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ROLLS-ROYCE MOTOR CARS: SHAPING THE WORLD FOR 120 YEARS

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  • Rolls-Royce marks the one hundred and twentieth anniversary of the primary assembly between founders Henry Royce and The Hon. Charles Stewart Rolls, on 4 May 1904
  • A short evaluate of the founders’ lives and careers within the years main as much as their historic encounter in Manchester, and the roles of different much less well-known, however nonetheless pivotal, actors within the Rolls-Royce origin story
  • An examination of the world and society through which Rolls-Royce was established and the marque’s contribution to the broader technological progress of the age
  • Part of a year-long celebration of the extraordinary folks, occasions and motor vehicles that make up Rolls-Royce’s wealthy and noteworthy heritage

“From a modern perspective, 1904 can feel impossibly distant from our own times. But it was an age of unprecedented invention, innovation and technological progress, in which many of the things we now take for granted first appeared. Rolls-Royce was born into this extraordinarily dynamic, creative world and would go on to shape it profoundly and irrevocably. Looking back, the meeting of Rolls and Royce seems somehow predestined, the arcs of their respective careers up to that point making it appear almost inevitable. In fact, it came about through a web of chance connections and overlapping relationships; without these, given their vastly different backgrounds and social circles, it might never have happened at all. We are proud to continue their remarkable story, to celebrate and build upon their unique legacy 120 years later.”
 Andrew Ball, Head of Corporate Relations and Heritage, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars

On 4 May 2024, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars marks the one hundred and twentieth anniversary of the primary assembly between Henry Royce and The Hon. Charles Stewart Rolls. The founders’ private tales, the historical past of the corporate they based and its motor vehicles are well-known and obtainable to view elsewhere on the Rolls-Royce PressClub.

To rejoice this auspicious anniversary, Rolls-Royce considers the historic, technological and social context through which the marque got here into being and the affect and affect of the Rolls-Royce identify over its 120 years. But to totally perceive the marque’s origins and legacy, one should first attain a bit additional again in time and look at the founders’ actions within the years instantly previous to that first, world-changing encounter in 1904.

HENRY ROYCE: THE ENGINEER

For Henry Royce, the story actually begins in late 1884, when he based his first engineering firm, F. H. Royce & Co. (he was christened Frederick Henry) in Manchester. Initially producing small gadgets comparable to battery-powered doorbells, the corporate progressed to creating heavy gear together with overhead cranes and railway shunting capstans.

But after nearly twenty years of enlargement and success, in 1902 the corporate was heading for monetary bother, owing to competitors from an inflow of cheaper merchandise from Germany and the USA. Royce’s perfectionism and obsession with enchancment meant he was not ready to enter a race to the underside, or compromise the standard of his merchandise. Habitual overwork and fixed pressure significantly affected his already weakened structure, and at last his well being collapsed completely.

His medical doctors ordered him to take an prolonged break, so Royce launched into a 10-week go to to his spouse’s household in South Africa. Yet even on a medically imposed relaxation remedy, his engineer’s thoughts was as lively and inquisitive as ever. His selection of studying materials on the lengthy voyage was The Automobile: Its Construction and Management, initially written in French by Gérard Lavergne and translated into English that 12 months. This was actually ‘the book’ on easy methods to construct a motor automobile, and Royce was clearly each enlightened and impressed by it.

On his return to England, Royce – now bodily and mentally recovered – instantly acquired his first motor automobile, a French 10 H.P. Decauville. It’s usually been assumed that this automobile was so poorly made and unreliable that Royce, out of sheer frustration, set about addressing its quite a few defects.

In reality, nearly the alternative is true. He selected the Decauville exactly as a result of it was a superb, state-of-the-art machine with the categorical intention of dismantling it, analysing each element, then producing his personal automobile from scratch. Any fairly competent engineer might have upgraded a badly constructed, substandard product: it took a genius of Royce’s stature to, in his personal phrases, “take the best that exists and make it better”.

THE VITAL ROLE OF ‘LITTLE ERNIE’

One of the lesser recognized – however nonetheless important – contributors to the primary Royce vehicles’ growth was Ernest Wooler. Born in Manchester in 1888, 15-year-old Ernest stood 5 ft 4 inches (1.62m) tall and was nicknamed ‘Little Ernie’ when he joined Royce Limited in 1903 as an indentured premium apprentice – a place for which his father paid the very appreciable sum of £100 (over £15,000 at in the present day’s values). He labored a 56-hour week for a shilling a day (about £7.60 now) within the drawing workplace, studying to make blueprints – and, strictly towards the foundations, producing his personal drawings on the draughtsmen’s boards.

One morning, he obtained an ominous summons: Mr Royce himself wished to see him. After severely reprimanding the unlucky teen for his unauthorised handiwork, Royce ordered him to go and fetch a typist’s notepad. Mystified, Ernie did as he was instructed and gave the pad to his employer. Royce waved it away. “You hold onto that and follow me,” he mentioned and led the way in which to the workshops, the place he climbed onto the Decauville, took off his jacket and rolled up his sleeves. Then, assisted by a fitter, he started methodically taking the automobile aside. Nearby, Ernie sat on a field along with his notepad. “Each piece was handed to me, and I made a sketch of it and added the dimensions they quoted,” he later recalled.

As Royce appropriately judged, Ernie was the best individual to seize the essential knowledge that will inform the design of the motor vehicles that adopted. It’s additionally tempting to surprise if Royce recognised a kindred spirit; a younger man beginning on the backside, however keen to higher himself. If so, he was proper. In 1913, Ernie emigrated to America and loved a profitable profession as a design engineer, changing into an professional in bearings and submitting quite a few patents. In 1947, he retired to Hillsboro Beach, Florida, the place he was elected because the city’s first mayor.

SMALL THINGS MAKE PERFECTION

Royce had left faculty aged simply 10 and his formal schooling consisted of night lessons in English and Mathematics that he attended in his late teenagers; later, because the world-renowned Sir Henry, he nonetheless self-deprecatingly described himself as having the ability to do not more than easy arithmetic. But he had an instinctive, intuitive expertise that greater than made up for his lack of educational credentials.

As famous, the Decauville was a extremely developed motor automobile in its personal proper and Royce sensibly retained a few of its key options – a two-cylinder engine, dwell propshaft and differential fairly than chain drive – in his personal designs. He additionally launched quite a few detailed alterations and improvements: mechanically fairly than atmospherically operated inlet valves; a more practical radiator; alternative important, large finish and gearbox bearings; and a single gear lever changing the Decauville’s notoriously difficult twin-lever association. From the outset, he was obsessive about decreasing the automobile’s total weight, starting with the easy and apparent expedient of discarding the Decauville’s bronze warning bell, which apparently weighed round 20kg (over 40lb).

