(Reader’s note: This article bears my attempt to use proper Queen’s English, so it’s best read in an upper-class British accent) The 1965-80 Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow is sometimes called The Everyman’s Rolls-Royce. Its £23k original price might say otherwise (ca. 1979, inflation adjusted to £108k today; $69k U.S. MSRP, adjusted to $280k in 2022). The Silver Shadow may have been a democratizing development, in hindsight relative to the models it superseded, but new ownership was still only attainable by the peerage, gentry and others with sufficient old or new money. The car presented here is just such a latter case of new money, having been originally owned by an American country and western music star. Such ownership probably caused many Old World Rolls owners to roll their eyes, but Messrs. Rolls and Royce, when living, were surely glad to make a sale anywhere they could and the firm bearing their name gladly continued that tradition.
The Silver Shadow has been covered here at Curbside Classic a number of times, though surprisingly a profile last year by Tatra87 was the first full CC treatment. Since he did not have the benefit of photographing his car with full access in full sunlight, it’s a subject worth revisiting if only to look at the pictures of this lovely specimen.
I had originally contemplated doing a write up on the above Series I car, which I found a couple of years ago abiding in front of its estate, as a perfect example of the Everyman’s Rolls. It was strictly a 20-footer and ultimately I felt if that article should be written, I would wait for a better vehicle. Well, that vehicle came along, but in the meantime Tatra wrote his full treatment, which takes a little pressure off me to provide every detail. Therefore, this article while still lengthy, will just be hitting some highlights of Rolls-Royce history and the tale of the Shadow. Please refer back to his article if you’re interested enough to want a fuller history.
1906 Silver Ghost
On Rolls-Royce model naming:
From early in the marque right up to the present, Rolls-Royce has had dreadfully evocative model names. It started with the spectral: Ghost, Wraith, Phantom; proceeded a tad more optimistically to the atmospheric: Dawn, Cloud; finally rather hitting on both themes with Shadow.
From 1904, as with other high-end cars from the Full Classic era, Rolls-Royce sold chassis and other firms provided bespoke bodies, at least from the cowl back. Rolls didn’t originally give their cars names, just appellations based on the horsepower of the car (e.g. 20 h.p., 40-50 h.p.). One particular 1906 40-50 h.p. performed heroically in public endurance tests and did much to cement the reputation of Rolls-Royce as a builder of unsurpassed automobiles. This car was nicknamed the Silver Ghost (it was monochromatically painted silver) and subsequent 40-50 h.p. models were colloquially called Silver Ghosts until a new 40-50 h.p. 1925 model received Roll’s first official name, the New Phantom. Though no Rolls-Royce was officially called Ghost until the current model (from 2010), that 1906 Silver Ghost is the origin of the Silver prefix used on most of their models from 1946-98, whether actually painted silver or not.
1949 Silver Dawn
On Silver Shadow predecessors:
If such a rarified conveyance as a Rolls-Royce could be said to be going “mainstream”, it started in 1949-55 with the Silver Dawn, their first car that was sold with a full standardized body and intended to be primarily owner-driven. It was originally only sold as a left-hand-drive export model, later expanded to the domestic (U.K.) market.
1955 Silver Cloud
In 1955 the Cloud came in after the Dawn, which makes as much sense meteorologically as it does denominationally. It was marginally larger (but virtually matched kerb weight), much refined mechanically, and was very much improved, appearance-wise. Second to none in Rolls-Royce styling, I’d say. A tasteful combination of traditional stately air and curvaceous lines, with righteous proportions for a high-end luxury saloon. By the standards of the time, it did not have excessive amounts of adornment or embellishment beyond the slightly anachronistic trademark grille, essentially unchanged since the 1920’s.
1966 Silver Shadow
While contemporary, the Silver Cloud in 1955 could hardly have been considered cutting edge modern. Rolls’ resistance to styling fads of the time helped the Cloud to age reasonably well over its decade of production (and it still looks good today), but to 1965 eyes, it surely looked positively antediluvian. And as one of the world’s most expensive cars, even respecting the firm’s long established conservatism, the Rolls-Royce was badly in need of more modern mechanicals.
