BMW Introduces Its First Rolls Royce

There's rich irony in German Ownership of Rolls Royce and Bentley Marques, isn't there?



timber

Actually, why, timber?
(Because Bentley is now a "common people's car" [= Volkswagen]?)

Not so much the "common people's" thing, if at all. I find it an odd juxtaposition of history. Rolls Royce for over a century was almost a symbol of British Aristocratic statement, nearly on a par with The Crown itself. Double-R engineering, and Rolls Royce Engines, in particular, were of major inhibiting influence on German Early-Twentieth Century aspirations. I was thinking more along the lines of "If you can't beat 'em, buy 'em"



timber

Well, that wasn't exactly the point, when the corporation entered bankruptcy on Feb. 4, 1971!

it seems to all be international conglomerates anyway hardly matter what the nameplate says

I'm just as unlikely to buy a R-R or Bentley as I am to buy a BMW/VW, though for completely different reasons.

Now maybe if M-B didn't have the Maybach in the offing, and had had to resort to buying the prestige that their own model ranges weren't capable of I might just see myself in the new Continental.

Ya ain't putting no VW logo on the hood of my Bentley!

That might look pretty snazzy on a VW, though :wink:

It does look nice (actually I've taken some photos myself, but where are they ....):

Man, leave it up to the European for styling. The Japanese may have the reliability, but they are constantly looking to the Euros for inspiration in styling.

Irony file: In WW2, the Spitfire was powered by the Merlin engine, a supercharged SOHC V-12 making anywhere from 1100 (Mk I) to 2050 (Mk XVI) horsepower. It was built by Rolls-Royce. The German Bf-109 was powered by the DB603/605, a turbocharged SOHC inverted V-12 making anywhere from ~1000 (109a) to 2000 (109k) horsepower. It was built by Daimler-Benz.

In addition, the Merlin was modified to power tanks (as the 700HP Pegasus, IIRC), bombers (notably, the de Havilland Mosquito), & torpedo boats. The DB605 powered several verieties of bomber (He-111, He-177), and was cloned to power a Japanese fighter (the Ki-61, codenamed "Tony").

Now, DB owns Rolls-Royce.

Another amusing tidbit is that R-R's first automatic transmission was licensed from General Motors. Having determined the sample and development examples provided by GM for test purposes indeed met RR's performance and reliability requirements, they tooled up to build their own. With typical RR attention to detail and passion for excellence in manufacturing, their version was machined with gleaming, smooth internal channels for fluid circulation, as opposed to the rough and apparently indifferently and cheaply finished manufacturing process employed in the actual GM transmissions. The result was less than satisfactory; the almost microscopically roughened interior surfacing of the circulating channels was not a cost-cutting design cheat, it was necessary to prevent air within the system from coalescing into bubbles and causing the heated, circulating-under-load fluid from foaming, a condition which prevented the transmision from functioning. Adjustments in the manufacturing process followed, as did some embarrassment in RR's design and manufacturing departments.

It was a clone of GM's TH-400, IIRC. I think the cars with the 6.75 litre V8 used GM trannies--first the TH400, then the 4L80E.

And what's up with the dancing thing?

What dancing thing?

The now-gone hamster avatar.

Oh, what the heck ... not to spoil the fun or anything, but that was an April Fool prank ... did you forget what day it was?

BMW don't own the aero engine division of Rolls Royce.
As far as I'm aware that's still in the hands of the parent company Vickers.

Well, the one company is called 'Rolls Royce Motor Cars Limited' [1998
Rolls-Royce Motor Cars was sold by Vickers to Volkswagen, although BMW hold the rights to the name and the marque for use on Rolls-Royce cars, having acquired the rights from Rolls-Royce plc for £40m in 1998. BMW took over responsibility for Rolls-Royce cars from the beginning of 2003], the other 'Rolls-Royce plc' [Allen Gears, Clayton Equipment, Marine Electrical Systems, Powerfield: Energy Solutions, Rolls-Royce Germany, Rolls-Royce North America, Rolls-Royce Power Ventures, Rolls-Royce Singapore, Sourcerer and Syncrolift Inc.].



My original post was just related to the first company.

I always wanted a Rolls!
(I know, not a helpful contribution to the topic, but it needed to be said)!