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Nicknames for Rolls-Royce cars are Rolls and Roller. The term "The Rolls-Royce of x" has become a way of referring to anything that is the best of its type.
(Note however, that in Derby, headquarters of the aero-engine side, the firm itself is universally known as 'Royce's')
In 1884 Frederick Henry Royce started an electrical and mechanical business. He made his first car, a "Royce", in his Manchester factory in 19041904 is a leap year starting on Friday (link will take you to calendar). Events January 7 The distress signal " CQD" is established only to be replaced two years later by " SOS. February 7 A fire in Baltimore, Maryland destroys over 1,500 buildings in 30. He was introduced to Charles Stewart Rolls in a Manchester hotel on the May 4May 4 is the 124th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (125th in leap years). There are 241 days remaining. Events 1471 Wars of the Roses: The Battle of Tewkesbury Edward IV defeats a Lancastrian Army and kills Edward, Prince of Wales. 1493 Pope Ale that year, and the pair agreed a deal where Royce would manufacture cars, to be sold exclusively by Rolls. A clause was added to the contract, stipulating the cars would be called "Rolls-Royce". The company was formed on March 15March 15 is the 74th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (75th in Leap years). There are 291 days remaining. In the Roman calendar March 15 was known as the Ides of March. Events 44 BC Ides of March: Julius Caesar, General of the Roman Republic, was, 1906. The company moved to Derby in 1908.
The Silver Ghost (1906-1925) was the model responsible for the company's early great reputation. It had a 6-cylinder engine. 6173 were built. In 1921, the company opened a second factory in Springfield, Massachusetts, in the United States to help meet demand there. A further 1701 "Springfield Ghosts" were built there. This factory operated for 10 years, closing in 1931.
During 1931, the company acquired rival car maker Bentley, whose finances were unable to weather the Great Depression. From then until 2002, Bentley and Rolls-Royce cars were often identical apart from the radiator grille and minor details.
The company's first aero engine was the Eagle, built from 1914. Around half the aircraft engines used by the Allies in WW1 were made by Rolls-Royce. By the late 1920s, aero engines made up most of Rolls-Royce's business.
Henry Royce's last design was the Merlin aero engine, which came out in 1935 although he had died in 1933. (This was developed from the R engine, which had powered a record-breaking Supermarine S6B seaplane to almost 400mph in the 1931 Schneider Trophy.) The Merlin was a powerful V12 engine, and was fitted into many WW2 aircraft: the British Hawker Hurricane, Supermarine Spitfire, De Havilland Mosquito (twin-engined), Avro Lancaster (4-engine), Vickers Wellington (2-engine); it also transformed the American P-51 Mustang into possibly the best fighter of its time, its Merlin engine built by Packard under license. Over 160,000 Merlin engines were produced.
Rolls-Royce and Bentley car production moved to Crewe in 1946, as the company started to build bodies for its cars for the first time—previously it had only built chassis, leaving the bodies to specialist coachbuilders. For the rest of the automotive history, see sections below.
In the post- WW2 period Rolls-Royce made significant advances in gas turbine engine design and manufacture. The Dart and Tyne turboprop engines were particularly important enabling airlines to cut journey times within several continents whilst jet airliners were introduced on longer services. The Dart engine was used in Argosy, Avro 748, Friendship, Herald and Viscount aircraft, whilst the more powerful Tyne powered the Atlantic, Transall, Vanguard and the SRN-4 hovercraft. Many of these turboprops are still in service.
Amongst the jet engines of this period was the RB163 Spey which powers the Trident, BAC 1-11, Grumman Gulfstream II and Fokker F28.
During the late 50's and 60's there was a significant rationalisation of the British aero-engine manufacturers, culminating in the merger of Rolls-Royce and Bristol Siddeley in 1966 (Bristol Siddeley had itself resulted from the merger of Armstrong-Siddeley and Bristol in 1959). Bristol, with its principal factory at Filton, had a strong base in military engines, including the Olympus, which was chosen for Concorde. (It is a matter of speculation whether choice of an inherently quieter engine from the civil range would have led to a better reception for Concorde).
Financial problems caused largely by development of the new RB211 turbofan engine led—after several cash subsidies—to the company being nationalized by the Heath government in 1971. (This delay has been blamed for the failure of the technically advanced Lockheed TriStar to succeed in the airliner marketplace, when it was beaten to launch by its competitor, the Douglas DC-10.) In 1973 the automobile business was spun off as a separate entity, Rolls-Royce Motors. The main business of aircraft and marine engines remained in public ownership until 1987, when it was privatized as Rolls-Royce plc, one of many privatizations of the Thatcher government.
In 1980 Rolls-Royce Motor Cars was acquired by Vickers. In 1998 Vickers sold the company on to Volkswagen (see below). A year later Rolls-Royce plc acquired Vickers plc for £576m.
Today Rolls-Royce engines continue to power many of the world's civil and military aircraft and the company has been particularly effective in reducing noise and adverse emissions from its aviation products, anticipating international regulations arising from community campaigns and improved environmental understanding.