So, Rolls-Royce took a giant step into the modern era in 1965 with their new Silver Shadow, though they would continue the Cloud for one more year and the Cloud-based Phantom VI limousine until 1990.
Rolls-Royce did their utmost to uphold the honour of The Spirit Of The Ecstasy while keeping up with the times, making their cars reasonably competitive in specifications, and most importantly providing the expected craftsmanship par excellence.
To that end, the new car was several inches smaller in every outward dimension, yet larger in passenger and baggage space with a bigger petrol tank. This achievement was largely possible because the old separate chassis was superseded by a monocoque structure with front and rear subframes. The Cloud’s leaf-sprung live axle was replaced by an all-independent coil-sprung suspension, with hydraulic leveling system fore and aft. The servo-assisted drum brakes dating to the 1920’s were replaced by four-wheel discs power assisted by the same two hydraulic pumps powering the leveling system.
Naturally, the most obvious change was the car’s shape, on which designer John Blatchley and company laboured, rather successfully, to replace one iconic, classic design with another. Where the Cloud was tall and curvaceous, the Shadow was lower, straight-edged and by 1960’s standards could be considered austerely orthodox. What may appear plain at first glance is quite pleasing upon extended viewing and the design restraint helped it maintain consumer demand for 15 years with no body changes in saloon form, and 15 years beyond that in fixed head or drop head Corniche form (that would be coupe or convertible to the masses). The side profile here shows the windscreen is quite upright, even for the 60’s.
The Rolls-Royce grille was significantly modified for the first time in many decades. While still the world’s least subtle grille, the shorter styling was more befitting on the new car.
The Flying Lady remained alighted upon the prow, delighting in the draught, as she had since 1911.
Underneath the bonnet, forward-hinged rather than centre-hinged for the first time, there lies an engine. You might be forgiven for doubting it, as all one sees on this 1980 model is an abstruse mass of tubing, wiring and componentry. Underneath, however, is a 6.75 litre vee-8 powerplant making an adequate amount of power. Rolls-Royce felt it indiscrete to be specific about that power, and you would be as well even for asking (psst, it was about 189h.p.). It was a curious practice for a firm that originally named its models by their power numbers.
The engine, which dated to 1959, gained 0.52 litres in 1970 and stayed that displacement not only through the Silver Shadow’s run, but also for subsequent Rolls models through 1998 and Bentleys through 2020. Of course, by then the original engine was highly upgraded, and in late Bentley twin-turbocharged form made a more-than-adequate 530h.p. (while using less petrol), which Bentley had none of Roll’s modesty in publicizing. The carburetters wouldn’t be cast aside in favour of fuel-injection until 1986.
I found the two-tone green paint colour appealing, but the interior of a well-kept Rolls-Royce is truly the part that beckons one. The thick wool carpet. The rich, soft leather. The very, very real wood. A Rolls-Royce interior is one of the few places where a consumer product’s quality is virtually free from compromise. The design may not have been as sophisticated or developed as some German or American alternatives, but in terms of quality and craftmanship: superlative.
Though the interior is luscious, one thing strikes me as incongruous. The steering wheel is so spartan it would look at home in a panel van. It is an almost jarringly unpretentious feature on the most grandiose of cars.
The one part of the subject car that isn’t in immaculate condition is obvious in the photos. The owner plans to have those front seats redone, but to do so properly in a Rolls-Royce is not as simple as dropping it off at the nearest auto upholstery shop. This car deserves only the finest materials and workmanship.
One unique Rolls feature was front door armrests which are adjustable up and down.
This Rolls has obviously been an owner-driven car because the right rear seat looks practically untouched. The seats are comfortable, but don’t compress as much as one might expect. Almost, but not quite, Teutonic.
The advent of the Series II of the Silver Shadow in 1977 brought an extensively revised facia, which would continue to be used in the Silver Spirit. That ostentatiously plain steering wheel was clearly intentional as it was actually a new design with the Series II. The old wheel was similar, but the new one was safer for having a deeper set hub. The wheel would be used through 1989, its replacement arguably less attractive. Rolls did have a sporty, wood-rimmed wheel they put in Corniches at the time of this car.
