Downtown, The Loop, Chicago, Illinois.
Monday, July 25, 2016.
Related reading from:
Wordless Outtake: 1977 Rolls Royce Silver Shadow II – Dignity
– Posted on January 27, 2017
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Curbside Classics Archives
Downtown, The Loop, Chicago, Illinois.
Monday, July 25, 2016.
Related reading from:
If ever a photo here could make it completely without narration, this is it. Perfect!
And this? Looking at the origin of the seat leather.
beautiful….
When I was a younger man in my fifties, I swore that I was going to have a Silver Shadow before I was too doggone old to enjoy it. Fortunately I held off. Just the cost of routine maintenance would have put me in the poorhouse. Still, I worship from afar…
“Holy Smoke Jeeves! They turned my old mansion into a bank!”
Diamond in the back
Sunroof top,
Diggin’ the scene with the gansta lean
Gangsta whitewalls, TV antennas in the back
Wait, no antenna.
But maybe he has some Grey Poupon?
Great car, great picture, I bet the driver is having more fun in life than I ever will!
That song is appropriate, as I heard it for the first time on 102.7 FM in Chicago, great car, great song, great radio station!
I don’t see gangsta anything in this picture. But that’s just me.
+1
Me either. I see a man enjoying the comfort of his classic Rolls in front of some beautiful Chicago architecture.
Wrong-sized whitewalls bother me more than they bother many people, but I find these tasteful on the car. I always liked that style of “midi-walls” that was popular for a couple of years either side of 1960, and I think they look good holding up this flying lady.
Nope, Nothing gangsta here, Besides the car in the song is a Cadillac.. And since it would be a great big Cadillac, I pictured a Series 75 when I first heard the record.
Just the thought that popped into my head upon seeing the wide whites on the car…nothing else.
Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.
Oddly I actually didn’t take special note of the WWs, I guess that I sorta expect vintage luxury cars to have them.
Maybe that’s a generational thing ?.
The wide WWs are a few decades too late. Thin WWs would be perfect.
Wide Whites were not “in” during the 60’s and 70’s, so to me, they stand out. I guess to younger folks, anything from before the 80’s would be vintage, but to those of us who lived during that time, it is just another car from our youth. I don’t think the wide whites look bad, either, but they definitely were not as-equipped from Crewe.
Shadows could have been perfect candidate for restomod except for the pneumatic brake and suspension. Great system but unconventional and lacking in performance upgrade parts. Otherwise a LS + tranny transplant and stiffening up the suspension a bit could make the shadow the best of both world.
Fascinating car. You have to see them at 10 cm as well as 10 m to see the depth of the quality. The car *looks* simple but it’s not. It’s so subtle, so serene. The follow up car lost that, resembling a Chevy Caprice.
Very nice. It has a certain sense of civility unmatched by other cars. And the architecture behind it completes the package.
Now, This is what I picture when I hear “Rolls-Royce” Not the pimped out Chrysler 300s they make now. ??
+1.
+100!
This is the last good-looking RR design, marred somewhat by the rubber bumpers but still beautiful. Very nice colour this one has, too. The Spirit that followed still had presence, but looked plain. Then the Seraph went all jelly-bean, and the current cars are just hopeless, like low-slung Humvees with a bigger grille and BMW engines. So long, Rolls-Royce, 1904-1980.
Thanks for posting this pic, Joseph — a work of art in itself!
A variation upon the theme ~ “Carchitecture” ~ Saratoga Springs, NY, 5/15/10….
A car like that should be cruising to George Benson’s Breezin’ on a warm July day. instead of just sitting there.
Love George Benson! Living legend. And this song is totally period correct for this car. If I researched correctly, the Silver Shadow II was produced between 1977 – ’80.
The columns make for a very appropriate backdrop. Nice shot!
You realize you can buy one of those today in the $15-20,000.00 range.
About a year and a half ago, I was sorely tempted with a ’98 Bentley Mulsanne in just-shy-of-mint condition, being offered by its second owner for an asking $30,000.00. Documentation included of the original owner: Billy Joel.
I’m sure that would have been William Joel. 🙂
Wouldn’t you rather have John Voight’s Chrysler convertible?
The periodontist?
I’d rather have Kramer’s Impala, complete with license plate.
Great shot!
Just about perfect.
Thanks, everyone. This is probably the first one I’ve seen in the wild in the 10+ years I’ve lived in Chicago.
And the backdrop? Pure serendipity. 🙂
Bon week-end.
That’s a great photo Joseph. I love the subtle colors and simple design.
How, that’s a great looking car (and beautifully shot photo!). It appears to be lowered?
