Rolls-Royce Rangoon
The Rolls-Royce Rangoon was a concept vehicle from the British luxury car manufacturer Rolls-Royce , which was created in the early 1960s as part of a cooperation with BMC ; a technically identical sister model of the Bentley brand was named Bentley Bengal . With this vehicle, Rolls-Royce investigated the possibilities of developing a smaller, cheaper car that was located below the great Silver Cloud . The Rangoon / Bengal used technical components from mass-produced vehicles to a considerable extent. It was closely related to the BMC ADO17 . The development of the project was stopped in 1964 without a ready-to-drive prototype having been built.
history
In 1961, Rolls-Royce was planning a vehicle in the size range of the upper middle class that would be able to be sold in larger numbers to a younger audience. Rolls-Royce then developed a luxury vehicle based on the Vanden Plas Princess 3 Liter , which in turn was a high-quality version of the BMC ADO53. A prototype of the vehicle known as Bentley Java was created, which was presented and tested in 1962. The development work ended just a few months later when BMC decided to discontinue production of the Vanden Plas.
In 1962 it became apparent that two years later BMC would replace the previous ADO53 series designed by Pininfarina with the new ADO17 series. The series, which was to be offered in various versions by Austin, Morris and Wolseley, was expanded into the luxury class a few years later with the Austin 3 liter . Initially, BMC also considered the production of a Vanden Plas version, which was ultimately not implemented.
Rolls-Royce took up the concept of the ADO17 and developed a small luxury sedan based on it, which was named Rangoon or Bengal. The Rangoon / Bengal took over the distinctive passenger cell of the ADO17 unchanged with all its special features, including the generous side glazing and the wide doors. The front and rear, on the other hand, were independent. On the front of the vehicle were the brand-typical Rolls-Royce and Bentley radiator grilles, framed by two horizontally arranged double headlights. The design of the front section anticipated some elements of the later Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow .
The Rangoon / Bengal was to be powered by a 4.0 liter six-cylinder engine that Rolls-Royce developed independently and without recourse to BMC components. The engine called the F60 had an aluminum engine block and dry liners. It made 175 hp.
In 1963 and 1964 some styling models were created; ready-to-drive prototypes were not built. In 1964, Rolls-Royce had doubts as to whether such a vehicle could be sold for a profit. The doubts were primarily related to the passenger cell of the ADO17, which was easily recognizable as such and thus clearly revealed the relationship between the model and a mass-produced product. Rolls-Royce then revised the design of the passenger cell and in particular the glazing. This work increased the visual independence of the model and made the vehicle, since it was no longer possible to fall back on inexpensive large-scale technology, but at the same time made it significantly more expensive. Ultimately, the increased costs were the main reason why the Rangoon / Bengal project was discontinued in 1964.
Some details of the body design were found in the Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow presented in 1965. The six-cylinder engine designed for the Rangoon / Bengal went into series production. It was used in the luxury Vanden Plas Princess 4 Liter R from 1964 .
Fritz Feller, the designer of the Silver Spirit , described the Rangoon in 1980 as a good but expensive car:
- They let me build a little Rolls-Royce a few years ago. A wonderful car. Then we calculated, and it was as expensive as a normal Rolls-Royce.
See also
literature
- Peter Mansfeld: Rolls-Royce . Introduction and brand history as well as an interview with Rolls-Royce designer Fritz Feller. In: Geo . Issue 9/1980, p. 112 ff.
- Jonathan Wood: Rolls-Royce & Bentley. The story of a legendary brand . Heel Verlag, Königswinter 2003, ISBN 3-89880-106-3 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ For the history of the Bentley Java s. the website www.vandenplas.com (accessed on June 13, 2011).
- ↑ The name Bentley Java returned in 1984 when Rolls-Royce gave this name to a Bentley version of the Project 90 concept vehicle. Project 90 and thus the second Bentley Java was a forerunner of the Bentley Continental R in terms of design .
- ^ Wood: Rolls-Royce & Bentley. P. 44.
- ↑ The Vanden Plas sales prospectus explicitly referred to the concept of the engine at Rolls-Royce; see. Sales prospectus from 1965 (accessed June 13, 2011).
- ↑ Manfeld: Rolls-Royce. In: Geo. 9/1980, p. 131.
