Friday, August 24, 2007

Rolls Royce and Bentley Tool Kit Evolution

The way things were: At least for Rolls Royce and Bentley, at the end of WWII.

WWII ended in 1945.
VERY little was done by English and U.S car makers to plan, or design post-WWII cars.
Except for Ray Loewy at Studebaker, who had very little military work.
A lot of plants in England were destroyed.
SOOO--early post WWII cars were warmed over pre-WWII.
RR and Bentley were made in the same factory.
Virtually the same, except for badging, and carbs. (grille and hood shape).
The tool kits were stacked in a stores area.
When a standard steel car was ready, a kit was grabbed, and placed with build sheet, O/M and paperwork, wrapped in plastic, and sent to a dealer.
For coachbuilt cars, a kit, and O/M was grabbed, wrapped in plastic and fastened to the cowl. Since no body or interior was present. The coachbuilder chose WHERE to install the kit. Same for RR/B. Some coachbuilders built custom toolkits (half circle affairs the fit in the spare wheel. They had a tool-kit DELETE order).
So the kits were the same, and removed from the same stores. The early 1946-1948 kits had straight , black bakelite handles, and some had no Schrader tyre valve tools, since the Kismet tool had the screw-in valve tool. The Schrader tool was added sometime in 1948, to REPAIR the valve. Also, the 2 styles of boxwood drivers replaced the black ones.

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