The Rolls Royce Projects

[CORTINA]

In early 1960s the demand for traditional coach built Rolls Royce and Bentley started to wane as demand for smaller luxury car started.Fueling this impetus was the 1958 ,1960-61 recession in USA which led to decline in sales of cars especially of Luxury barages like Rolls Royce.

Rolls Royce then was undivided company whose main profits came from supplying Jet engines to aircraft manufactures while cars constituted a fraction of their business.

In early to mid 1960s Rolls Royce and British Motor Corporation for UK( it was fourth largest car maker in the world behind only Detroit and makers of famous Austin and Morris cars) started collaboration for a small Rolls and a Bentley model.

Many concepts were envisioned but none made the light of day but the result of this association was- The Rolls Royce silver shadow launched in 1965-66 which was the first small Rolls Royce with unibody construction.This car and its badge engineered derivatives were produced well beyond the turn of century.

These projects were named as ADO 61,53,30.The word ADO itself means Austin drawing office.The ADO 61 went on to become Austin 3 litre saloon launched in late 1960s.

• ADO 53 -Bentley Java

The Java project (1961-1962) was conceived as a way of developing a new entry-level saloon on a shoestring budget, by basing the car on the bodyshell of BMC's Vanden Plas Princess 3-Litre. . A 6-cylinder engine, the F-60, was earmaked for the car, having originally been developed from a previous Rolls-Royce engine for use in the aborted Bentley Burma saloon. The first running prototype, designated 71-B, hit the road in March 1962 and was little more than a Vanden Plas Princess 3-Litre fitted with a Rolls-Royce F-60 engine and gearbox, along with various other modifications to its brakes and steering. This would eventually became a test-bed for the Vanden Plas Princess 4-litre R, which retained the F-60 engine (designated FB60 in its BMC incarnation) but dispensed with the 71-B prototype's gearbox, brakes and steering.

Note - Facel vega inspired vertical headlamps.


The rear end resembles a BMC farina saloon

• ADO 61 -Bentley Bengal and Rolls Royce Rangoon

The Bentley Bengal was another proposal by BMC which did not go beyond quarter scale model would have used the suspension and 6-cylinder engine from the aborted Java 2 proposal.The car would be based on Austin 3 litre saloon,The suspension system was inherited by Austin 3 litre

The Rolls Royce Rangoon was another proposal which if produced would be based on Bentley Bengal differing only in radiator grille and chromework,interior trim.Some thought was given to an alternative front wing treatment.

• ADO 30 - Bentley Alpha
  

Rolls-Royce saw an opportunity to develop a Bentley version of a BMC's proposed ADO30 coupe, which was itself to have been built on ADO17 underpinnings. ADO30 (also referred to within BMC as XC5212) had its origins in a project to replace the Austin-Healey 3000 with a Pininfarina-designed coupe, using hydrolastic suspension and the 4-litre FB60 engine. a twin-OHC version of the Rolls-Royce F-60 engine, dubbed G-60. A quarter scale model of the was produced before plug was removed.

• ADO 58 - Bentley Burma Coupe

This was the final joint-project undertaken by BMC and Rolls-Royce, and was intended to produce a coupé based on a shortended version of the aborted Bentley Burma prototype. The car would have been built and sold only by BMC, and would most likely have carried one of their upmarket brands, such as Wolseley or Riley. However, the project was cancelled before any models or prototypes were built, although it is believed that one of the Bentley Burma prototypes was modified as a mock-up.




(Please note -All the information in this thread including Photos is copyrighted and belongs to Kieth Adams of Aronline.co.uk whose permission was taken before writing this thread.The original contributor is Declan Berridge.)

 

[350Z]

Re: Rolls Royce projects

Excellent thread. It’s always interesting to read about carmakers such as Rolls Royce. On a related note, a few years ago I happen to spot a fairly well-maintained vintage Rolls Royce (Maybe Silver shadow, don’t remember the model) for sale at approximately Rs.20 Lakhs. Only if I had enough of cash to purchase / maintain as well as space to park one, I would have definitely bought it then and there. By the way, not many of us are well-informed about vintage and classics here (including myself), so you may notice little response rate but I’m sure that we all love learning more, just as from your thread. So keep that coming.

Drive Safe,
350Z

 

[CORTINA]

Excellent thread. It’s always interesting to read about carmakers such as Rolls Royce.

Thanks.

Only if I had enough of cash to purchase / maintain as well as space to park one, I would have definitely bought it then and there.

Yes, its very true indeed.If Government relaxes rule for second hand car import,then there are lot of cars available for purchase from outside India some very rare and even cheaper than Nano to buy.

By the way, not many of us are well-informed about vintage and classics here (including myself), so you may notice little response rate but I’m sure that we all love learning more, just as from your thread. So keep that coming.

I Love to share many more interesting things about cars so topics like these will be coming more often.So watch this space