It was not solely the Decauville that Royce subjected to his intricate and exacting scrutiny. Between 1902 and 1905 he repaired, investigated and test-drove varied makes of vehicles belonging to (presumably keen) pals and acquaintances to realize extra first-hand insights. According to his personal data, he coated some 11,000 miles in the midst of this analysis; lots of them undoubtedly within the Decauville, which he stored till at the very least 1906.

Royce the engineer was aiming to construct one of the best automobile on the earth. It was no self-importance venture or proof-of-concept train: he needed his technical innovation to be commercially viable. Unfortunately, simple attraction, a large social community and a method with phrases weren’t amongst his many items. But in London, there was a younger man who had these qualities in abundance.

THE HON. CHARLES STEWART ROLLS: THE SALESMAN

In many respects, The Hon. Charles Stewart Rolls was Royce’s antithesis: rich, aristocratic, urbane, well-connected and extremely (and expensively) educated. What they shared was a ardour for engineering and equipment – in Rolls’s case, racing vehicles, sizzling air balloons and aeroplanes.

After graduating from Cambridge in 1898, Rolls had been briefly employed as Third Engineer on his household’s steam yacht, the Santa Maria, following a spell on the London & North-Western Railway in Crewe. But after just some years, he realised that his appreciable abilities required a unique outlet.

In January 1902, Rolls opened one in every of Britain’s first automobile dealerships, C. S. Rolls & Co., in Fulham, west London, partnering with the formidable Claude Johnson on the finish of 1903. The enterprise, initially underwritten by Rolls’s father, Lord Llangattock, imported and offered French Panhard and Mors vehicles, in addition to Minerva autos in-built Belgium. The enterprise seemingly flourished, however Rolls was pissed off that every one his inventory was designed and manufactured abroad. He might discover no automobile produced domestically that met his shoppers’ wants, or his personal requirements as each a educated engineer and a lifelong fanatic.

As 1904 dawned, the weather of a doubtlessly transformative partnership had been in place: Royce the gifted engineer seeking a market; Rolls the consummate salesman searching for a game-changing product. All that was wanted was one thing – or somebody – to carry them collectively.

HENRY EDMUNDS: THE CRUCIAL CONNECTION

Rolls had befriended Henry Edmunds by way of the Automobile Club of Great Britain & Ireland (later the Royal Automobile Club). Edmunds was a director of Royce Limited and had pushed one of many firm’s early 10 H.P. vehicles. His enthusiasm for the automobile was such that Rolls requested a gathering with its creator, which Edmunds duly organized. On returning to London from Manchester, Rolls advised Claude Johnson that he had discovered “the greatest motor engineer in the world”. Rolls agreed to promote all of the vehicles Royce might make and the remaining is, actually, historical past.

THE WORLD IN 1904

So a lot for the personalities. What of the world and context through which Rolls-Royce was shaped?

Much of what’s taken without any consideration in the present day was nonetheless many years sooner or later – certainly, many issues now thought-about important wouldn’t arrive till the next century. From the vantage level on the time of writing in 2024, 1904 appears like historical historical past: a grainy, distant, black-and-white world indifferent from our personal instances and experiences.

Rolls and Royce met in a world with out tv, penicillin or FM radio. Construction work had simply begun on the Panama Canal; The RMS Titanic wouldn’t set sail on her fateful maiden voyage for one more eight years. King Edward VII was two years into his reign, having succeeded his mom, Queen Victoria, in 1902 – the 12 months that additionally noticed the tip of the Boer War, one 12 months previous to Wilbur and Orville Wright making the world’s first flight in a powered plane. Arthur Balfour was British Prime Minister, Theodore ‘Teddy’ Roosevelt was President of the United States and Franz Joseph I used to be Emperor of Austria-Hungary.

The motor automobile, too, was nonetheless in its infancy; Karl Benz had produced the primary ‘true’ petrol-powered car – albeit with simply three wheels – in 1886, and motoring remained largely a pastime for daring, well-heeled lovers like Charles Rolls. The world must wait till 1913, when Henry Ford displayed the world’s first shifting meeting line, for vehicles to develop into accessible and inexpensive to nearly all of the inhabitants.

But the seeds of our trendy life had been there. This was the belle époque, an unusually protracted interval of peace and political stability in Europe that gave rise to financial confidence and prosperity, which in flip inspired a surge in innovation. The previous 20 years alone had seen the invention of the vacuum cleaner, electrical oven, dry-cell battery, ballpoint pen, cinema, pneumatic tyre, x-rays and radio. The nice technical marvel of 1904 was City of Truro, the primary steam locomotive on the earth to exceed 100mph – a document that stood for 30 years.

There had been important social and cultural advances, too, with the appointments of Britain’s first black mayor, and first feminine college professor. The London Symphony Orchestra gave its inaugural live performance and the Coliseum Theatre opened within the West End. Literary circles had been graced by titans together with Mark Twain, H. G. Wells, Jules Verne, James Joyce, Leo Tolstoy and P. G. Wodehouse; live performance halls and opera homes premiered works by Debussy, Sibelius, Ravel, Elgar, Puccini, and Mahler. New varieties of music additionally bloomed, because the syncopated rhythms that will inform Jazz proliferated by way of Ragtime.

It was into this terribly fertile, dynamic and optimistic age that Rolls-Royce was born. A time through which visionaries and pioneers would form how the world thought, functioned and behaved for years or many years to return; precisely what Rolls and Royce did with their new motor automobile.

By constructing a machine whose engineering, efficiency, reliability and sturdiness surpassed the whole lot that had gone earlier than, Royce and Rolls set the usual not just for all of the Rolls‑Royce fashions that will observe, however for the motor automobile itself. In so doing, they formed a know-how that will rework work, journey, communications, communities, infrastructure, design, know-how, supplies society, politics, economics and tradition in methods they might by no means have predicted.

A PERMANENT LEGACY

Rolls and Royce fulfilled their mission to create ‘the best car in the world’. They gave their names to a dynasty of motor vehicles that outlined, and continues to outline, superluxury motoring internationally.

But maybe their crowning achievement is to have made Rolls-Royce the worldwide exemplar of excellence. Practically each product, service, gadget and know-how that has been invented since 1904 has aspired to be ‘the Rolls-Royce of…’ its business or sector. The customary they set 120 years in the past continues to be driving innovation and enchancment in all places – together with throughout the firm they created.

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ROLLS-ROYCE ‘MODELS OF THE MARQUE’: THE 1900s – THE ROYCE 10 H.P. & ROLLS-ROYCE 10 H.P.

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  • 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.”

