10 Interesting Facts About Rolls-Royce
New York, Paris and London chauffeur services use them and the rich and famous love them. The Rolls-Royce brand is synonymous with prestige and luxury and when you think of one of their cars you cannot help but associate quality.
For such a well established brand there are still many facts that most people are un-aware of.
1. Did you know Rolls-Royce should always be written with a hyphen in the middle to reflect both the founders' surnames?
2. Charles Rolls and Henry Royce founded the company over a hundred years ago in 1906. Incidentally a photo of the Charles Rolls and Henry Royce was never taken of them together.
3. More than six out of 10 Rolls-Royce cars ever sold are still roadworthy. The oldest still on the road is a 1904 10hp owned by Thomas Love Jr. of Perth, Scotland.
4. One of the first Rolls-Royce cars to be developed was the Rolls-Royce 10 which stood for 10 horse power. This was sold for £395.00 back in 1904 and is equivalent to £32,000, only 16 were made.
5. The mission and objective of the car manufacturer set out by the founders as a company was to provide a tangible transport alternative to horses and trains. When the company was first created the horse and carriage was still the main mode of transport.
6. Arguably the most famous Rolls-Royce car model is the Silver Ghost, 6,000 were originally made and the Ghost part of the name signified the quietness of the engine. The success of the Silver Ghost led Rolls-Royce to open a second factory in Springfield, Massachusetts but closed down after 10 years because people in the USA preferred the British made cars.
7. The Rolls-Royce R engine is the only engine to obtain land, air and water speed records.
8. The famous Rolls-Royce emblem was designed by Charles Sykes and is called the "Spirit of Ecstasy" and no two figurines look the same. Incidentally Henry Royce disliked the figurine stating it ruined the cars lines.
9. The famous car manufacturer actually stopped manufacturing cars in 1971 after the company was crippled by the development of the RB211 jet engine. The company restarted manufacturing of their cars when they were taken over by various other firms such as Vickers, BMW and Volkswagen.
10. Nowadays this famous car manufacturer which is now owned by BMW is as strong as ever and makes cars which are shipped all over the world. In 2009 they sold 1,212 Phantoms to the rich and famous including P Diddy, David Beckham and Simon Cowell to name just a few. A large amount of sales can be attributed to wedding and chauffeur companies all over the world buying their luxurious vehicles to hire out. You can find them in lots of major cities all over the world and many London chauffeur services provide Rolls-Royce phantoms for hire for up to £1200 per day.
