Correspondence dated 22 April 1955

Summary

An item from the surviving correspondence of William John Sands.

Historical context

This item forms part of the surviving William John Sands correspondence and is dated 22 April 1955. It is preserved in the William John Sands Family Archive as evidence of Sands’s professional work and relationships. The accompanying transcript was produced by machine OCR and should be checked against the original scan before being treated as a definitive reading.

Catalogue description

Original correspondence scan imported from the Sands and Ferguson family archive. Source file: 19550422a.jpg.

Machine transcript — unreviewed

~ y fe Pafusen Ricarch Led CONTINUATION SHEET NO a wrong place for a number of reasons including:- (a) Tail swing, (b) Distance between controls and engine, (c) Cooling, (d) Restricted luggage space, (e) Heating interior, (f) Dast, It has one tremendous asset over everything else and that is that the weight where it is gives traction on such conditions as icy roads where the ordinary design of car is absolutely wrong. Look, for example, at the Ford Zephyr, the Vauxhall Vel i the ox, and the Austin A.90, which is the worst of the lots They have the engine stuck away out in front and they have to carry all that weight without getting the benefit of it for traction. We have changed all that and yet have the engine where it ought to be. On Tuesday last we were able to eclipse the Volkswagen performance to a far greater degree than the Volkswagen eclipses the others. I quote from your letter:- "I am afraid all this is a bit optimistic but optimism is necessary in any work of a research nature". I cordially agree! I read all you had to say with great interest and I note you will let me have more particulars as soon as you can, Please do so as I am very interested. Now I want to tell you a little more about our transmission so that we might compare notes. All these ordinary hydraulic transmissions are just what the "Autocar" calls them:- "Unwieldy and vastly complicated devices". The acceleration is in a series of jerks as the ge changes whereas, in our case, it is completely progressive