View source for Rolls-Royce V-8 (1905)

{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2017}}
{{Use British English|date=August 2017}}
{{Infobox automobile
| image        = Rolls Royce Legalimit.jpg
| name         = V-8
| manufacturer = [[Rolls-Royce Ltd]]
| production   = 1905<br>3 made <ref name=RRManchester />
| class        =
| body_style   =
| engine       = 3535 [[Cubic metre|cc]] [[V8 engine|V-8]] [[bore (engine)|bore]] x [[stroke (engine)|stroke]]: {{convert|82.5|x|82.5|mm|2|lk=on}}<ref name=Bird&Hallows/><ref>{{cite web|last=Carrington|first=James|title=Rolls-Royce V-8 Legalimit|publisher=Darkforce Ltd.|year=2006|url=http://www.darkforce.com/royce/v8.htm|access-date=2008-07-02}}</ref>
| transmission = three-speed
| length       =
| width        =
| height       =
| weight       =
| wheelbase    = Landaulette 90 inches (2286 mm)<br> Legalimit 106 inches (2692 mm)<ref name=Bird&Hallows>The Rolls-Royce Motor Car. Anthony Bird and Ian Hallows. Batsford Books. 2002 {{ISBN|0-7134-8749-6}}</ref>
| successor    =
| designer     = [[Sir Henry Royce]]
}}
[[File:Rolls Royce 1905 Landaulet.jpg|thumb|right|The V-8 with Landaulet par Excellence body]]
The '''Rolls-Royce V-8''' was a car produced by [[Rolls-Royce Limited|Rolls-Royce]] in 1905 intended to compete with the then popular [[electric car]]s used in towns.<ref>Ludvigsen, Karl. "Bentley's Great Eight", Dalton Watson Fine Books, {{ISBN|978-1-85443-241-4}}</ref>
[[Claude Johnson]], business partner of [[Charles Rolls|C. S. Rolls]] suggested there would be a market for an internal-combustion-engined car that could take on the electric car market. To do this it would have to be silent, vibrationless and smokeless.  The engine would also have to be mounted under the car to give the appearance of a town [[brougham (car body)|brougham]] and so needed to be very shallow.
To compete with early [[electric car]]s, the engine was a completely new design with smoothness and quietness as top priorities, with power a secondary consideration.  Production of the Rolls-Royce V-8 predated by a decade the first [[mass production]] of a V8 engine, by [[Cadillac]], and three years after [[Leon Levavasseur]] built the very first V-8 engine of any type, with his patented, liquid-cooled [[Antoinette 8V]] aviation engine, also pioneering [[petrol direct injection]] for its induction system.
Henry Royce designed the engine in the form of a 90-degree, [[Flathead engine|side-valve]], {{convert|3535|cc|cuin|abbr=on}}, [[V8 engine|V-8]].<ref name=Bird&Hallows /> To reduce fumes the then common drip lubrication was replaced by a pressure system. The power also seems to have been limited to maximise smooth running.<ref name=RRManchester>{{cite book |last=Evans |first=Michael |title=In the Beginning-the Manchester Origins of Rolls-Royce|year=2004 |publisher=Rolls-Royce Heritage Trust|location=Derby, UK |isbn=1-872922-27-9}}</ref>
Two body styles were proposed, a Landaulet par Excellence to attack the town electric market and the Legalimit. In reality, the Legalimit could travel at {{convert|26|mph|1}} but the engine was [[governor (device)|governed]] so as not to exceed the legal speed limit in Britain at the time of {{convert|20|mph|1}}.
The Legalimit had the engine conventionally mounted at the front but under a very low bonnet.  Only one example of the V-8 was sold, a Legalimit (chassis number 40518) to Sir Alfred Harmsworth.  This was later taken back by the factory. All three cars then seem to have been used as works cars or for customer visits.  Rolls ordered three more chassis for delivery in 1906 but there is no evidence these were ever made.<ref name=RRManchester />
Although the car cannot be judged a success, lessons were learned from the engine design that were later used on the six-cylinder models which helped establish the Rolls-Royce name.
The 1905 V-8 is the only car model made by Rolls-Royce of which no example survives.<ref name=Beaulieu>{{cite book |last=Georgano |first=N.  | author-link=G.N. Georgano  |title=Beaulieu Encyclopedia of the Automobile |year=2000 |publisher=HMSO |location=London |isbn=1-57958-293-1}}</ref>  Though none survive, Rolls-Royce at least emerges as the first to conceive of a passenger car designed from the outset as a V-8.
== References ==
{{reflist}}
{{Rolls-Royce}}
[[Category:Rolls-Royce vehicles|V-8]]
[[Category:Cars introduced in 1905]]
[[Category:Brass Era vehicles]]
[[Category:Cars discontinued in 1905]]