The globally renowned marque associated with the royalty and the super rich
Read about the legacy of Rolls-Royce
1.Rolls-Royce Limited was founded by Charles Stewart Rolls and Henry Royce on March 15, 1906, as the result of a partnership formed in 1904. This renowned British car company also forayed into aero engine manufacturing from 1914 onwards.
The 1906 Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost
2.Prior to that, in 1884, Henry Royce had started an electrical and mechanical business. He had made his first car, a two-cylinder Royce 10, at his Manchester factory in 1904. He was introduced to Charles Rolls at the Midland Hotel in Manchester on May 4 that year. Rolls was the proprietor of a motor-car dealership, C S Rolls & Co, in Fulham.
3.In 1907 Charles Rolls, whose interest had turned increasingly towards flying, tried unsuccessfully to persuade Royce and the other directors to design an aero engine.
4.The characteristic R-R badge on the front grille changed from red to black in 1934 upon the death in 1933 of Henry Royce. The Phantom III of 1934 was the first Rolls-Royce to display the black badge, being the first car without inputs from Royce.
5.In 1950, Princess Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh took delivery of the first Phantom IV. Designed exclusively for the royalty and heads of states, the Phantom IV is one of the rarest Rolls-Royce cars in the world, with only 18 ever being produced.
6.The 1990s saw the end of production of cars at Crewe and the beginning of a new chapter in the history of Rolls-Royce when the BMW group of Germany bought the rights to produce Rolls-Royce cars.
7.A fact that would be of particular interest to Indians is that before Independence, there were about 700 Rolls-Royce cars in India, owned by the maharajas and nawaabs of that era. These cars were highly customised to suit their whims and fancies.
