Praise with a Punch
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Although, for reasons explained, we are unable to offer you a road-test report on a Rolls-Royce, or a description of Rolls-Royce production methods, it is nice to know that a magazine called The Manager, in its “Talking Transport” feature, last year devoted 2 pages to praising the Car from Crewe.
This report, written after “a prolonged test drive,” begins by praising the thick-tipped, and therefore easily-read, speedometer needle of R.-R. and Bentley cars. It goes on to praise many aspects of a completely silent car which shows a speedometer 110 m.p.h. without concern. The report includes comments written after a visit to the Crewe factory, where, the writer informs us, “completion of the finished product may take as long as six weeks, and the car will have covered some 150 miles of test driving on the road before it is handed over to the customer.” This interesting account concludes with the statement: “The modern Rolls-Royce may lack some of the more advanced products of today’s automobile engineering researches, such as disk (sic!) brakes, fuel injection and independent rear suspension, but it is as near perfection as it can be made. The executives have ready explanations for these omissions, and point to the company’s tradition of mechanical perfection.”
Praise indeed! Who wrote it? None other than Erik Johnson, Marketing Manager in this country for Mercedes-Benz and Auto Union cars!