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ROLLS-ROYCE ‘MAKERS OF THE MARQUE’: HENRY ROYCE

HENRY ROYCE: 27 MARCH 1863 – 22 APRIL 1933

  • Second in a sequence profiling the principal characters within the Rolls-Royce basis story because the marque celebrates its 120th anniversary this yr
  • Each story is launched on the topic’s delivery date, including an additional anniversary to the marque’s personal commemorations
  • Their lives, careers, personalities and intertwined relationships all had a profound affect on the creation, improvement and lasting legacy of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars
  • Underlines the important human dimension behind ‘the best car in the world’

 
 “Henry Royce’s life followed a truly extraordinary arc. From impoverished origins and with minimal formal education, he became a giant of 20th Century engineering and innovation, responsible for designs and technology that helped shape the world we live in now. But this classic rags-to-riches tale belies the complexity of the man, and understates the many challenges he faced during his remarkable life. After 120 years, his influence on the marque he co-founded remains powerful and pervasive; he literally made us who we are today.”
 Andrew Ball, Head of Corporate Communications and Heritage, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars

Frederick Henry Royce was born on 27 March, in 1863 at Alwalton, close to Peterborough. He was the youngest of 5 youngsters in a household with dire monetary issues: Henry’s father was lastly declared bankrupt and, underneath the regulation of the time, imprisoned. This early poverty and hardship would have an effect on Royce’s character, and his well being, for the remainder of his life.

Aged simply 10, Royce began working in London, first as a newspaper vendor and later as a telegram supply boy. Then in 1877, with monetary help from his aunt, he secured a coveted apprenticeship on the Great Northern Railway (GNR) workshops in Peterborough. His pure aptitude for design and dealing together with his palms had been instantly apparent. A set of three miniature wheelbarrows he made in brass demonstrated the exacting requirements he would set for himself and others all through his profession.

But two years later, his aunt’s personal cash troubles left her unable to pay his annual apprenticeship price. Undaunted, Royce returned to London and, in 1881, started work on the fledgling Electric Lighting & Power Generating Company (EL&PG). Electricity was then so new it had no skilled establishments, and subsequently no formal examinations or entry {qualifications}. For Royce, who had solely probably the most rudimentary education, this was a priceless benefit.

His fascination for the topic, formidable work ethic and dedication to enhancing himself (he attended night lessons in English and Mathematics after work) meant that in 1882, the EL&PG, by now renamed the Maxim-Weston Electric Company, despatched him to handle the set up of road and theatre lighting in Liverpool. But when the corporate abruptly went bust, Royce, nonetheless solely 19, once more discovered himself unemployed.

But not for lengthy. In late 1884, he based F H Royce & Co in Manchester. Initially producing small gadgets comparable to battery-powered doorbells, the corporate progressed to creating overhead cranes, railway shunting capstans and different heavy industrial gear.

By 1901, years of overwork and a strained house life had been taking a extreme toll on his well being, which had in all probability been completely weakened by the privations of his childhood. Matters worsened the next yr when the corporate discovered its funds stretched, owing to an inflow of cheaper imported electrical equipment that undercut its costs. Ever the perfectionist, Royce was not ready to compromise the standard of his merchandise, however the ensuing pressure meant that in 1902, his well being collapsed utterly.

Royce’s medical doctors prescribed full relaxation and persuaded him to take a 10-week vacation together with his spouse’s household in South Africa. On the lengthy voyage, he learn a newly printed ebook, ‘The Automobile – Its Construction and Management’. What he discovered would change his life – and in the end, the world.

On his return to England, absolutely revitalised, Royce acquired his first motor automotive, a French-built 10 H.P. Decauville. The story normally goes that this primary automotive was so poorly made and unreliable that Royce determined he may do higher. In reality, his vacation studying had already centered his thoughts on producing his personal automotive. He selected the Decauville exactly as a result of it was one of many most interesting vehicles obtainable to him, with a purpose to dismantle it after which, in his most well-known phrase, ‘take the best that exists and make it better’.

He started by constructing three two-cylinder 10 H.P. vehicles, primarily based on the Decauville structure. With these foundational machines, he demonstrated the analytical method, consideration to element and pursuit of excellence in design and manufacture that had been the hallmarks of his life.

His buddy and enterprise affiliate, Henry Edmunds, borrowed certainly one of these authentic Royce 10H.P. vehicles to finish within the 1,000-mile Slide Slip Trials organised by the Automobile Club of Great Britain & Ireland (later the Royal Automobile Club, or RAC) in April 1904. Edmunds was enormously impressed, and realised this was exactly the high-quality, British-made mannequin {that a} buddy and fellow Club member was on the lookout for to inventory in his new London automotive dealership. That buddy was, in fact, The Hon Charles Stewart Rolls.

As the technical mastermind behind the brand new partnership, Royce’s output was astoundingly and relentlessly prolific. From the corporate’s basis in 1904 till his demise in 1933, he personally created the preliminary idea for each mechanical merchandise in each Rolls-Royce motor automotive. An instinctive, intuitive engineer, he had an uncanny means to evaluate elements purely by eye. He firmly believed that if one thing regarded proper, it in all probability was – and he was virtually invariably proved right.

As demand grew, and the motor vehicles themselves grew to become more and more advanced, he established a design group, ruled by his maxim, ‘Rub out, alter, improve, refine’. Everything the group produced would then both be rejected and despatched again for extra work, or lastly signed off, by Royce alone. In distinction to trendy motor manufacturing, the place fashions are launched, up to date and changed at outlined intervals, Royce made steady enhancements to his merchandise, with none announcement or discover. Some of those enhancements had been tiny – a washer right here, a hose-clip there – however the internet impact was that just about no two Rolls-Royce motor vehicles had been precisely alike in each element. This system, allied with Royce’s relentless pursuit of excellence in all he did and supervised, made Rolls-Royce motor vehicles the closest factor to mechanical perfection potential, given the data and know-how of the day.

It is value restating that Royce by no means designed an entire automotive: as much as 1949, Rolls-Royce produced solely ‘rolling chassis’, geared up with engine and drivetrain, upon which a specialist coachbuilder then constructed bodywork to the client’s specification. The rolling chassis did, nonetheless, embrace the bulkhead (the panel separating the engine compartment from the passenger cabin) and the radiator, which decided, no less than partially, the completed motor automotive’s total proportions.

A extremely pushed – some may say obsessive – man, Royce introduced his meticulous, enquiring thoughts and insatiable urge for food for arduous work to each facet of his life. Such is the facility of his ethos, it nonetheless informs and evokes the corporate that bears his identify 120 years later.

