Rolls-Royce

LJK Setright's book covers the period from pre Rolls Royce inception, to 1971, when this book was written. The book is split into coherent sections, starting with when Royce was proprietor of an electrical equipment factory bought a Decauville car. He was so unimpressed by it, that he set about its improvement, then went on to producing his own cars'. These were brought to the attention of the Honourable Charles Stewart Rolls whom ran several car retail outlets'. The upshot of this you already know, and the chapter continues with the development of the early models'. Following on from the first chapter is the cars' in World War 1, and the military engine business including aircraft engines, then their post war developments. Next is the American Rolls Royce car factory at Springfield and its collapse after the stock crash, the developments in the cars, and the acquisition of Bentley by RR. The next chapter is on the development of engines, again mostly military aero engines, before and during the Second World War - see comment on Ellor below. The development of jet engines is the subject of the next chapter, and ends with the RB211 jet engine and it's problems. The final chapter is on the post Second World War cars and their developments' ending with the Corniche convertible. Setright gives an interesting account of Royce's and the companies' cautious yet rigorous philosophy of technical development, commitment to the highest standards, and the unexpected benefits of over-engineering, all set in the context of their respective era's. Along the way amusing anecdotes illustrating these points, such as the companies' sideswipes at its competitors, prevent this book from becoming a tedious tome of facts and figures. Setright also brings out serious points' on how particular people, and technical developments, made great impact in history. Such as Mr Ellor a "supercharging genius" from whom Rolls Royce got a lead in supercharging technology for the Schneider trophy, later used in the Merlin engine of Hurricane, Spitfire, and Lancaster bomber. This is also used to illustrate the relationship the company had with the British government, and very interesting it was. All in all, despite the fact it came out in 1971, has only monochrome photographs, this is an excellent book. It is so readable, I can only hope someone can persuade LJK Setright to revisit this book, and bring it up to the modern day. With the recent events that have transpired, as of the year 2000, when Volkswagen acquiring the Crewe factory, plus the Bentley brand, while BMW retaining the Rolls Royce brand name.