaguar, but had been “constructed round a realistic 4-seater package and a V8 powertrain.” Its flights of fancy included F1-style paddle-shift gear changing, headlamp beams that followed the steering, electronic door releases and voice-controlled telematics. A challenge to Jaguar designers, it reflected the company’s aim to shift from a niche manufacturer to a major player in the premium car sector. “It represented a long term vision rather than anything we will see tomorrow,” according to managing director Jonathan Browning. Its styling included a front grille reminiscent of the XK150, and it was the first project to be completed following Ian Callum’s appointment as design director in 1999. He created a 15-strong Advanced Design Studio under Julian Thomson that took the lead in creating the R-Coupe, which was only revealed once it did not figure anywhere in Jaguar’s plans.

2000 F-type had wrap-round window Pewter paintwork, badges of solid silver and a silver-plated grille surround served to emphasise that it was strictly a one-off exercise of the sort that manufacturers prepare as a matter of course, ready to develop into production realities if required. Critical acclaim was not immediate. Automobile Year was disappointed in some respects although: “The overall concept achieved just what Jaguar needed, elegant and distinctive design, exclusive styling with beautiful proportions such as Jaguar always had in the past. Ian Callum has a knack of understanding exclusive design, as he did with Aston Martin.” Jaguar historian Paul Skilleter saw it as: “An enlarged futuristic XJ-S… a generous 2+2 … a lot bigger, 6.35cm (2.5in) longer than an XJ-S, wider by a massive 60.96cm (24in), and 8.89cm (3.5in) taller. Some said they could not have identified the car as a Jaguar if it had not been badged, but they were in a minority. … an endorsement that the R-Coupe is the bold step Ian Callum is convinced is necessary.” And so it proved. It certainly repositioned Jaguar, took it into new territory, and ensured partiality towards retro styling was by no means obsessive
INTRODUCTION September 2001. BODY Coupe; 2-doors, 4-seats. ENGINE V8-cylinders. TRANSMISSION rear wheel drive CHASSIS steel monocoque with subframes; independent suspension by coil springs and unequal length wishbones; anti roll bars; telescopic dampers; hydraulic servo ventilated disc brakes; alloy wheels
DIMENSIONS wheelbase 290.83cm (114.5in); length 492.76cm (194in); width 186.69cm (73.5in); height 134.62cm (53in). EQUIPMENT Ebony macassar wood veneer interior, blonde Connolly hide on seats, deep brown saddle hide elsewhere.

Pale blonde Connolly leather R-Coupe

Porsche 924

Porsche would like to forget the 924. It had a van engine, was a quarter the price of a 911 so it sat uneasily in the Porsche pantheon of profligacy. Yet it was precise and well-made. Swift enough for the 1970s, indeed swift enough now, it represented an about-turn for the great automotive dynasty, cobbled-up from VW parts bins much like Cecil Kimber made up MGs from Morrises in the 1930s, described in The Classic MG File.
Proper James Dean dangerous Porsches had air-cooled engines in the back, so putting a water-cooled one at the front was not so much radical as revolutionary. Making it almost upright and in line was not Porsche’s way at all. Furthermore the 924 was a mere design commission in the wake of the 1973 oil crisis. Volkswagen AG wanted an Audi Coupe.
Porsche Design was already working on the large, expensive and thirsty 928, but nobody knew in 1974 if the sports car was going to survive, so it was instructed to design a replacement for the VW Porsche 914, a relatively low-grade although quite popular mid-engined sports car made in Osnabrück between 1969 and 1975. The brief was to use VW and Audi components for something a lot smaller than the 928.

Technicians were told to take an inoffensive 2.0litre single overhead camshaft engine intended for the 1977 Audi 100 and VW LT van. Porsche added Bosch K Jetronic fuel injection to increase power to 92kW (125bhp), and kept weight distribution about even. The 928’s principles were re-employed, with a drive shaft in a tube to a 4-speed gearbox in the rear. This was really a back-to-front Audi 100 front wheel drive unit, although a 5 speed became available later. A few 924s were even sold with a 3 speed automatic. Front suspension was by VW Beetle 1302 MacPherson struts, the rear had semi trailing arms and transverse torsion bars.
Notwithstanding its potential for speed, the light weight 924 used a mundane mix of K70 disc brakes at the front and drums at the rear. The same could be said of the tyres, which were rather ordinary 185/70SR14, although wider section, 60 profile covers came subsequently as an option. The body shape was notable for careful aerodynamics, and a late decision to make it hot-dip galvanised provided a 6-year anti-corrosion warranty from the start.
It was still to be an Audi Coupe until, late in the 924’s development, Volkswagen decided it did not meet its marketing plans. So, with Porsche sales still flagging in the shadow of the oil shock, it became a Porsche in its own right. It was perfectly fitting. After all it came from the consultancy proclaimed in the Stuttgart-Zuffenhausen Commercial Register of 25th April 1931 as “Dr. Ing. h. c. F. Porsche GmbH, Konstruktionen und Beratung für Motoren und Fahrzeuge” (design engineering and consultation for engines and vehicles).

Left: Professor Ferdinand Porsche and son Ferry.
As soon as it took full control of the project, Porsche AG gave it better-class trim and seats, plus a revised facia. However there was no space in the Porsche factory at Zuffenhausen, so Audi found room to build it in the former NSU factory at Neckarsulm. Porsche kept a keen eye on quality and over 122,000 were made between 1976 and 1985, 300,000 including derivative 924 Turbo, 944 and 968 (below)variants carried on until 1995. Their merit was beyond reproach and Audi gained an industry lead in how to make rust-resistant galvanised steel bodies. Porsche was rescued from a financial fissure that its regular premium-pricey products were struggling to fill.

924 spec: BODY 2 door coupe; 2+2 seats; weight 1130kg/2486lb
ENGINE 4 cylinders; in line; front; 86.5mm x 84.4mm, 1984cc; 92kW/125bhp @ 5800rpm; 46.4kW (63.0bhp)/l; 165Nm (121.7lbft) @ 3500rpm
ENGINE STRUCTURE ohv; 2 valves per cylinders; 1 belt driven ohc; aluminium head; cast iron block; 5 bearing crankshaft; Bosch K Jetronic injection.
TRANSMISSION 2 wheel drive; 4 speed gearbox; hypoid bevel final drive, 3.9:1. 3 speed automatic option.
CHASSIS DETAILS Steel unitary construction; independent front suspension, struts, coil springs; independent rear suspension, semi trailing arms, transverse torsion bars; telescopic dampers, disc front, drum rear brakes; dual braking circuits; vacuum servo; no ABS; rack and pinion steering; 66l (14.5gal) fuel tank; 185/70HR14 tyres; 6in rims.
DIMENSIONS Wheelbase 240cm (94.5in), front track 142cm, (55.9in), rear track 137cm (53.9in), ground clearance 12.5cm (4.9in), turning circle 12.5m (33.3ft), length 421cm (165.7in), width 168.5cm (66.3in), height 127cm (50in).
PERFORMANCE Maximum speed 204kph (126mph); 21.4mph (34.4kph) @1000rpm; acceleration 0 100kph (62mph) 9.6sec; 12.3kg/kW (9.0kg/bhp); average fuel consumption. 30.8mpg (8.7l/100km) Euromix.