Rolls-Royce 20 hp

Rolls-Royce does not build many cars like the Rolls-Royce 20 hp with 4118cc 4-cylinder., built from 1905 to 1906 when a car was a rich man's adventure and every maker was a workshop. Its designer of record is Henry Royce.

The background

The Rolls-Royce 20 hp was one of four car models to be produced as a result of an agreement of 23 December 1904 between Charles Rolls and Henry Royce. Badged as a Rolls-Royce, the 20 hp was produced during 1905 and 1906 by Royce's company, Royce Ltd. at its factory in Cooke Street, Hulme, Manchester. It was sold exclusively by Rolls' motor dealership, C.S.Rolls & Co., at a price of GBP650. The 20 hp was exhibited at the Paris Salon in December 1904, along with the 10 hp, 15 hp and engine for the 30 hp models. The engine was made of two separately cast two-cylinder units which were common with the two-cylinder 10 hp and six-cylinder 30 hp types sharing their bore of 4 in (102 mm) and stroke of 5 in (127 mm).

It is water-cooled and of 4118 cc capacity with overhead inlet and side exhaust valves Early cars had a high-tension ignition system using pre-charged accumulators, a trembler and a coil ignition system; on later cars this was supplemented by a magneto which could be used as an alternative. As the lighting supplied uses oil for the side and tail and acetylene for the headlights, there is no other drain on the accumulators, which need to be recharged between outings. The power output is 20 bhp (15 kW) at 1000 rpm. The engine speed is controlled by a governor that can be over-ridden by the pedal-controlled accelerator. A three-speed gearbox was fitted at first, later changed to four-speed with the introduction of the Light 20 and subsequently fitted to all cars, connected to the engine via a short shaft and a leather-lined cone clutch was used. On the four-speed type, thir

The engineering

Under the skin sits 4118cc 4-cylinder.. The gearbox is a three- or four-speed. The wheelbase is 106 in or 114 in. These are manufacturer figures carried by Wikipedia and Wikidata, not road-test measurements.

Where it sits

On a showroom list of its day it stood against the Ford Model T, the Fiat 60 HP, the De Dion–Bouton Fouillaron type 10 HP tonneau. Its Rolls-Royce stablemates include the Rolls-Royce 100EX and the Rolls-Royce 102EX.

The money

There is no federal ownership record for the Rolls-Royce 20 hp — it predates the complaint database or was never sold in the United States — so MotorJury publishes no running-cost figure for it. For a car of this age the price is set by the collector market and the condition of the individual example, not by a formula.