With the new facia came an updated automatic refrigeration system with new two-zone temperature control. The two zones are divided upper and lower, rather than left and right as seen in many modern cars.
If you are ever unfortunate enough to be stuck in a boot, you could only hope you find yourself in this commodious, wool-carpet-trimmed boot-extraordinaire. It’s even better for golf clubs.
Though prodigiously priced when new, the Silver Shadow was the highest-selling Rolls model before or after. The roughly 25,000 produced from 1966-1980 was about triple the Silver Cloud (1955-65) and well over double the Silver Spirit (1981-1997). This level of supply has long made the price of used Shadows well within reach of the yellow mustard crowd. As seen in the second photo here, residents of homes both large and small could aspire to Rolls-Royce ownership. Of course, keeping them roadworthy was another matter. The big car with the little home hadn’t been registered in a couple of years, and several months later it could no longer be seen there, so one could only guess that perhaps its repair needs got beyond the owner’s capability to handle.
For purists, the elephant in the room, or rather on the body, is of course the large energy-absorbing bumpers found on Series II cars (and U.S. bound Series I cars since 1973). Putting aside the practical consideration that they could potentially save an owner some very expensive body work, the questions arise of how much they mar the original styling and does it matter. As seen in the 1966 picture above, the original chrome bumpers were much more elegant looking. That’s undeniable. Also undeniable, the new bumper design Rolls came up with would look equally at home on an AMC Matador (OK, Ambassador since we are talking high class cars here). It seems as if they could have come up with something a bit more eminent, though I’m not sure exactly what that would look like.
I believe obsession about bumpers misses the bigger picture. The view from the august insides is the same and most people looking at the outside don’t look far beyond the grille. Prospective owners off-put by the battering rams could look for an early car, but that would foreclose a large universe of excellent available prospects and deny one the benefit of the many improvements over the years, especially the rack and pinion steering in Series II cars that is said to have made a huge difference in drivability. Unlike American cars of the period, there is little difference in the acceleration and fuel economy (such as they were!) between early and later Shadows.
I found it hard to criticize this green beauty, as in person it is quite enthralling. One hardly notices the bumpers. It’s very road-worthy, original and has only traversed 55k magnificent miles. This flying lady is living out her purpose in life when she hits the road, bringing smiles to the driver, passengers and just about anybody who sees it. The owner drives it to work regularly, though not daily. He finds it a thoroughly comfortable and easy-to-drive car.
It could be said that the chaps at Crewe set about to create the finest motorcar available for purchase, in the broadest sense. One could and should question the degree to which they succeeded, whether the car saved or doomed the company, and whether original buyers were getting the best value for their very considerable outlay. What seems unquestionable, though, is that today a well-preserved Silver Shadow makes a singularly charismatic and fun collector car.
photographed March 2, 2022 in Houston, TX
related reading:
CC Biography/Design: John Blatchley of Rolls-Royce by Don Andreina
Curbside Classic: 1975 Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow – Nothing Shines Like A Shadow by Tatra87
Vintage R&T Road Test: 1979 Rolls Royce Silver Shadow II by Yohai71
Also, on 7/28/22 I ran a Vintage Road Test article on the original 1966 Silver Shadow
I just have never, ever been able to feel anything for RR cars. And because the Brits can screw up a wet dream, I refuse to fly on aircraft with RR engines.
Unimpressive. The styling is Ed Anderson. The interior might be real wood, but it looks homemade and mismatched compared to a ’65 Chrysler. Underhood is any big car, except for the dashpot in the middle that tries to Think Of England.
I recall Ralph Stein saying that the styling of the Silver Shadow had been cribbed from the ’55 Nash Ambassador. The earlier Silver Cloud is often said to have been copied from the ’41 Packard Clipper.
