Rolls-Royce Aircraft Pioneering Car Dealer Who Done and Rolls-Royce Went Bankrupt Engine Was a Great Success and Thus C Needed an Upmarket Model in 1971

harles Stewart Rolls was a guarantees, but nothing effective was The new Rolls-Royce aircraft pioneering car dealer who done and Rolls-Royce went bankrupt engine was a great success and thus C needed an upmarket model in 1971. The same government that the aircraft engine division – eventu- to boost flagging sales. Henry Royce couldn’t provide loan guarantees then ally privatised as Rolls-Royce PLC was a brilliant engineer who made found the money to nationalise Rolls- – became a completely independent cranes in Manchester. It was a mar- Royce and keep it running. entity. riage made in heaven. That the Rolls-Royce Royce’s car company t e c h n i c a l survived is ability com- something of bined well a miracle. The with Rolls’ Rolls-Royce credibility car division among the was consid- English up- ered a white per classes. e l e p h a n t Rolls-Royce and under cars quickly government established o w n e r s h i p an unrivalled suffered years reputation of near-zero for quality, technological innovation Rolls-Royce development. and reliabil- The last new ity, and that reputation has lasted to model was produced in the early 1960s this day. and everything from then till nearly ROLLS-ROYCE the end of the century was a tart-up Rolls-Royce didn’t just make cars, Official name:Rolls-Royce Mo- of the original 1960s model. True. however. Rolls-Royce Merlin engines tor Cars Limited. Eventually the government effectively powering Spitfire aircraft helped win gave the Rolls-Royce car company World War II. Owned by: BMW. to Vickers PLC because no one else Formerly owned by: Volkswa- wanted it. Despite the image many now have gen and, before that, Vickers. of the British as being quaintly old Slowly and sadly, the Rolls-Royce fashioned, in the years following the Current situation: After a motor company followed the rest of war British industrial engineering was messy beginning, Rolls-Royce the British motoring industry into has thrived under BMW’s often both innovative and practical. decay and then ruin – effectively aban- ownership. However, after the In the 1950s, Japanese companies doned after decades of poor decisions massive investment required to like Nissan & Toyota largely copied modernise the factory, Rolls- and lack of investment. Finally, in the British cars, not American or Euro- Royce is only marginally profita- early 1990s, Vickers PLC – the last pean ones. ble. Although BMW would like to British owner – decided to sell up. make money from Rolls-Royce, The late 1950s saw Rolls-Royce Rolls-Royce is really just a ‘tro- BMW, which was already a major in reasonable shape, with a new, phy’ brand which gives prestige supplier of engines to Rolls-Royce, modern car model on the way and to BMW. started talking seriously to Vickers. aircraft engine development going at Vickers, however, was playing BMW full speed. Chances of survival: okay. off against Volkswagen. Volkswagen The luxury car market is notori- was tired of making cars for the masses However, in the 1960s, the un- ously fickle and Rolls-Royce’s and wanted a share of the more lucra- sales will go up and down with expectedly high costs of developing tive luxury car market. the global economy. However an innovative engine for the new Rolls-Royce is such a pres- Lockheed TriStar put Rolls-Royce in tigious brand that some other A bidding war began, ending, serious financial trouble. The British carmaker is certain to buy the apparently, when Vickers agreed to government could have saved the brand even if Rolls-Royce loses sell Rolls-Royce to Volkswagen for company simply by providing loan money • US$704 million.

All content © The Dog & Lemon Guide 2011. All rights reserved There was one small flaw in Volkswagen’s master plan. After the deal was done, it was discovered that the aircraft engine company – Rolls-Royce PLC – owned the rights to both the Rolls-Royce brand and trademark. In other words, Volkswagen could make Rolls-Royces, but they couldn’t call them Rolls-Royces.

