Rolls-Royce Jahrestag
100 years of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars

Rolls meets Royce

It was almost exactly 100 years ago, on 4 May 1904 that two gentlemen met in the Midland Hotel in Manchester to talk about motor cars. Charles Rolls was an aristocrat with a passion for cars and an entrepreneurial spirit. He had heard that an exceptionally talented engineer, Henry Royce, was producing motor cars which far exceeded the quality, refinement and reliability of all other marques available at the time - and he wanted to see this Royce car for himself. So impressed was Rolls, both with the motor car and with Henry Royce himself, that he immediately agreed that the two should join forces ... and so one of the greatest names in automotive history was born.

And the history of Rolls-Royce is a truly glorious one, encompassing world speed records on land, on water and in the air, patronage by royal families, heads of state, actors, sports figures, artists, and captains of industry. The company’s success was quite simply an obsession with seeking-out engineering excellence in all its forms. Henry Royce was famous for his words – “Strive for perfection in everything you do. Take the best that exists and make it better. If it doesn’t exist, design it”.

The experimental cars

The ideas that Royce and his team came up with were tested in a variety of ways and in 1919 the first experimental car was built and named 1EX, standing for experimental. The EX models were a feature of Rolls-Royce development for almost 40 years - ending with 45EX in the late 50s. Some EX models evolved into series cars - like the Phantom III for instance (the first V12 Rolls-Royce) - many others did not.

The 100EX

Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Ltd, now situated at Goodwood in the beautiful South of England, lives up to the engineering ideals of Henry Royce as the positive reaction, the new Phantom has received from customers worldwide, proves. An extremely talented design and engineering team created this wonderful car and it was, therefore, decided that the focus of the centenary celebrations should have a strong engineering flavour. So, they focused on a Rolls-Royce experimental car for the 21st century - called 100EX.

The styling of this first Goodwood designed experimental car was developed in California by the Rolls-Royce design team, under the guidance of chief designer Ian Cameron. As with the Phantom, the historical shapes and forms of Rolls-Royce motor cars of the past were considered, but there is an edge to this design which makes it utterly contemporary. And, in the true spirit of Rolls-Royce experimental cars, 100EX is complete with all its systems functional.

The chassis is a lightweight aluminium space-frame - like the Phantom, but with a wheelbase which is 100mm shorter. Overall it is 165mm shorter and 71mm lower than the Phantom. It shares coach doors with the Phantom - hinged at the back - but there are only two of them. There is an interesting boot arrangement too, part of which folds out to create a picnic table, and under the bonnet lies a nine litre, 64 valve, V16 engine.
Despite speculations by media that this is a new series model, waiting in the wings, it isn’t. That’s not to say that some elements of 100EX might not appear on future models – which of course are considered by the company - but this car has been produced, foremost, to celebrate this wonderful moment in Rolls-Royce history. 100EX is proudly presented at the Grand Hotel Villa d’ Este 2004 event in honour of the the 100 year anniversary of Rolls-Royce and the great history of the Concorso d’ Eleganza.

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