I like it. Even the vinyl topped one at the beginning. The image to me is MB 280SE 4.5 on steroids. A little dowdy but not clownish. Obviously can’t go wrong with a V8 of adequate power, not for you to question. And the interior is like sitting in the club but with scenery rushing by.
What has always confused me a little is exactly what is it that makes these expensive to operate for someone with a modicum of talent and experience? There can’t be anything too complex about the engine, the transmission is GM, and I suppose the suspension and interior might be a bit fiddly but with today’s internet anything’s possible.
I’d forgotten than 1980 was the last year for these. I always give them another decade or so for some reason. Maybe I consider the styling timeless-ish? Or time +10 anyway. A Rolls shouldn’t look “modern”, the same way some struggle with current Jaguar styling that lost its (traditional) way somewhat.
Carry on.
Sounds like you’re ready to step up and trade in the Jag for one of these. “Project Silver Shadow”. What could go wrong?
I hear that “project” ones are going for pence.
The similarly bodied Corniche was built up to 1995 so that might explain the impression that they were longer lived than they were.
According to the UK magazine Practical Classics, the Silver Shadow is actually a viable DIY proposition since apart from the suspension hydraulics everything is simple mechanical and electrical systems and the owner’s club has excellent technical support including service tools. Most of the cost with a Rolls is dealer labor or labour so if you do your own work parts are no worse than an old Mercedes. As with many old vehicles the problems and the costs are in the bodywork if it’s rusty or collision damaged,
The suspension is from Citroen as is the braking system its not complicated but genuine RR parts for it are expensive though the equivalent Citroen parts are not, RR never sold its car with the power output advertised those figures are taxable horsepower based on capacity not brake horse power.
Are you sure about the suspension being from Citroen? I thought I’d read that it is a much different system from theirs in that it is not an active suspension. It has a delay built in so it only responds to changes in load, not to road conditions.
Not necessarily, since the power numbers were taxable horsepower numbers based on a Royal Auto Cub or SAE formula that didn’t tell you much more than the number of cylinders and the cylinder bore dimensions. (In the early days, the formula DID at least approximate engine output, but after about 1925, it mostly just reflected how much the car was going to cost to run.)
I had a 1977 RR Bentley T2 that I wished I’d never sold, but I did. Truth be told and don’t come for me (or do, I can take it). It’s really not much different a ride than my 1980 Seville.
That is interesting. The 1980 Seville is often criticized for trying to look like a classic Rolls-Royce. So it seems that the car does appeal to people who like RR’s.
Which would you say drives better? Which has a more comfortable interior?
The Bentley T2 was all around better. The quality, the fit and finish, the ride too. But they were still very similar to me and that’s why I posted what I did.
The Seville has comfortable leather (and vinyl combination) seats that are meh quality, The Bentley had comfortable luscious leather seats of superior quality. The Bentley had gorgeous burl walnut dashboard, the Seville has a beautiful walnut grained…plastic dashboard. The Bentley had odd switches scattered here and there, the Seville has odd switches scattered here and there.
Here’s where they are noticeably different. When my T2 “failed to proceed” aka broke down it was a harrowing, and expensive, experience. Find the parts, pay for the parts, pay for the mechanic. Repeat. The Seville (mine is a 1980 5.7L Gasoline California car) doesn’t really break down. Since it’s older and so few are on the road now I actually get MORE thumbs up, cool car comments than I did with the Bentley. Probably because it’s more approachable and rooted in peoples history here than the Bentley.
In the end when I got my T2 I was surprised how underwhelmed I was with it, despite it being SUPER comfortable and flashy. My Seville is also SUPER comfortable and flashy in perhaps a tackier way.
Your Seville looks great! I like the two tone color, the standard hubcaps rather than fake wire wheel caps and the metal roof. As I understand it, if you are going to have that generation of Eldo or Seville, 1980 is the year to have since it’s the only one with the Caddy 368 without V8-6-4.
I’ve never loved the bustleback, but I don’t hate it either. What it lacks in quality compared to a Rolls, it makes up for in ease of ownership.