Rolls-Royce PLC had only been licensing the Rolls-Royce brand to the Rolls-Royce car company, a fact that everybody – including Volkswagen’s corporate lawyers – overlooked. The Spirit of Ecstasy As if that wasn’t bad enough, n the first decade of the twentieth optional extra on every new Rolls- Rolls-Royce PLC announced that century it became fashionable for Royce. it was licensing the rights for the English Rolls-Royce owners to Rolls-Royce brand not to Volkswa- I personalise their vehicles with a Many within Rolls-Royce consid- gen, but to Volkswagen’s rival – mascot. The most elegant of these ered the statuette to be vulgar. How- BMW, for $66.3 million. mascots was fitted to the car of Lord ever, after winning an international Montagu of Beaulieu, who customised car mascot competition in the 1920s, After a stunned silence, the plain front of his Rolls-Royce with the Spirit of Ecstasy (often wrongly Volkswagen had no choice but to a statuette of his lover, Eleanor Velasco called: ‘the flying lady’) quickly be- negotiate a settlement – and what Thornton. came inseparable from Rolls-Royce a complex agreement it was: cars – except by the thieves who Lord Montagu had good taste, but detached them thinking they were BMW agreed to let Volkswagen there was no guarantee that his imita- made of precious metals. use the Rolls-Royce name – but tors would. This random customisa- only until 2003, when ownership tion worried the folks at Rolls-Royce Like the brand she represents, the would revert back to BMW. BMW because their car was the vehicle of Spirit of Ecstasy is a survivor. in turn agreed to keep supply- choice of the English aristocracy ing BMW parts to Rolls-Royce – if tasteless cretins cheapened the As the fronts of Rolls-Royces grew until 2003. Volkswagen agreed marque’s image with vulgar objects more modern, she grew smaller and to keep making Rolls-Royce cars like gold-plated golf balls – or worse then knelt to give the driver and pas- until then. Under the agreement – then Rolls-Royce’s good name could sengers a clearer view. Volkswagen retained the Bentley end up in the toilet. brand and continued Vickers’ A minor crisis hit in the 1970s policy of rebadging Rolls-Royces Ergo, Rolls-Royce approached when the Spirit of Ecstasy was classi- as Bentleys until 2003. Charles Robinson Sykes (the same fied as a sharp-edged piece of metal sculptor who had designed Lord Mon- jutting from the coachwork and so tagu’s original bonnet babe) to design was banned in Switzerland. Swiss Now Rolls-Royce and Bentley an official Rolls-Royce mascot. Sykes owners’ vehicles were thus delivered are entirely different companies agreed, and, using the lovely Eleanor with the mascot in the glovebox. that share a couple of models but Velasco Thornton once more as his are rapidly moving in opposite model, he produced a statuette that Rolls-Royce then solved two prob- directions. bore a remarkable resemblance to Lord lems with one solution. On modern Montagu’s. versions, if you bang into – or try Despite acquisition by Germans, and steal – a Rolls-Royce bonnet modern Rolls–Royces still maintain Imitation is the sincerest form of emblem, she will quickly vanish that warm, hospitable feel that few flattery and Lord Montagu didn’t seem into the radiator surround, patiently Japanese and no German vehicle of to mind, so the new mascot, formally awaiting her owner’s directive to recent times has ever produced • titled the Spirit of Ecstasy, became an reappear •

Rolls-Royce he mystique of Rolls- down like any other car when • If there is a recognised R o y c e i s s u c h they get old, and the repair Rolls-Royce garage near you, T t h a t e v e n bills will exceed your worst pay them to check out the cold and cynical car nightmares. vehicle REGARDLESS OF companies will fight for the COST rights to make one. Here’s a few tips for those brave enough to buy one: A badly serviced or abused This mystique has clouded Rolls-Royce could easily cost the minds of many a Rolls- • Check to see how long the you the purchase price twice Royce car buyer, too. They seller has owned the vehicle. over: once for the car, once are indeed lovely cars, but If it’s less than three months for the repairs (even hubcaps their technology until very and he’s selling from home, cost several hundred dollars recently was on par with he’s probably an illegal dealer. each) • a Morris Minor and the Exercise great caution. recent addition of fancy German electronics has not • You should always ask entirely improved the brand’s for a Service History; that is, reliability. receipts for maintenance and repairs. If the vehicle does not Beware the cheap Rolls- have these or there are gaps in Royce. There’s no such thing, the records. RUN AWAY AS and despite what you may FAST AS YOU CAN! have heard, they do break