A few of your regulars will be aware that I am currently being reduced to penury by a ’97 Bentley Turbo R. I do, however, have some previous convictions. I o̶w̶n̶e̶d̶ was in a relationship with this ’79 Shadow 2 for a while in the early nineteen nineties. If I remember correctly, the factory name for the colour was, rather appropriately, Champagne. Never being one to stand on ceremony, I occasionally drove it to the local scrapyard to collect rusty bits for a ’52 Riley RM I was restoring. The Riley ended up costing almost as much as the Roller without being anywhere near as soothing. I still have the mental scars.
Restoring an RM! I am in awe of you, sir. 😉
I was in awe of myself! I’ll post the photos if I can find them. BTW, I’ll never restore another bloody wreck as long as I live. (Screams with anguish at the memory of it all).
Yes, it’s me, le Canard! Some glitch in the system has changed my name to “Undefined”. Either that or I’ve upset somebody in the garden shed at Crewe.
Bizarrely, there have been a few RMs caught in Melbourne by myself and others lately. Planning a writeup on this most sporting-looking saloon but need to learn up on my ABEFs first. Please get in ahead of me if you can write up yours.
Thanks for that, Don. Mine was a 2.5 litre RMB. I’ll try and unearth the photos this weekend. I’ll add these to your own write-up if I may, my excuse being that I was never a Riley expert, merely a hapless idiot who once ended up with one!
Here we go, Don. I shan’t go on too much as this thread’s about Shadows.
Well, you just HAVE to tell us more now, Canard. That’s a magnificent motor, perhaps the best-proportioned British car of the period. More, more, more!
Another great shot Joseph. All round perfect
Had to smile at the name of the (I assume) financial institution: ‘Wintrust’. Yes, I suppose they do have to do that, or they’d have no investors. 🙂
Dammit, I missed an almost obvious joke! ?
They are (as far as I know) a well-established bank in Chicago. My wife’s company used to use them.
Another beautifully composed photo! These cars were so understated, which is a quality lacking in today’s designs. I don’t think I could ever drive a Rolls, it just gets too much attention.
Beautiful car, beautiful shot.
I’m not a big Rolls-Royce fan, but I’ve always loved the Silver Shadow. There’s something defiantly not quite modern about the design, like the way the greenhouse sits on the body, and the almost, but not really blade-like body sides.
It also, in contrast to the Big 3 luxury cars, manages to be both large and taut, a trait it shared with the somewhat smaller Mercedes W108/9.
Beautiful photo.
Whenever I hear the word “Dignity”, I always think of Gene Kelly’s movie career in Singin’ In The Rain…
I am curious how these drive. Like a Mercedes or bmw? Like a Lincoln? Never have ridden in one.
I remember years ago grandma’s neighbor had a white checker with vinal top and dark tint Windows we used to ride in ans pretend was a Rolls Royce. All that car needed was a Lincoln grill and it would have fooled everyone. It looked like a rolls from the back and side.
I do like the looks of the new ones.
However I imagine it probably would be a typical European car with a harsh ride, heavy steering and awful hard seats. And over engineered to the point of stupid.
A Shadow of this era drove like a Lincoln with firmer dampers and more nimble handling. Weight transfer could present a problem if the car was driven too enthusiastically through a series of bends. Steering, at least on the rack and pinion equipped series 2, was both light and accurate. The front chairs were very comfortable in themselves, but overall comfort was slightly marred by the lack of an adjustable steering column; that and seat rake adjustment by ratchet rather than an infinitely variable wheel. Rear seat comfort was unimpeachable. A Jaguar XJ6 rode better. A Mercedes or BMW didn’t. It was no more over-engineered than, say, a pre-war Packard. Or a railway locomotive…
The ride in the Rolls Royce Silver Shadow II is in no way harsh, rather soft, too soft with a poor feeling of the road.
You would only corner too fast once, as it would give you a feeling of sitting in a tall ocean steamer leaning over. This is not nice is such a heavy car.
I have never experienced this any of the Cadillacs and Lincolns I have owned and driven over the years.
Not even in my Continental Mark IV – which is indeed a very soft car to drive.
The steering wheel is unajustable, the power seats will move with the little motors, but in no way as silently and flexable as power seats in any Cadillac or Lincoln from the 1970’s.
Same with the power windows. The low milage Rolls Royce Silver Shadow II I occasionally drove was meticulously maintained indeed, yet I would ask a little prayer, if I rolled the power window down, for it to come up again.
Same thing with the trunk lock. On a bad day it would not lock right, when you tried to close it, The weight of the trunk lid would save you keeping the lid down, so your passengers would not notice.
I learned later that this was a problem in the later model with rectangular headllighst as well.
If the aircondition fails you are in a sweat box.
In any other car I have driven it only means you have to deal with the outside temperature as it is.
In a Rolls Royce the air is heated before it is cooled.
This means that hot air is blown in warmer than outside temperature air, if the system fails.
As you usually sit in a suit and tie whilst driving these cars, you are in for a very hot ride indeed.