First, thank you for the compliment. The car is in great shape, especially for 42 years old and only 85K miles. I looked specifically for the 5.7L gas, specifically for the reliability reason. The horror stories of the Diesel, the V8,6,4 the HT4100. Yikes!
Love for the bustleback. I was one that DID love it when it came out, but I was also 11 years old.
Now I own one. I look at it often, smirk, and think WTF were they thinking?
Adam from Rare Classic Cars & Automotive History on YouTube did a very thorough discussion a few weeks ago on the 1st generation Seville with Wayne Cady and promised one upcoming on the 2nd gen Seville (Bustleback) and maybe we can find out, indeed, WTF they were thinking!
The 1981 cylinder deactivation was simple to deactivate and usually was.
FWD wire wheel covers just look awful to me, but they were on easily 90% of those Seville/Eldos. The car always looks undertired yet without the Ben Hur chariot effect.
Ever since I was a child, I’d thought of a Rolls or Bentley as the very nicest possible version of a full-size American car.
Someone once commented that this generation of Rolls and the one that followed had the exact same styling as a Lada. I’ve never been able to unsee that.
The Shadow can be forgiven a certain commonality with the Fiat 124 sedan, designed around the same time and subject to many of the same influences albeit for very different market segments, but then it happened with the reskins in 1981, and Comrade Broughamsky the formal-grilled VAZ-2107 underscored it.
The interior is very appealing, as is its relatively narrow and tall body dimensions. The problem is that flashy pimp-mobile grille out front. If I had one, I’d remove the grille and remodel the front end with a very generic junkyard grille. Do the reverse of what so many thousands did with their RR-grille kits. How about a ’65 Ford Galaxie grille out front?
I think you just described a Checker.
Not quite. The whole point is to do a reverse RR-grill kit thing: a genuine RR with a generic grille.
Maybe a Checker grille on the RR? That might work.
Why no such disparagement of Mercedes-Benz grilles? Oh I forgot. They look like Hyundais, now! 🙂 🙂
I’m not disparaging the original; it’s quite lovely. I’m disparaging all the endless copies, from the kits to the ones put on Continentals and such. It’s created a lot of baggage for the poor thing. So I’d just like to lighten its cultural load and drive a RR without the most obvious symbol of the marque.
How many people would recognize it as a RR with a generic front end?
The Bentley grilles are a little more streamlined and a tad less ostentatious. But I like your idea and I get the 65 Galaxie reference!
Yes, the grille is a bit much, but is it so much worse than the ridiculously exaggerated badging and chintzy bling tacked onto most modern *UV’s (I’m looking at you Genesis)? Really, the grille is the only feature that’s at all showy. Compare this to yesterday’s Town Car (with its obvious knock-off grille, even) and this is a model of chaste restraint. I even like the color.
Why don’t you just buy the Bentley version?
Still way too obvious. It needs to look like a generic American car from the 60s.
Ooh! Ooh! I know: ’60 Valiant. The headlamp bezels are similar enough that the grille probably wouldn’t reject them.
Paul, I beg to differ but I do like the way you think. 🙂
Rolls Royce grille on a genuine Rolls? No problem.
Rolls imitation grille on almost anything else? Bleeeeeech!
A lawyer in my small southeastern Ohio town bought a new Silver Shadow in the early 1970s. Naturally, it was silver. He parked it on the street when he was in his office, so I had the opportunity to look it over pretty well. Once the novelty wore off, I thought it was a pretty ordinary-looking car. New Impalas, Galaxies & Furies were much sexier!
The appropriate front end to graft on might be that of a VW Beetle. What’s good for the goose…
I had that same thought a few minutes after I wrote that comment. It might be a bit of a stretch, to make it fit.
One of Road and Track’s cartoonist/illustrators drew exactly that sometime in the ’90s (or before and it was rerun then).
I seem to remember people putting Rolls-Royce grilles on Beetles in the 70’s.
“Seem to”? They were everywhere in LA at the time. Elsewhere too, undoubtedly.
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/blog/cc-cohort/cohort-outtake-mini-rolls-has-lost-its-grille/
That was my point…there must be an enormous stockpile of Beetle front ends somewhere in the SoCal area…
It would be a lot easier to find a Bentley.