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ROLLS-ROYCE ‘MAKERS OF THE MARQUE’: HENRY EDMUNDS

HENRY EDMUNDS: 20 MARCH 1853 – 18 NOVEMBER 1927

  • A short overview of the life and profession of Henry Edmunds, born 20 March 1853
  • Earned his place in historical past as the person who organized the historic first assembly between his associates Henry Royce and Charles Rolls on 4 May 1904
  • First in a sequence profiling the principal characters within the Rolls-Royce Motor Cars basis story, every launched to have fun the topic’s beginning date, because the marque celebrates its 120th anniversary
  • Insights into the individuals, personalities and intertwined relationships that indelibly formed the marque’s creation, growth and lasting legacy
  • Personal histories underline and have fun the important human dimension of ‘the best car in the world’, as exemplified within the trendy period by means of Bespoke and Coachbuild commissions

 
 “This year we celebrate the 120th anniversary of the first meeting between Henry Royce and Charles Rolls. But while it’s their two names that became world-famous, Rolls-Royce as we know it might never have existed without the intervention, influence and contributions of others. In this series, as well as the founders themselves, we remember those crucial actors, perhaps less recognised by posterity yet absolutely essential to the Rolls-Royce story – beginning, appropriately, with the man who arranged that first historic encounter.”
 Andrew Ball, Head of Corporate Relations and Heritage, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars

Henry Edmunds was born on 20 March 1853, in Halifax, West Yorkshire. His father, an engineer and iron service provider, gave him a casual apprenticeship, from which the younger Henry developed a permanent ardour for the then-new world of electrical energy. Having befriended Joseph Swan (the inventor of the incandescent lightbulb) he grew to become a salesman for the Swan Lamps firm. Among his clients was the Royal Navy: in 1881, HMS Inflexible grew to become the primary British warship to be lit with electrical bulbs. He was additionally associates with Thomas Edison (the inventor of just about the whole lot else) and was current at each the primary profitable sound recording and phone name.

In 1886, Edmunds grew to become a accomplice in electrical cable-makers WT Glover & Co, primarily based in Manchester. The firm’s fortunes had been reworked with the opening of the Manchester Ship Canal in 1894 – and, extra particularly, the docks and the world’s first devoted industrial property, Trafford Park, alongside it. Glover’s received the contract to produce the cabling for the huge arc-lighting system, which was designed and manufactured by one other Manchester firm, F H Royce & Co, owned by one Henry Royce.

To full the works, each Royce and Glover’s wanted capital. Through a posh sequence of reorganisations, modifications of identify, mutual shareholdings and administration overlaps between their respective corporations, Henry Royce and Henry Edmunds grew to become established enterprise associates and shut associates.

In 1899, Edmunds joined the Automobile Club of Great Britain & Ireland (later the Royal Automobile Club, or RAC). Edmunds was captivated by motoring and eagerly utilized his agile, creative thoughts to the toddler know-how’s myriad challenges and potentialities. The following 12 months he entered the 1,000 Mile Trial from London to Edinburgh and again, organised by the Club’s imposing and ebullient secretary, Claude Johnson. Among his fellow entrants was The Hon Charles Stewart Rolls, and the three grew to become agency associates.

By 1904, Edmunds had taken a enterprise curiosity within the Parsons Non-skid Co Ltd, which made ‘chains’ that fitted to automotive tyres to stop what was referred to as ‘slide-slipping’. They entered a contest, the Slide Slip Trials, on the finish of April that 12 months, however on the final minute discovered themselves with no appropriate automotive. Edmunds requested Royce if they might use his first 10 H.P. automotive. Royce agreed and the automotive was rapidly despatched by practice to London, the place Edmunds drove it efficiently within the 1,000-mile occasion. Charles Rolls additionally took half, however there isn’t any file of his having something to do with the Royce automotive.

Edmunds was enormously impressed by the ten H.P. He additionally knew Rolls was desperately searching for a high-quality British-made automotive to promote in his thriving London dealership. He was decided to carry the 2 males collectively, and earned his place in historical past when, on 4 May 1904 at The Midland Hotel in Manchester, he introduced: “Henry, may I introduce Charles Rolls”.

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What happened to Brake Free from Shark Tank Season 12?

In Season 12’s Episode 8 of Shark Tank, Brake Free was introduced by two of its founders, Henry Li and Alex Arkhangelskiy. The other three co-founders, Ian Dunn, Trevor Leger, and Johan Boot, were absent from the episode. Arkhangelskiy started the pitch by highlighting the excitement of riding motorcycles while also acknowledging the inherent danger. He mentioned that he and his partners created Brake Free because they have families and are concerned about safety. The “Shark Tank” investors were initially impressed, but had reservations about Brake Free’s request for $200,000 in funding in exchange for a 10% equity stake in the company.

The “Shark Tank” investors quickly acknowledged that Brake Free was a great idea and inquired about its functionality and whether it had a patent. The Brake Free presenters explained that the device costs $169.99, uses smartphone-like sensors to track movement, and has a patent. However, Kevin O’Leary, Barbara Corcoran, and Lori Greiner declined the opportunity to invest in Brake Free, leaving the presenters disappointed. Luckily, Robert Herjavec was willing to provide the requested $200,000, but he wanted a 20% equity stake. Mark Cuban also expressed interest in the company, leading to a partnership between Herjavec and Cuban. Brake Free ultimately accepted the deal for $200,000 with a 20% equity stake.

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Top 15 Best Sports Cars Of The Last 25 Years

Competition is inherent to the automotive industry. As Henry Ford once said, “Auto racing began five minutes after the second car was built,” and that really tells you all you need to know about the world of sports cars. But what does a car need to be dubbed the “best sports car”? Is it exclusivity, craftsmanship, significance, or style? We like to believe it’s all of those and more.

Picking a single vehicle as the best sports car is a difficult task, as personal preferences vary. However, the last 25 years have produced a diverse range of significant sports cars that have earned their place on any list. Whether you agree with the ranking or not, these 15 models have strong credentials to be called the best sports cars from the last 25 years.

So, let’s take a closer look at these amazing sports cars:

15 Honda S2000

0 to 60 MPH: 5.4 Seconds

![Honda S2000](https://static1.topspeedimages.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/878af6e5-45e1-43ed-843b-593312a78c16.jpg)

The Honda S2000 may not be the fastest car on this list, but it holds a special place among sports cars. While it may lack the outright performance of some of the others, it is always regarded as one of the best sports cars ever made. The S2000 was designed to be a practical sports car for everyday driving, and it succeeded in achieving that goal.

The Honda S2000 has a 5.4-second 0 to 60 mph time, a top speed of 151 mph, a curb weight of 2,833 pounds, and a 236-horsepower

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10 Best Cars From Companies That No Longer Exist

Most people believe that Henry Ford founded the first American car manufacturer because of his assembly line innovations and the enduring legacy of his namesake vehicles. In reality, brothers Charles and Frank of Springfield, Massachusetts started the Duryea Motor Wagon Company in 1893, becoming the first American company to build and sell internal combustion engine vehicles to the public. A one-cylinder four-horsepower Duryea Motor Wagon didn’t have a steering wheel, suspension, or breaks, but by process of elimination, it was the best available and sold 10 vehicles in its first year.

Since that time, hundreds, if not thousands of car companies have been formed in the U.S. and around the world, disappearing as fast as they sprung up. Except for the Tucker Torpedo, which was shut down by dirty politics, most of these flash-in-the-pan automakers died off because they made unappealing garbage cars. Probably only Jay Leno knows or cares what a 1909 De Shaum Seven Little Buffaloes is, and there are hundreds more just as obscure.

