The Rolls-Royce Twenty was Rolls-Royce's "small car" for the 1920s, produced from 1922 to 1929 alongside the 40/50 Silver Ghost and the successor to the 40/50, the

Phantom Phantom, phantoms, or the phantom may refer to: * Spirit (metaphysics), the vital principle or animating force within all living things ** Ghost, the soul or spirit of a dead person or animal that can appear to the living Aircraft * Boeing Phanto ...

. It was intended to appeal to owner-drivers but many were sold to customers with

chauffeur A chauffeur () is a person employed to drive a passenger motor vehicle, especially a luxury vehicle such as a large sedan or a limousine. Initially, such drivers were often personal employees of the vehicle owner, but this has changed to s ...

Engineering

A new

inline-6 A straight-six engine (also referred to as an inline-six engine; abbreviated I6 or L6) is a piston engine with six cylinders arranged in a straight line along the crankshaft. A straight-six engine has perfect primary and secondary engine balanc ...

cylinder overhead valve engine was designed for the car of 3127 cc with a bore of 76 mm and stroke of 114 mm. Unlike the Silver Ghost engine, the cylinders were cast in one block and the cylinder head was detachable. Both coil and magneto ignition were fitted. The early cars had 3-speed

manual gearbox A manual transmission (MT), also known as manual gearbox, standard transmission (in Canadian English, Canada, British English, the United Kingdom and American English, the United States), or stick shift (in the United States), is a multi-speed ...

es with the change lever in the centre of the car, but this changed in 1925 to a four-speed unit with traditional right-hand change. The power was transmitted to the rear axle via a standard propeller shaft with a universal joint at each end. The substantial chassis had rigid front and rear axles suspended by half-elliptic springs, with braking initially only on the rear wheels. Four-wheel brakes with mechanical servo were introduced in 1925. The famous Rolls-Royce radiator with triangular top was fitted, and early examples had enamel-finished horizontal slats, later changing to a nickel finish and finally becoming vertical. In 1920 a chassis cost £1100 with, typically, a complete tourer-bodied car costing around £1600. With coachwork to the factory recommended weight the car could reach , but many owners had large limousine bodies fitted, with the inevitable detrimental effect on performance.

Bodywork

Only the chassis and mechanical parts were made by Rolls-Royce. The body was made and fitted by a

coachbuilder A coachbuilder manufactures bodies for passenger-carrying vehicles. The trade of producing coachwork began with bodies for horse-drawn vehicles. Today it includes custom automobiles, buses, Coach (bus), motor coaches, and passenger car (rai ...

selected by the owner. Some of the most famous coachbuilders who produced bodies for Rolls-Royce cars are Barker,

Park Ward Park Ward was a British coachbuilder founded in 1919 which operated from Willesden in North London. In the 1930s, backed by Rolls-Royce Limited, it made technical advances which enabled the building of all-steel bodies to Rolls-Royce's high st ...

, Thrupp & Maberly, Mulliner and

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. A torque tube is not used to transmit the power to the rear axle - this was the case with the 40/50 (Silver Ghost) chassis. In the case of the venerable 20 hp, the power was transmitted through the medium of a standard propeller shaft connected by a universal joint at each end.

Movie appearances

'' The Battle of the Sexes'' (1959), '' The Abominable Dr. Phibes'' (1971), '' Candleshoe'' (1977), etc.Internet Movie Cars Database: Rolls-Royce Twenty in Movies and TV series
/ref> File:Rolls-Royce 20 HP 1924.jpg, Rolls-Royce Twenty 1924 File:Rolls-Royce 20 HP Landaulette 1925.jpg, Rolls-Royce Twenty Landaulette 1925 File:Rolls-Royce 20 HP.jpg, Rolls-Royce Twenty File:Rolls-Royce 20 HP Drophead Coupe 1927.jpg, Rolls-Royce Twenty Drophead Coupé 1927 File:Rolls-Royce Drophead Coupe 1927.jpg, Rolls-Royce Twenty Drophead Coupé 1927 File:Rolls-Royce Drophead Coupe 1927 2.jpg, Rolls-Royce Twenty Drophead Coupé 1927

References

External links

{{Rolls-Royce Twenty 1920s cars Rear-wheel-drive vehicles