You obviously missed my point too.
Appreciate the write up and the British accent. I agree the steering wheel looks like it came out of a Beetle. I also believe that the bumpers look completely generic, no pizzaz or flash at all. Incongruous with the rest of the car.
I liked the Rolls’ back in the sixties with the long flowing fenders and the upright bonnet, like in your photo of a ’55. Silver Shadow, Silver Ghost, who knows what they were called. The lineage of models was so similar through the years it was hard to keep track unless you had one.
This one would look more at home on an estate property, not on a street with visible garbage cans and iron fencing with service vans. Great writeup, nice car.
I’d rather have a similar condition same year Lincoln Town Car instead.
The LTC rode better & quieter inside, was more reliable and less expensive when it did need repairs, had just as gorgeous of an interior, and the #HVAC quickly and quietly tamed any extreme weather condition in the USA.
I came here to point out that the two best things about these RR came from the GM parts bin – the THM400 and the air conditioning system.
Evan, on this we can agree.
Eh, I’m gonna need a judge’s ruling on these claims…
The 1980 LTC may have been cheaper to repair being as it’s basically the same as a million taxicabs but that’s a poor reason to choose a luxury car.
And I’m sorry but a 1980 Lincoln Town Car does not feature an interior in any way comparable to that of a Rolls Royce. There’s a lot of lipstick on/in the TownCar that melts away quite quickly.
LOLnope!
Fewer repairs that cost more…more repairs that cost less…heads you lose; tails you lose.
I don’t mean to suggest an ’80 Rolls is a particularly dependable or inexpensive-to-fix car, but.
I like to try out this one or Bentley T2 one day if opportunity is available. For some reasons, I found it is very beautiful car, the beauty you can not find from Big Three, Mercedes and Jaguar. I assume they were very well put together and have excellent workmanship. Its size is also right by today’s standard. Another luxury car we don’t mention often is Toyota Century, I read somewhere it was built on much more custom fashion by Toyota craftsmen inits special shop. You can get a JDM used one from as low as $8,000 in US soil. I think if RR is Rolex, Century is Grand Seiko.
I also think the Bentley grill looks much better, I have seen a few body coloured painted Bentley grills with chrome slats on T2s and they look really sleek.
Along with G Poon, I also wondered why there isn’t the same vitriol inflicted on the equally and intentionally prominent Mercedes grill.
Like your Toyota Century / Grand Sekio analogy, spot on, only just discovered the Century and it fascinates me. I think the Silver Shadow and the Century are similar in so many ways.
Both Century and Gand Seiko looks very plain, I guess that is what Japanese upper class like. In my own opinion, they could do better looking job. How about getting Zen design theme? Instead Century (previous generation, the one we can get here) looks like mid 1970s Chevrolet and Ford although it was built with craftsman standard. Gand Seiko follows the same way. In first glance it is undistinguished look of $200 Japanese watch.
I like both RR and Mercedes gills, they are instantly recognizable. Gill-less design just doesn’t have the upper class looks, just look at Criteon car since late 50s.
I have always found these quite appealing. But then I have always liked large, comfortable and lots of cubic inches.
You remind me that a Porsche dealer down the street from my office has been parking a later Rolls up front – I checked their website, and it is a 1994 Silver Spur III sedan. 67k miles and only $24k! In today’s market, that’s a lot of car for $24k. But then I start thinking of my 63 Cadillac experience and can only imagine how an old Rolls Royce would turn the expensive old luxury car ownership thing up to hyperdrive.
The Silver Spurs are much less appealing somehow. They look fat and dumpy in comparison. Not elegant at all.
It can’t help but look elegant when surrounded by Porsches in the dealer lot. 🙂
I’m going to ask a weird question. RR kept its ignition switch on the far left side for many years, including well after 1970. How did they manage the Federal regulations concerning steering wheel blocking? I guess there are other cars with the same issue (perhaps a 911?). Of course, there could be a starter switch activated solenoid or something complicated like that.
