Rolls-Royce Motor Cars PressClub · Article.
MODELS OF THE MARQUE – THE 1900s: THE ROYCE 10 H.P. & ROLLS-ROYCE 10 H.P.
24.04.2024 Press Release
2024 marks the 120th anniversary of the introductory meeting between Henry Royce and The Hon. Charles Stewart Rolls in 1904. The first in a series celebrating a landmark model from each decade of the marque’s history focuses on not one, but two motor cars; the Royce 10 H.P., the first motor car built by Henry Royce, and the Rolls-Royce 10 H.P., the inaugural model for the newly established marque.
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Author.
Andrew Ball
Rolls-Royce Motor Cars
- A brief history of the Royce 10 H.P., the first motor car built by Henry Royce, and the Rolls-Royce 10 H.P., the inaugural model for the newly established marque
- First in a series celebrating a landmark model from each decade of the marque’s history, from its foundational years in the 1900s to the contemporary Goodwood era
- Year-long retrospective marks the 120th anniversary of the first meeting between Henry Royce and The Hon. Charles Stewart Rolls in 1904
- Each motor car represents significant developments in design, construction, engineering, and technology that continue to influence the marque’s products today
“We begin this retrospective series with not one, but two
motor cars built by Henry Royce in the early 20th Century. The Royce
10 H.P., completely reengineered from an existing, well-regarded
machine, was the catalyst for the partnership between our founders;
the Rolls-Royce 10 H.P. was the first motor car built and sold under
the Rolls-Royce name, setting a template for the company and its
products that endures to this day. These models are inseparable in
their origins and the story of the company’s foundation.
Individually and together, they have a unique place in our history
and therefore deserve equal recognition in the pantheon of early
Rolls‑Royce motor cars.”
Andrew Ball, Head of Corporate Relations and Heritage,
Rolls-Royce Motor Cars
In 1903, electrical engineer Henry Royce was running
his own manufacturing company in Manchester. Though successful,
trouble was brewing for Royce and other British companies, in the form
of a growing tide of cheaper, imported electrical goods. Ever the
perfectionist, Royce refused to lower his standards to compete, and
instead looked to diversify into new areas. It was a decision that
would change history.
In September 1902, Royce had bought a small French car, a 10
H.P. Decauville. It was a highly regarded model from a well-respected
make, and among the very best available at that time.
Characteristically, however, Royce swiftly identified numerous flaws
and weaknesses in its design, engineering and construction.
Earlier that year, he had read a newly published book, The
Automobile: Its Construction and Management. This convinced him
to use the Decauville as the basis for a better motor car of his own.
He began by carefully dismantling it, making detailed notes and
drawings of every component. His new design sensibly retained some of
its key features, but also introduced a plethora of innovative
improvements to the bearings, radiator, carburation and transmission.
He was also obsessed with reducing the motor car’s overall
weight, which he achieved through meticulous engineering and
metallurgy, together with simpler measures like dispensing with the
Decauville’s cast bronze warning bell that alone weighed around 20kg
(over 40lb). Perhaps most significantly, Royce designed and built his
own twin-cylinder engine, the first in the long line of legendary
powerplants for both motor cars and aircraft he would create during
his distinguished career.
On 1 April 1904, his first complete motor car – the Royce 10
H.P. – took to the road for the first time. For Royce, and the world,
nothing would ever be the same again.
Meanwhile, in London, an aristocratic motoring and aviation
pioneer had opened one of Britain’s first car dealerships in 1902. He
was The Hon. Charles Stewart Rolls and business was booming, but Rolls
was frustrated that all his stock was designed and manufactured
overseas; no car produced domestically met his clients’ needs, or his
own standards as a Cambridge-educated engineer and successful
competitive driver.
A friend, Henry Edmunds, had been loaned one of the first
production examples of Royce’s new 10 H.P. motor car. It was, he
enthused, exactly what Rolls was looking for. On 4 May 1904, at the
behest of his friend Edmunds, Rolls travelled to Manchester to meet
Royce and try out the motor car. Though entirely different in
background and temperament, the two men bonded immediately, and Rolls
was smitten with the motor car. There and then, he declared he would
sell every motor car Royce could make, through a new company and under
a new name: Rolls-Royce.
Launched the same year, their first motor car, the Rolls-Royce
10 H.P., was a similar twin-cylinder model derived from the earlier
Royce cars, but with many further design and mechanical improvements.
Through this diminutive but epochal motor car, the fledgling brand
rapidly gained the reputation for engineering excellence, comfort,
performance and reliability it retains 120 years later.
By 1905, Rolls-Royce had added three, four and six-cylinder
models, whose successes in both trials and sales were built on the
twin-cylinder 10 H.P. model's foundations. All perfectly embodied
Royce’s most famous principles, which still inspire the marque today:
“Take the best that exists and make it better,” and “If it doesn’t
exist, design it.”