On the other hand there have been some really great car companies that lasted decades, which built great rides. Many of these automakers existed until just recently with people both remembering and still driving their cars. It’s tempting to include the DeLoreon Motor Company in this group because of the Back to the Future movie fame of the DMC-12, but honestly, that wasn’t a very good set of wheels. Instead, here are some of the best cars made by companies that no longer exist.

RELATED: 10 Coolest American Cars That Were Never Sold In The U.S.

10 1970 Mercury Cougar Eliminator

A parked 1970 Mercury Cougar Eliminator
Mecum Auctions
Front and side view of a 1970 Mercury Cougar Eliminator

Created by Edsel Ford in 1939, Mercury was a division of the Ford Motor Company. It served as the mid-priced brand between the high-end Lincolns and the affordable Fords. Finding its groove in the 1950s, a Mercury Monterey, Turnpike Cruiser, or Colony Park harkens as much nostalgia for the decade as a Chevrolet Bel Air. With declining sales, Mercury tried one last-ditch effort to attract female buyers, but that failed and Ford finally shut the division down in 2011.

The Mercury Cougar was based on the Ford Mustang, but intended to be a more luxurious pony car. It was a little more expensive, but better equipped and won the Motortrend Car of the Year award in 1967. One the coolest examples was the 1970 Cougar Eliminator, with its muscular styling and a standard 290 horsepower Boss 302 V-8. What really put this car over the top was the optional 428 Cobra Jet, cranking out 335 horsepower and 445 pound-feet of torque.

9 2008 Saab 9 7X Aero

3/4 front view 2008 Saab 9 7X Aero
Saab
3/4 front view 2008 Saab 9 7X Aero

Saab Automobile was a Swedish automaker, founded in 1945 to manufacture weird-looking but reliable vehicles. As one of the most innovative companies ever, they developed many safety and performance features we take for granted like standard seat belts, asbestos-free brake pads, and heated seats. GM bought up the company in 1989, ran it into the ground, and then sold it where it died off. Saab briefly became an EV under the company NEVS, but finally ceased to exist in 2016.

Over the years, Saab had made some pretty quick four-cylinder turbo cars, but again, they were kind of odd looking. Toward the end of their run they finally made an attractive model in the luxury SUV, 9 7X, and discovered the joys of V-8 power. In 2008 they created the 9 7X Aero trim, which came with a 6.0-liter SL2 V-8 that generated 390 horsepower and 395 pound-feet of torque. At the time, Car and Driver announced, “The Swedes go all American on us” and proclaimed the 9 7X Aero better than the Chevrolet Trailblazer SS.

8 1968 International Harvester Scout 800A

Red 1968 International Harvester Scout 800
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3/4 front view red 1968 International Harvester Scout 800

Known mostly for building farm equipment and tractors, The International Harvester Company had actually been producing road vehicles since its founding in 1902. Their line of pickup trucks and SUVs were successful from the ’50s to the 80s, but somehow the company was always in financial trouble. After selling off much of their assets, including their name, IH became Navistar in 1985, still making commercial trucks, but discontinuing their consumer vehicles.

IH made some crazy rides like the explanation-defying Jungle Yacht, but mostly they built rugged, reliable off-roaders such as the first-of-its-kind 1953 Travelell four-wheel-drive “recreational” vehicle. The best however was the International Harvester Scout, produced from 1961-1980, and the top of that class was the 1968 Scout 800A. Equipped with an optional 302ci V-8, this 4×4 is still sought after today, with Florida company, Velocity Modern Classics producing high-end resto-mods of the classic vehicle.

RELATED: The Rise and Fall of Saab – A Story Of Interesting Intent, Success, And Failure

7 1971 Jensen Interceptor MkII

Silver 1971 Jensen Interceptor MkII
Mr.choppers/Wikimedia Commons
Side view silver 1971 Jensen Interceptor MkII

Founded in 1921 by Brothers Alan and Richard Jensen, Jensen Motors Limited was a British maker of sports cars and commercial vehicles. They hit the big time in 1934 when actor Clark Gable commissioned a car from them, which led to a joint venture with Ford and international renown. The company ran into some financial issues and ceased operations in 1976. After a couple of unsuccessful attempts to revive the brand, it was finally dissolved in 2011.

Easily the coolest thing Jensen ever made was the Interceptor, which they produced from 1966-1976. Made for speed and long-distance driving, the 1971 Jensen Interceptor MkII came optional with a Chrysler 440ci V-8 Six-Pack, that was slightly detuned but still produced 350 horsepower. With a 6.0 second 0-60 mph time and a top speed of 144 mph, it’s the closest think to a muscle car ever built in Europe.

6 1968 Oldsmobile Hurst/Olds 4-4-2

Side view 1968 Oldsmobile Hurst/Olds 4-4-2
1969ho?Wikimedia Commons
Side view of 1968 Oldsmobile Hurst/Olds 4-4-2

The Olds Motor Vehicle Company was founded by Ransom E. Olds in 1897 and was for a time the top-selling American car brand. By 1908, General Motors bought up the company, which became their mid-level Oldsmobile division. Known in later years for making “grandpa cars,” it was actually a hot brand in the 60s and 70s. As much as GM tried to shake the fuddy duddy image, sales continued on a steady decline, and it was axed in 2004.

During that period when it truly wasn’t “your father’s Oldsmobile” they managed to make one of the most ferocious muscle cars of the classic era. Introduced as an option package for the Cutlass in 1964, the Oldsmobile 4-4-2 became its own model in 1968. Also in 1968, a special performance package, known as the Hurst/Olds came with a beefed up 455ci V-8 that cranked out 390 horsepower. For those curious as to why it was called a 4-4-2, it’s because it came with a four-barrel carb, four-speed manual transmission, and had a dual (two) exhaust system.

5 1972 Holden HQ Monaro GTS 350

Green 1972 Holden HQ Monaro GTS 350
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3/4 front view of 1972 Holden HQ Monaro GTS 350

Holden started out in 1905 as a car upholstery repair business and eventually grew into GM’s presence in Australia and New Zealand. Though many of their models were Aussie copies of GM cars, they also made their own market-specific vehicles. Despite selling over seven million sets of wheels in their storied history, GM announced it would no longer be in the business of making right-hand drive vehicles and shuttered Holden in 2020.

The Holden HQ was a series of Aussie exclusive vehicles made from 1971 to 1974 that ranged from four-door sedans to pannel vans. Within that range were some pretty awesome two-coupes like the 1972 HQ Monaro GTS 350. With a big-block Chevy 350ci V-8 and an optional four-speed transmission, it was one of the fastest muscle cars ever produced Down Under. It was such a cool and memorable ride that it got some love by being included in the Forza Horizon 3 video game.