Saab managed, too, with their floor-mount ignition switches. So did Volvo, ’73-up, with their dashboard-mounted ignition switches. I’m sure there are more examples, too. It can be done with a solenoid; that’s not difficult. It can be done with a linkage or a cable—also not difficult. Either approach is a bit more costly than putting the switch on the column itself, but in a Rolls, that’s not an obstacle.
Thanks! I had forgotten Saab, the most obvious one.
I might be wrong, but I thought that SAAB decided to implement the US anti-theft rules by using a transmission lock instead of a steering lock. This necessitated the relocation of the ignition switch to the console, beside the transmission. The key could only be removed if the transmission were in reverse. I do not think that the steering was locked, at least in the 99 when it was first done.
You might be right about that; MVSS № 114 requires vehicles to be configured such that removing the ignition key prevents the normal activation of the vehicle’s engine or motor; and the vehicle’s steering and/or forward self-mobility.
This is a lovely car in a particularly fine colour combination. I’d happily have a ride, or even a test drive, but I wouldn’t want to be the one paying for insurance, upkeep, and repairs.
I also think the Bentley grill looks much better, I have seen a few body coloured painted Bentley grills with chrome slats on T2s and they look really sleek.
Along with G Poon, I also wondered why there isn’t the same vitriol inflicted on the equally and intentionally prominent Mercedes grill.
Like your Toyota Century / Grand Sekio analogy, spot on, only just discovered the Century and it fascinates me. I think the Silver Shadow and the Century are similar in so many ways.
Mmmmmm….Grand Seiko.
I’d have a hard time choosing between a Spring Drive Snowflake, a Hi-Beat, or even a quartz.
I am familiar with one upscale New Orleans family who loved their Bently, RR, Jaguar and other British cars.
They also kept an older Cadillac or Lincoln as their “back up car” for the all too often times the Brit “failed to proceed” out of their garage or driveway.
One Brit car in particular proved to be SO unreliable and trouble prone that their maid flat out refused to ever drive the car to the grocery store or dry cleaner; after getting locked in, with it failing to crank over/start, without any air conditioning, for 3 hours on a hot & humid New Orleans August day, unable to unlock/open the doors or roll down the power windows.
(I could pizz of Paul by making my usual royalty joke about Sir Lucas and nighttime conditions……but I won’t.)
A lovely car to look at, inside and out. A beautifully subtle two-tone. Stately and impressive, (outside the US, at least).
You make a good point about the steering wheel, which I had not considered before. I guess the Rolls-Royce driver does not require anything as gauche as an emblem on the hub to remind one which vehicle one is driving today, but surely such a primary control device could (and should) have been fashioned from suitably-superior materials? That plastic thing looks as though it belongs in the under-scullery-maid’s Mini, minus the M for Morris on the horn button. While I am prepared to admit that perhaps Rolls-Royce plastics had some suitably subtly redeeming qualities, the look is unfortunate. I wonder whether, if an enquiry had been made in period, the Firm would have furnished a suitably superior contrivance? Or would Sir need to approach a coachbuilder for that? Please do not even mention (shudder!) Halfords, not even in jest…..
And I’d say you got the Queen’s English down pat; this Aussie didn’t notice anything out of place.
Thank you! I watch just enough British TV and read just enough Sherlock Holmes to kind of get it. And I will say that I find Aussies to be very well spoken, they generally use the language very effectively and skillfully.
I don’t suspect the steering wheel was lacking in quality in any way. I’ve never seen one discolored or cracked. It’s just really plain, You might look at the links I put in the steering wheel section. The newer wheel does have a logo on it. The Corniche wheel is much more suitable for a Rolls. I’ll bet enough money would have gotten one installed on a Shadow.
If you don’t get the RR steering wheels, then you just don’t get what these cars were about. It’s a very carefully crafted image that combines tradition and understatement. That wheel is the equivalent of a traditional dark Saville Row suit. The RR grille wasn’t ostentatious in its original setting; it was just traditional. And it let everyone know instantly what it was.
It’s the rest of the world that made the RR grille ostentatious and pretentious.
