• A short historical past of the Royce 10 H.P., the primary motor automobile constructed by Henry Royce, and the Rolls-Royce 10 H.P., the inaugural mannequin for the newly established marque
• First in a collection celebrating a landmark mannequin from every decade of the marque’s historical past, from its foundational years within the 1900s to the up to date Goodwood period
• Year-long retrospective marks the a hundred and twentieth anniversary of the primary assembly between Henry Royce and The Hon. Charles Stewart Rolls in 1904
• Each motor automobile represents important developments in design, development, engineering, and know-how that proceed to affect the marque’s merchandise in the present day

“We begin this retrospective series with not one, but two motor cars built by Henry Royce in the early 20th Century. The Royce 10 H.P., completely reengineered from an existing, well-regarded machine, was the catalyst for the partnership between our founders; the Rolls-Royce 10 H.P. was the first motor car built and sold under the Rolls-Royce name, setting a template for the company and its products that endures to this day. These models are inseparable in their origins and the story of the company’s foundation. Individually and together, they have a unique place in our history and therefore deserve equal recognition in the pantheon of early Rolls‑Royce motor cars.”
Andrew Ball, Head of Corporate Relations and Heritage, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars

In 1903, electrical engineer Henry Royce was working his personal manufacturing firm in Manchester. Though profitable, bother was brewing for Royce and different British corporations, within the type of a rising tide of cheaper, imported electrical items. Ever the perfectionist, Royce refused to decrease his requirements to compete, and as a substitute regarded to diversify into new areas. It was a choice that will change historical past.

In September 1902, Royce had purchased a small French automobile, a ten H.P. Decauville. It was a extremely regarded mannequin from a well-respected make, and among the many best accessible at the moment. Characteristically, nevertheless, Royce swiftly recognized quite a few flaws and weaknesses in its design, engineering and development.

Earlier that 12 months, he had learn a newly printed ebook, The Automobile: Its Construction and Management. This satisfied him to make use of the Decauville as the idea for a greater motor automobile of his personal. He started by fastidiously dismantling it, making detailed notes and drawings of each element. His new design sensibly retained a few of its key options, but additionally launched a plethora of revolutionary enhancements to the bearings, radiator, carburation and transmission.

He was additionally obsessive about decreasing the motor automobile’s total weight, which he achieved by means of meticulous engineering and metallurgy, along with less complicated measures like meting out with the Decauville’s solid bronze warning bell that alone weighed round 20kg (over 40lb). Perhaps most importantly, Royce designed and constructed his personal twin-cylinder engine, the primary within the lengthy line of legendary powerplants for each motor vehicles and plane he would create throughout his distinguished profession.

On 1 April 1904, his first full motor automobile – the Royce 10 H.P. – took to the street for the primary time. For Royce, and the world, nothing would ever be the identical once more.

Meanwhile, in London, an aristocratic motoring and aviation pioneer had opened considered one of Britain’s first automobile dealerships in 1902. He was The Hon. Charles Stewart Rolls and enterprise was booming, however Rolls was pissed off that each one his inventory was designed and manufactured abroad; no automobile produced domestically met his shoppers’ wants, or his personal requirements as a Cambridge-educated engineer and profitable aggressive driver.

A good friend, Henry Edmunds, had been loaned one of many first manufacturing examples of Royce’s new 10 H.P. motor automobile. It was, he enthused, precisely what Rolls was on the lookout for. On 4 May 1904, on the behest of his good friend Edmunds, Rolls travelled to Manchester to fulfill Royce and check out the motor automobile. Though fully totally different in background and temperament, the 2 males bonded instantly, and Rolls was smitten with the motor automobile. There after which, he declared he would promote each motor automobile Royce may make, by means of a brand new firm and beneath a brand new title: Rolls-Royce.

Launched the identical 12 months, their first motor automobile, the Rolls-Royce 10 H.P., was an analogous twin-cylinder mannequin derived from the sooner Royce vehicles, however with many additional design and mechanical enhancements. Through this diminutive however epochal motor automobile, the fledgling model quickly gained the fame for engineering excellence, consolation, efficiency and reliability it retains 120 years later.

By 1905, Rolls-Royce had added three, 4 and six-cylinder fashions, whose successes in each trials and gross sales have been constructed on the twin-cylinder 10 H.P. mannequin’s foundations. All completely embodied Royce’s most well-known ideas, which nonetheless encourage the marque in the present day: “Take the best that exists and make it better,” and “If it doesn’t exist, design it.”