Rolls-Royce Automobiles

1904-1906 - British engineer Henry Royce builds his first automobile. Mr. CS Rolls was so impressed that Rolls-Royce was formed. The famous radiator shape was part of this original design.

Rolls-Royce Ltd was founded in 1904 by Charles Stewart Rolls and Frederick Henry Royce. Royce was a respected engineer and manufacturer who had developed an interest in motor cars as an effiecient means of transportation. Rolls was a pioneer motorist whose firm of C.S. Rolls and Company sold quality French automobiles.

The Rolls-Royce radiator mascot, "The Spirit of Ecstacy", was designed by illustrator/sculptor Charles Sykes and debuted in 1911. The Rolls-Royce grille and mascot are covered by Britian's Protection of Monuments Act.

1912-1913 - Alpine Trials helped find weak spots in the engineering allowing "the best car in the world" to be even better.

1916 - A report in The Times told of the perfect reliability of the armoured car service in the Egyptian desert, where the cars, all Rolls-Royces, moved to timetable and engine breakdowns were unknown. "The cars have run over thousands of miles of the roughest desert, and the complete absence of engine trouble is a triumph for British workmanship."

1965 - Siver Shadow introduced. If the box type form was something of a shock to Rolls-Royce traditionalist after the smooth lines of the Cloud, there were much more radical changes under the skin: all independent self levelling suspension, disk brakes and a monocoque structure. In one fell swoop Rolls-Royce had entered the modern era.

In 1971, Rolls-Royce Ltd., was nationalized by the British Government because of the pending financial collapse of Rolls-Royce, due mostly to the money spent on the development of the RB211 jet aircraft engine. In 1973, the government sold off the motor car business by forming Rolls-Royce Motors and Rolls-Royce Plc to concentrate on the aero industry. In this reorganization, Rolls-Royce Plc maintained ownership of the trademarks of the Rolls-Royce name, logos, mascot, and grille shape.

Vickers purchased the Rolls-Royce Motors company in 1980 which they operated using the Rolls-Royce name, logo, mascot and grille shape under a license agreement with Rolls-Royce, Plc, the aircraft-engine manufacturer. In 1998 Vickers put the company up for sale.

Volkswagen out-bid BMW for the Rolls-Royce Motors assets but, in an odd twist, Rolls-Royce Plc decided to sell the license for the use of the Rolls-Royce name to BMW. Volkswagen had purchased the rights to use the "Spirit of Ecstacy" mascot and grille shape and the Bentley name and logos, but not the right to use the Rolls-Royce name. VW claimed it was only interested in the Bentley which was outselling Rolls-Royce by almost double.

Volkswagen and BMW came to an agreement whereby Volkswagen would purchase engines from BMW and rights to use the Rolls-Royce name and logo until the end of 2002. Volkswagen built its last Rolls-Royce in August 2002, ending nearly sixty years of Rolls-Royce manufacturing tradition at the Crewe, England facility.