What would you have had the steering wheel look like? A Cadillac wheel made from cheap plastics with heraldic crests embossed in it? Perish the thought.
No doubt to English eyes in the 60s/70s the steering wheels looked a lot different than to modern and American eyes. I’m sure they were seen as appropriate to that car. Even the early Corniches, though, came with a snazzier wheel, suitable for the more outre lifestyle of someone who would drive a drophead or coupe.
I think Mercedes steering wheels in the 60s were sublime. Just the right combination of tasteful and premium. Not flashy, but clearly befitting a luxury car.
This is my favorite RR product, and I mean THIS, the demure sedan, not the overly showy Corniche derivative. It’s the sweet spot between it’s antiquated predecessors and the nondescript, GM-looking Silver Spirit. Don’t even get me started on what I think of current offerings, maybe vulgar is an apt description.
At one time both “R”s on the grille were red signifying Rolls & Royce were alive.
Charles Royce died in a July, 1910 plane crash, hence one red and one black “R” on the grille’s emblem.
After Henry Royce died in April 1933, both “R”s were black.
I saw a Rolls with one black and red “R”, I believe at the Henry Ford Museum.
I see I’m not alone in my belief that the steering wheel belongs on a Morris or Austin.
And if I’m paying RR money, the gear lever needs to be on the floor.
Or at least on the proper (left) side of a RHD steering column.
Exactly the kind of car I could see being driven by the characters of Audrey Forbes-Hamilton as the second household vehicle in the BBC sitcom of the same name (“To The Manor Born”), parked in front of her “rustic” cottage situated on the grounds of her former estate that she no longer owns.
She thought De Vere’s Corniche was too flashy. Her own Rolls sedan looked pre-war but probably wasn’t. There’s an episode in which she has to find the money for its repair or sell it, and now I can’t remember the ending.
She answered her telephone “Grantly Manor…Lodge.”
Speaking of telephones, the steering wheel looks like the same dense, sturdy material my grandmother’s 1940 phones where made of. They were leased from AT&T, who took them back c. 1980, put in modern electronics, and resold them for well over a hundred dollars.
This Rolls looks so good in green with a brown interior. I have never ridden in, or driven a Rolls Royce but I did entertain a thought about having one as a hobby car. I would probably be quite self conscious about driving one. I expect that onlookers would imagine that the owner is a car enthusiast and it is a hobby car, rather than they are are a scion of old money.
Of course the Rich can do as they please, and they can drive what they choose. I suppose that many established families don’t feel the need to impress the masses and would rather drive something understated and unremarkable.
From what I have read, while the cars and components are of high quality, there is a lot of complication in the braking system hydraulics, and parts, as well as knowledgeable technicians can be expensive and hard to find. My experiences with my Jaguars have cured me of most ideas of adopting a high end British car.
Mr Stephenson, with all due respect it’s important to proofread your writing before publishing. It’s ‘Messrs’ not ‘Messers’ and the 40/50 Silver Ghost is from 1907, not 1906. It is fitted with a Roi des Belges body by Barker, the plated fittings are silver plated, and when it was first painted silver, it was necessary to use ground fish scales as metallic paints were not in use at the time. I have ridden in the car, known as AX201, on a few occasions, and it was recently bought by a friend of mine, and will continue to perform as it was originally designed.
Mr Stephenson, with all due respect it’s important to proofread your writing before publishing. It’s ‘Messrs’ not ‘Messers’ and the 40/50 Silver Ghost is from 1907, not 1906. It is fitted with a Roi des Belges body by Barker, the plated fittings are silver plated, and when it was first painted silver, it was necessary to use ground fish scales as metallic paints were not in use at the time. I have ridden in the car, known as AX201, on a few occasions, and it was recently bought by a friend of mine, and will continue to perform as it was originally designed. Additionally, the wood-rimmed steering wheel that was fitted to Corniche was made by Moto Lita, and was only available upon introduction in March 1971 through 1972. No wood-rimmed steering wheels were offered by Rolls-Royce after that, and not in 1980.