Tremendous Trifles Rolls Royce Ogilvy

Teazles, entasis and other tremendous trifles make the Rolls-Royce a bargain at $15,655

"Anyone having the slightest knowledge of what it costs to build a car with this kind of finish and workmanship...will wonder why the price isn’t much higher," writes ROAD & TRACK

Today's Rolls-Royce is the outcome of fifty-seven years of deliberation. Every part has engineering thought behind it. 1. Consider the roof lining. It is made of West of England cloth. The nap of this fabric is raised by rubbing with teazles, a thistle-like flower grown in Somerset. A West Country mill will use 800,000 teazles a year, costing from £2,000 to £3,000. They will not use wire combs because these produce a less luxurious nap. 2. The radiator shell is handmade of stainless steel. Every surface is perceptibly curved. The ancient Greeks used this principle, which they called entasis, when they made the sides of their temple columns slightly convex. The result to the eye is one of geometric perfection. 3. The chassis frame is made of hollow steel members welded together so perfectly that air is pumped out and the main frame becomes a sealed vacuum. Thus no moisture can accumulate within the frame to cause corrosion. 4. Engineering test procedures are fantastically thorough. Doors are tested for 100,000 slammings. And the car must pass a "monsoon test," during which it is pelted by water and air at gale force. Not a drop may come through. 5. Inspectors at Rolls-Royce have the ears of trained musicians and can detect sounds inaudible to the layman. They listen for fitter, sing, moan, groan and boom. Any false note sends the car back for further tuning. The Rolls-Royce people make a fetish of silence—because noise may mean wear. 6. Five years were spent developing the new eight-cylinder engine. Its vigor is gratifying. You accelerate from zero to 60 miles an hour in 11.4 seconds. (ROAD & TRACK test report.) 7. There are three braking systems and two fuel pumps. Rolls-Royce insists on a belt-and-suspenders policy where safety is concerned. 8. The Rolls-Royce is a very easy car to drive and to park. Power brakes, power steering and automatic gearshift are standard. You sit higher, and you see better. The sense of security is remarkable. Even at 100 m.p.h. (laws permitting) you have a feeling of perfect control. Women handle the car with ease. 9. The Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud II costs $15,655. The Bentley—an identical car except for its radiator—costs $300 less. Many owners feel that both cars are in the flush of youth after 50,000 miles. And they are not threatened by annual style changes that make the car look old hat. Only an expert can tell whether your Rolls-Royce was bought yesterday or five years ago. 10. If you would like to try driving a Rolls-Royce or Bentley, get in touch with one of the dealers listed on page 66. Or write to Mr. Norman C. Miller, Executive Vice President, Rolls-Royce, Inc., Room 468, 45 Rockefeller Plaza, New York 20, N.Y.