Rolls-Royce Antique, Vintage and Classic Parts For Sale

Rolls-Royce History (Continued from top)

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Frederick Royce built his first 'Royce' and gave Charles Rolls exclusive rights to sell it in 1904. They became partners and agreed on the Rolls-Royce name in 1906. In 1931 Rolls-Royce bought their primary competitor, Bentley Motors. In 1971 Rolls-Royce was over extended from developing the RB211 jet engine and England nationalized the company as Rolls-Royce Limited. And in 1973 England sold off the car division so that Rolls and Royce could concentrate on Jet engines.

In 1998 Volkswagen bought Rolls-Royce Motors, consisting of Rolls-Royce and Bently, however, Rolls-Royce Limited (the jet engine makers) sold the name and logo and to BMW. This problem was resolved in 1998 when BMW and Volkswagen agreed that BMW would provide the engines and Volkswagen would build the cars through 2002, and from then on BMW would own Rolls-Royce and Volkswagen would own Bently.