Rolls Royce Silver Shadow

1975 Model

First registered 20th January 1975

Engine: 6,750 cc - V8

Gearbox: Automatic

Performance: Rolls Royce never tended to declare statistics, simply describing their cars' performance as "adequate".

It is believed that the Silver Shadow has a top speed of about 118mph.

History of our Silver Shadow

Our Rolls Royce Silver Shadow, fondly known as the Silver Lady, is a 1975 model and was first registered on the 20th January 1975.

The car was dry stored from 1984 to 2007
and, when the previous owner purchased a hotel in the Highlands, she was
discovered in the garage and was included in the sale.

He took the car to a Rolls Royce trained engineer in Forres and spent in excess of £17,000 re-commissioning the car. This included a complete overhaul of the braking and suspension systems.

A Harvey Bailey handling kit was also fitted which upgrades the suspension and improves the handling and ride comfort.

The recorded mileage when we acquired the car in September 2008 was 8,500 miles although this is not guaranteed. However, we think it could quite possibly be correct judging by the superb original condition of the interior and exterior. Even the jack is still wrapped in its original brown paper and has never been used.

Fact File - Rolls Royce Silver Shadow

The Silver Shadow model was introduced in 1965 and continued in production in various forms, including its "sister" model, the Bentley T, until 1980. Taking into account all the editions of the Rolls Royce model (which included the Camargue and the Corniche) and the Bentley variants, some 38,000 vehicles were produced in total, thus meaning that this was the most successful model ever manufactured by the then Rolls Royce Motors.

The Silver Shadow had a V8 engine originally of 6,230cc, although the capacity was increased to 6,750cc from 1970 onwards. The car's design was radically different from that of the previous model, the Silver Cloud. The company had come in for some criticism that the Silver Cloud was old fashioned, both in appearance and in technical specification, and the Silver Shadow was designed to counter this. Hence, the external appearance was brought up to date with a more contemporary body style and the vehicle was the first Rolls Royce model to incorporate monocoque construction rather than having a separate chassis.

Other technical improvements were the introduction of dual-circuit disc brakes and also independent rear suspension as opposed to the live rear axle previously fitted to the Silver Cloud. In fact, much work was done by Rolls Royce engineers to achieve a very high standard of ride quality, this including the incorporation of a high-pressure hydraulic suspension self-levelling system which was obtained under license from Citroën.

As well as the Silver Shadow saloon, a 2-door fixed head coupé was introduced in 1965 and, 2 years later, a convertible version was added to the line-up. These were the Corniche models. Although production of the Silver Shadow ceased in 1980, the Corniche coupé continued until 1982 and the convertible right through to 1996.