RELATED: Here’s What Made Every Generation Of The Oldsmobile 442 Special

4 1969 Pontiac GTO Judge

A parked 1969 Pontiac GTO Judge
Mecum Auctions
Front and partial side view of a 1969 Pontiac GTO Judge

In 1907, Edward Murphy founded The Oakland Motor Car Company in Pontiac, Michigan and a couple years later it was bought by GM. The division’s most popular car was the Pontiac Series 6-27 and by 1931, Oakland was canceled and replaced by Pontiac. For most of its run, Pontiac was GM’s second-tier brand, above Chevrolet, but below Oldsmobile, Buick, and Cadillac. The great recession of 2008 hit all the American automakers hard and with GM, caused them to shed several divisions, including Pontiac in 2010.

That was certainly a sad end to a company with so much rich history, including inventing the muscle car. In 1964, then-head of Pontiac, John DeLoreon, had the genius idea of shoe-horning a 400ci V-8 into a La Mans. It was such a smashing success that by 1966, the GTO became its own model, instead of an option package. The most powerful of the bunch came in the second generation, and the 1969 GTO Judge is a perfect example. With the optional Ram Air IV 400ci V-8, it made 370 horsepower and 445 pound-feet of torque, making it the G.O.A.T. GTO.

3 1973 De Tomaso Pantera L

1972 De Tomaso Pantera GTS
Classiccars.com
A front 3/4 view of a red 1972 De Tamaso Pantera

If French automaker Renault is the elevator music of vehicles, and it is, then Italian sports car manufacturer De Tomaso is hard-driving heavy metal. In fact, Texas groove-metallers, Pantera named themselves after the vaunted model, and it’s what Mötley Crüe frontman Vince Neil crashed in his infamous DUI arrest. De Tomaso Automobili ltd. was founded by Alejandro de Tomaso in 1959, became part of Ford in 1971, and then effectively ended with the founder’s death in 2003. The company has been bought several times since then with hopes of jump-starting it, but so far nothing substantial has happened.

During its time under Ford, De Tomaso introduced the Pantera in 1971, most of which were sold in America through Lincoln-Mercury dealers. The 1972 Pantera L (for luxury) came with a front bumper and integrated airfoil, but more importantly, a 5.8-liter V-8 that generated 330 horsepower and 344 pound-feet of torque. The Pantera continued to be manufactured until 1992 with only 7,260 ever produced. Though later models had bigger engines and were much faster, those first Panteras were iconically cool.

2 1970 AMC Rebel Machine

1970 AMC Rebel Machine
Gestalt Imagery / Shutterstock
Front three-quarters shot of a 1970 AMC Rebel Machine 

The founding of the American Motors Corporation (AMC) is complicated, involving mergers between Nash, Kaiser Motors, Packard, Studebaker, Willys–Overland Motors and U.S. Senator Mitt Romney’s dad. Their demise is equally complex, involving a Renault buyout, the assassination of Renault chairman Georges Besse by leftist extremists, and an ultimate buyout by Chrysler, who only wanted the Jeep brand and let everything else fade away. What is easy, is the fact that AMC was the last great American car company to rival the Big Three, who made some pretty cool rides.

Yes, AMC gave the world the Pacer and the Gremlin, two of the ugliest vehicles ever made, but they also cranked out some sharp-looking muscle in the classic era like the Javelin and the AMX. Nothing however was cooler than the 1970 Rebel known as “The Machine.” This patriotic red, white, and blue muscle car had a 390ci V-8 under the hood that produced 340 horsepower and 430 pound-feet of torque. With a 6.3 second 0-60 time and a 14.8 second quarter-mile, it was bit slower than it’s muscle car contemporaries, but man did it turn some heads.

RELATED: This 1972 De Tomaso Pantera Will Make You Feel Like Elvis In His Prime

1 1969 Plymouth Barracuda

A parked black 1969 Plymouth Barracuda
Mecum Auctions
A side view of a black 1969 Plymouth Barracuda

Walter P. Chrysler took over the troubled Maxwell-Chalmers car company in the early 1920s and eventually turned it into the Plymouth division of the Chrysler Corporation. Initially intended to be the budget Pentastar brand, it would go on to produce some of the greatest and most prestigious models under the Chrysler umbrella.

​​​​​​​After some kick-ass decades in the 60s and 70s, by the new millennium, Plymouth was back to being an entry-level brand making cheap underpowered stuff the American public didn’t want. Even the Chip Foose-inspired Plymouth Prowler couldn’t save the division and in 2001, Chrysler pulled the plug.

Plymouth’s time in the spotlight came in the classic muscle car era when they made some of the baddest rides available, like the GTX, the Duster, the Road Runner, and of course the Super Bird. Nothing however compares to the sheer awesomeness of the Barracuda. Introduced in 1964 as an A-body fastback coupe pony car, it would become a muscular track menace by the second generation.

Before it became basically a Dodge Challenger in 1970, the 1969 Barracuda came optional with a 440ci Super Commando V-8 that blasted 390 horsepower, 490 pound-feet of torque, and was the fastest Plymouth of the time. Not only is the ’69 ‘Cuda one of the best muscle cars ever, it’s the single best car made by a defunct auto manufacturer.

RollsRoyce

SIR FREDERICK HENRY ROYCE, 1st BARONET, OBE

INTRODUCTION
For all his many honours and achievements, Sir Frederick Henry Royce OBE was a humble man, referring to himself simply as ‘a mechanic’. 90 years after his death, his technical genius and engineering philosophy – the pursuit of excellence – continue to inspire the company that bears his name.

FROM HUMBLE BEGINNINGS
Henry Royce was born in Alwalton, near Peterborough, on 27 March 1863, the youngest of five children. When his father James, a miller, went bankrupt, the family fell on hard times. By the age of 10, Royce was lodging in London, selling newspapers at railway stations: the long hours and poor diet he endured during this period almost certainly contributed to the health problems he suffered in later life.

In 1876, he became a telegram delivery boy at the Mayfair Post Office in central London. His beat included 35 Hill Street, where a certain Charles Stewart Rolls was born on 27 August 1877. It’s thus perfectly possible that Royce delivered messages of congratulation to the proud parents of his future business partner.

In September of that year, Royce made his first foray into engineering, as an apprentice at the Great Northern Railway locomotive works in Peterborough. To make up for his lack of formal education, he attended evening classes in English and mathematics. Family financial problems struck once more, however, when his sponsor, one of his mother’s sisters, was unable to pay the £20 annual fee. Undaunted, the 17-year-old Royce set off on foot in search of work, eventually becoming a toolmaker in Leeds, on the princely wage of a penny an hour (2.44 old pence)!

In 1881, he returned to London to work in the fledging field of electrical engineering. His natural aptitude earned him, aged just 19, the position of Chief Electrician to a company supplying electric lighting to Liverpool. Even so, he continued to devote his spare time to his electrical engineering studies. By 1884, the company had gone bust, so Royce decided to use the money he’d saved to strike out on his own.

MAKING HIS NAME
Royce set up a small electrical and mechanical engineering company, F H Royce & Co, in Blake Street, Manchester. Within months his friend and fellow engineer, Ernest Claremont, joined him as a partner. From making simple electrical devices such as bell sets, fuses, switches and bulb holders, the business quickly expanded, producing everything from dynamos, electric motors and winches to cranes for the Manchester Ship Canal.

