Rolls-Royce
Cars
In 1904, Charles Stewart Rolls and Frederick Henry Royce
formed a partnership to make and sell cars. Two years later
their company produced the Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost. At the
time it was known as the best car in the world. The Silver
Ghost was produced until 1925. Rolls-Royce motorcars were
commissioned as armored cars, staff cars and ambulances, during
World War I.
Rolls-Royce only built chassis from 1904-1939. During World
War II, Rolls-Royce made major contributions to aero propulsion.
After the war, Rolls-Royce decided they would no longer just
produce the chassis for cars but would now produce a complete
car. And so they built the Bentley Mk VI. Most Rolls-Royce
cars produced from 1906 to 1959 used a six cylinder engine.
However the PIII and its V12 was used briefly in the late
1930’s. Rolls-Royce introduced a V8 in 1959.
Keeping with the tradition of improvement and a strive for
perfection, Rolls-Royce has continued to make changes to specifications
over the years. In 1981, the Silver Spirit with automatic
air conditioning was introduced. They then added fuel injection
and anti-lock breaks to the cars in 1987. The Silver Spirit
featured a four speed automatic in 1994. This car now had
20% more power. The Silver Spur car was fitted with a turbo
charged engine with 300hp in 1996. Two years later for the
Silver Seraph car, a 5.3 litre V12 engine became standard.
In 1998, Rolls-Royce Motor cars was purchased by Volkswagen.
BMW had the rights the name for use on Rolls-Royce cars,
however. They had purchased these rights for £40m from
Rolls-Royce Plc. Starting in 2003, BMW took over responsibility
for Rolls-Royce cars. The Rolls-Royce group and all their
other divisions are still going strong and the legend will
live on.
Vitually all of the Rolls-Royce range of vehicles are expensive
to insure, with almost all of the range having a car
insurance group of 20. This is perfectly understandable
due to the prestige nature of the cars. But again, if you
are worried about how expensive your car insurance premium
will be forget about buying a Rolls-Royce.
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