Rolls-Royce : "World's best car"

Sir Frederick Henry Royce (1863 - 1933) was a self made electrical engineer and was involved in making electrical fittings and electric cranes through his own company Royce Ltd. In 1902 , he bought a second hand Decauville car and was not satisfied with its performance and quality. He went about building his own car based on the Decauville car and created a 2-cylinder Royce 10 car in 1904  -

Charles Stewart Rolls (1877 - 1910) was form a rich family. In 1903 , he founded the C S Rolls and Co to import and sell Peugeot cars from France and Minerva cars from Belgium,  in England.

Charles Rolls was introduced to Henry Royce and they created Rolls- Royce Ltd in 1906 with an agreement that C S Rolls and Co will sell the entire production of Rolls-Royce Ltd. By 1907 , C S Rolls and Co was integrated in to Rolls-Royce Ltd.

The first and the most famous car from Rolls-Royce was Silver Ghost , launched in 1907 and continued in production till 1925.

The Silver Ghost did a non-stop 14371 miles gaining the name - "The best car in the world". 

Henry Royce was a perfectionist and the Rolls-Royce cars were known for their smoothness , reliability and quality. The company followed its founder's dictum of - "Take the best that exists and make it better".

1927 , the Silver Ghost gave way to the next generation of famous Rolls-Royce , the Phantom -

In 1931 , Rolls-Royce acquired Bentley Motors.

During the war , Rolls-Royce was forced to manufacture aero engines and were excelling in aircraft engines, creating successive airspeed records.

In 1971 , financial trouble led to nationalization of Rolls-Royce Ltd. In 1973, it was again de-nationalised , forming Rolls-Royce Motors for Automobiles and Rolls-Royce plc for aircraft engines.

In 1980 , the company was taken over by Vickers, an engineering company.

Rolls-Royce continued to manufacture classic cars which were used by the British Royalty and movie stars.

Some of the Rolls-Royce cars -

A 1979 Silver Shadow -

In 1998 Vickers sold off the Rolls-Royce Motors to BMW and Volkswagen in a complex deal. As per the deal, Volkswagen got the Rolls-Royce factory and the patented radiator grill design and BMW got the Rolls-Royce name and logo. This led Volkswagen not being able to use the Rolls-Royce name. After sustained negotiations , in 2003, the entire Rolls-Royce rights were transferred to BMW and now BMW owns Rolls-Royce.

Some of the Rolls-Royce cars , post BMW ownership -

2012 Rolls-Royce Ghost

2013 Rolls-Royce Wraith

The Rolls-Royce logo and hood ornament - the spirit of ecstasy.

HORCH - Listen

August Horch (1868 - 1951), a German Engineer, was employed in the Engine factory of Karl Benz. In 1899, he quit Benz and started his own company and named it A.Horch & Cie. The first automobile made in 1901 was a 2 cylinder , 4.5 HP car -

In this car , Horch had a "shock-free" engine design - it was claimed that a 5 cent coin, standing on its side, will not fall when the engine is idling. He was also the first to introduce Aluminum alloy for the engine crankcase and transmission housings.

In 1904 Horch introduced  4 cylinder cars and in 1908  6 cylinder cars -

Horch recognized the importance of racing and was actively involved in various racing event , winning many. A 1908 Horch racer -

In 1909 August Horch quit the company after a tussle with the board of directors. After quitting A. Horch & Cie, August Horch created another company  called Audi, the latin translation of Horch - meaning "Listen" 

Horch continued to manufacture luxury cars with bigger engines. In 1923, Paul Daimler designed a 8 cylinder engine for Horch.

A 1938 Horch -

In 1928, Horch was acquired by another company called DKW. In 1932 , 4 companies got together and formed the Auto Union comprising of Horch, Audi, DKW & Wanderer.

After the war,  Horch manufacturing facilities in East Germany were controlled by Russians and manufactured Sachsenring P240 cars and later on the infamous Russian Trabant cars. A 1956 Sachsenring -

In 1964, Auto Union was acquired by Volkswagen group and later renamed as Audi.

Horch Logo -