Over the next 15 years, the company, which became Royce Ltd in 1894, enjoyed sustained growth and financial success. However, the Boer War (1899-1902) combined with an influx of cheap mass-produced electrical products from Germany and the USA saw its sales contract sharply. Royce’s health, never robust, deteriorated until in 1902, it collapsed completely. His wife persuaded him to take a trip to South Africa to recover. He returned 10 weeks later, mentally and physically refreshed, and ready for a new challenge.

On the long sea voyage, Royce had read a book entitled The Automobile – Its Construction and Management, by French engineer Gerard Lavergne. Royce already owned a rudimentary motor vehicle – a De Dion quadricycle – but Lavergne’s work showed him just how far Britain had fallen behind France in automobile engineering.

Royce bought a second-hand two-cylinder Decauville on which to experiment. When the machine failed to start, he quickly rectified the problem; but having entirely dismantled the car and examined each component in detail, he identified a host of other potential improvements. In typical fashion, he decided that rather than modifying the French car, he could build a better one himself.

On 1 April 1904, the new Royce 10 HP car made its first run. Three weeks later, on the opening day of the Side Slip Trials endurance event, it covered the 145.5 miles from London to Margate and back at an average speed of 16.5 mph. In an age when motor cars were both noisy and temperamental, Royce’s machine had also proved itself exceptionally quiet and utterly reliable.

A MEETING OF MINDS
The driver at the Slip Side Trials was Henry Edmunds, managing director of one of Britain’s largest electric cable manufacturers (of which Royce’s business partner Ernest Claremont was a Director). Among Edmunds’ friends was The Honourable Charles Stewart Rolls, an aristocratic, Cambridge-educated aviation pioneer and racing-driver, who sold French-built Panhard cars from his premises, C. S. Rolls & Co. at Lillie Hall, Fulham.

Edmunds persuaded Rolls to travel to Manchester to meet Royce and examine the Royce car. Despite their starkly contrasting backgrounds, and 14-year age difference, Rolls and Royce formed an instant rapport.

They agreed that Rolls would sell all the cars Royce could make, under the name ‘Rolls-Royce’. The arrangement allowed Royce to concentrate on designing and building the perfect machine, and Rolls to fulfil his ambition of selling his own line of the very finest English-built motor cars.

FROM STRENGTH TO STRENGTH
Rolls-Royce Limited came into being in March 1906. In the same year, Royce produced his six‑cylinder 40/50 HP, the legendary Silver Ghost, and also began to design the company’s new works in Nightingale Road, Derby.

Over the next two decades, Royce continued to develop and refine his automotive designs, and also produced some of the world’s finest aero engines. Most famously, he produced the ‘R’ engine for R J Mitchell’s Supermarine S6 and S6B, which helped with the future development of the iconic Spitfire, with the ‘R’ engine the foundation for its legendary Merlin engine.

A LIFETIME OF ACHIEVEMENT
During his long and varied career, Royce filed 301 patents – an astonishing feat for a largely self-educated engineer. He was awarded an OBE in 1918, and in 1930 he was made a Baronet – thus becoming Sir Henry Royce – for his services to aviation. With characteristic modesty, he wrote to all Rolls-Royce employees thanking them for their contribution to the honour.

THE PASSING OF A NATIONAL HERO
Sir Henry Royce spent his later years working at his homes in West Wittering in Sussex, and Le Canadel in the South of France. He died on 22 April 1933, after finally succumbing to long‑term illness resulting from poor nutrition in childhood, and a lifetime of overwork. Even on his deathbed, he sketched a design for the first adjustable shock absorber: the sketch, which still survives, is annotated by his nurse, Royce himself being too weak to write. That he was still producing original ideas in his final hours encapsulates his devotion to his craft, and the breadth and brilliance of his engineering mind.

RollsRoyce

SIR HENRY ROYCE (1863 – 1933): DRIVEN BY PERFECTION

  • Rolls-Royce marks the 160th anniversary of the birth of co-founder Sir Henry Royce
  • A look back at his remarkable life and work reveals a driven, even obsessive character and a relentless work ethic forged in childhood poverty and frequent adversity
  • The quest for perfection extended to every aspect of Royce’s professional and personal life
  • His famous maxim “Strive for perfection in everything you do. Take the best that exists and make it better” still informs and inspires the company’s activities today
     

“Sir Henry Royce bequeathed to the world an extraordinary legacy of engineering innovation and achievement. He also left us, his successors at Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, an unequivocal instruction: ‘Strive for perfection in everything you do. Take the best that exists and make it better’. Sir Henry himself lived out this maxim in every aspect of his personal and professional life. Today, as we mark the 160th anniversary of his birth, his challenge still informs and inspires everything we do. It serves as a constant reminder that perfection is a moving target: it is never ‘done’. There is always something we can refine, adjust, rework, reinvent or innovate in our pursuit of perfection; and that is what makes our life and work here so exciting.”
 Torsten Müller-Ötvös, Chief Executive Officer, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars

Sir Henry Royce’s uncompromising command, “Strive for perfection in everything you do. Take the best that exists and make it better” is one of the most famous quotations in automotive history. It is also a maxim that rings down the ages, and still inspires and informs the company that bears his name.

As Rolls-Royce marks the 160th anniversary of Sir Henry’s birth, we look back at his remarkable life and career, in search of the origins of his most celebrated and oft-repeated exhortation. What drove his own lifelong striving for perfection; and how did his relentless, some might say obsessive, desire to improve and refine manifest itself in both his work and domestic spheres?

A LOT TO IMPROVE ON

Royce’s early life was one of hardship, poverty and disadvantage. The youngest of five children, he was born in 1863 into a family in perilous financial circumstances. Matters worsened considerably when his father, a miller, was finally declared bankrupt and, under the law of the time, ended up in prison.

It was against this unpromising backdrop that Royce’s character was formed. Yet he was determined to make a better life for himself, and by the age of just 10 was working in London, first as a newspaper seller and later as a telegram delivery boy.

Things appeared to be moving his way when in 1879, with financial support from his aunt, he secured a coveted apprenticeship at the Great Northern Railway (GNR) workshops in Peterborough. Instantly and obviously in his element, his natural aptitude for design and innate skill with tools and materials quickly become apparent. One early indicator of his talent was a set of three miniature wheelbarrows he made in brass; these pieces clearly demonstrate the exemplary standard of workmanship and quest for excellence he would maintain throughout his life.

VICISSITUDES

Royce’s drive for self-improvement came to an abrupt halt after two years, when his aunt was unable to pay his annual apprenticeship fee. Undaunted, Royce returned to London and, in 1881, began work at the fledgling Electric Lighting & Power Generating Company (EL&PG).

His decision to forsake traditional engineering for the emerging field of electricity was essentially a pragmatic one. Electricity was then so new it had no governing body or professional institutions, and thus no examinations to pass or standards to attain. Unlike in engineering, therefore, Royce’s lack of formal qualifications was no barrier to his progress.

His fascination for the subject, already formidable work ethic and commitment to study (he attended evening classes in English and Mathematics after work) meant that in 1882, the EL&PG, by now renamed the Maxim-Weston Electric Company, sent him to work for its subsidiary in Lancashire as First (Chief) Electrician, responsible for street and theatre lighting in the city of Liverpool. Yet again, however, circumstances conspired against him: through gross mismanagement in its acquisition of patents, the company abruptly went into receivership and Royce, aged only 19, found himself unemployed once more.

TAKING CHARGE

Although the parent company of his erstwhile employer chose to salvage what it could rather than sell off the remaining resources, Royce had had enough. Impelled by his innate drive, clear appetite for (calculated) risk and the abundant self-assurance noted by his contemporaries, he started up in business on his own.

In late 1884, he founded F H Royce & Co (he was christened Frederick Henry) in Manchester. Initially producing small items such as battery-powered door bells, the company progressed to making heavy equipment such as overhead cranes and railway shunting capstans.

But while the business was thriving, Royce himself was not. By 1901, his years of overwork and a strained home life were taking a severe toll on his health, which had probably been fundamentally weakened by the privations of his childhood.

His doctor persuaded him to buy a De Dion quadricycle as a way to escape the office and enjoy some fresh air; but before long, Royce’s health collapsed. A major contributing factor was his growing concern that the company was heading into financial problems; something that would perhaps have had particular significance for him given his father’s experiences.

The company owed its dwindling fortunes to an influx of cheap, or at least cheaper, electrical machinery from Germany and the USA that was able to undercut Royce’s prices. Ever the perfectionist, Royce himself was not prepared to enter a race to the bottom or compromise the quality of his products.

Complete rest was required, and he was eventually persuaded to take a 10-week holiday to visit his wife’s family in South Africa. On the long voyage home, he read ‘The Automobile – its construction and management’. The book would change his life – and ultimately, the world.

MAKING THE BEST BETTER

On his return to England, Royce ­– now fully revitalised both mentally and physically – immediately acquired his first motor car, a 10 H.P. Decauville. Given the still-parlous state of his company’s finances, this might have seemed a frivolous squandering of precious funds; but in fact, this purchase was a shrewd and calculated one that, in his mind, held the key to the company’s future prosperity.

The story usually goes that this first car was so poorly made and unreliable that Royce decided he could do better. In fact, his holiday reading had already focused his mind on producing his own car from scratch; he had already supplied a limited number of electric motors for the ‘Pritchett and Gold’ electric car. So contrary to the received wisdom, he chose the Decauville precisely because it was the finest car available to him, in order to dismantle it and then, in his most famous phrase, “take the best that exists and make it better”.

He began by building three two-cylinder 10 H.P. cars based on the Decauville layout. That he was the only person who believed this new direction could save the company is another sign of his tenacity and self-belief. Just as importantly, his attention to detail in design and manufacture, accompanied by a continuous review of components after analysis, set the production template he would follow until his death.

These first examples were followed by the three-cylinder 15 H.P., four-cylinder 20 H.P. and six-cylinder 30 H.P. – each of which represented significant advances in automotive design. In 1906, two years after the founding of Rolls-Royce, Managing Director Claude Johnson persuaded Royce to adopt a ‘one model’ policy. In response, Royce designed the 40/50 H.P. ‘Silver Ghost’, the car that rightly earned the immortal soubriquet “the best car in the world”.

The Silver Ghost demonstrated Royce’s almost uncanny instinct for using the right materials for components, long before scientific analysis could provide reliable data. He also worked out that the properties of fluids alter with speed, so designed the Silver Ghost’s carburettor with three jets that came into play at different throttle openings, thereby eliminating ‘flat spots’.

HOME AND AWAY

By 1906 it was obvious that Rolls-Royce’s Cooke Street works in Manchester could no longer accommodate the company’s rapidly expanding motor car production. Rolls-Royce acquired a site on Nightingale Road in Derby, where Royce designed and oversaw the building of a brand-new, purpose-built factory. He undertook this enormous and technically complex task on top of his normal workload, and demanded his customary exacting standards from all concerned, not least himself.

Given the relentless volume and pace of his work, Royce’s second serious health crisis in 1911 came as little surprise. Rest was again prescribed, and during the summer and autumn, Johnson drove him on a road trip that extended as far as Egypt. On the return journey, they stopped in the south of France, where Royce took a strong liking for the tiny hamlet of Le Canadel, near Nice. Ever the man of action, Johnson bought a parcel of land and commissioned a new house for Royce, plus a smaller villa for visiting draughtsmen and assistants. Royce himself naturally took a keen interest in the building work, basing himself in a nearby hotel.

His health, however, remained fragile. After a relapse which led to emergency surgery in England, he returned to the now-finished house to recuperate. For the rest of life, he (very sensibly) spent his winters at Le Canadel and the summers in the south of England.

From 1917, his English residence was Elmstead, an 18th-Century house in the village of West Wittering on the Sussex coast, just eight miles from the present-day Home of Rolls-Royce at Goodwood. Elmstead had some adjoining land, where Royce resumed his long-standing interest in fruit farming. Inevitably, he brought his desire for perfection to this activity, too, and he quickly became a leading expert in many aspects of farming and horticulture.

His domestic life at Elmstead throws further light on his perfectionist nature, which focused his attention on even the smallest actions of others. For example, any aspiring cook would be employed only if they boiled potatoes in the ‘right’ way – just as an unfortunate labourer in the Cooke Street works was once admonished and shown how to use a broom correctly.

A REMARKABLE LEGACY

Whether he was designing car components or aircraft engines, Royce’s search for perfection never waned; yet even he acknowledged that it was, in fact, unattainable. His mantra for his drawing-office staff was ‘Rub out, alter, improve, refine’, and that process of constant improvement and development led to some of his greatest engineering achievements. Under his direction, the Buzzard aero engine built in 1927 with an initial output of 825 H.P. was transformed in just four years into the Schneider Trophy-winning ‘R’ engine that, in its final form, was capable of producing 2,783 H.P. And his outline design for a V12 engine would appear almost unaltered in the Phantom III of 1936, three years after his death. An instinctive, intuitive engineer, he was a firm believer that if something looked right, it probably was right. His extraordinary ability to assess components by eye alone proved infallible time and time again.

Royce’s tendency to overwork, often at the expense of his own health, was a symptom of his quest for perfection, and a will to achieve it forged in hardship and adversity. He was a highly driven – some might say obsessive – man who overcame many setbacks and misfortunes, and applied his meticulous engineer’s eye, inquisitive mind and relentless work ethic to every aspect of his life. And such is the power of his ethos and legend, they still inform and inspire the company that bears his name 160 years after his birth.