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Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow I (one owner)

Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow I (one owner)Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow I (one owner)
Lot number 93
Hammer value £3200
Description Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow I (one owner)
Registration SGT514F
Year 1968
Colour Blue
Engine size 6,230 cc
Chassis No. SRH 3482

History

Launched in 1965, the Silver Shadow was the first 'modern' Rolls-Royce with a monocoque body, aluminium doors, boot and bonnet and no separate chassis. Other innovations included a fully hydraulic braking system, based on Citroen patents, that included four wheel discs, twin circuits and rear self-levelling. Squat and purposeful on the outside but still aristocratically luxurious on the inside, it was perfectly timed to attract the nouveau gentry of the Swinging Sixties who were more likely to have made their money from business, pop or fashion than inheriting it from the ancestors.

Even today, to slip behind the wheel of a well kept Shadow is to enter a different world where every journey is an occasion and the feelgood factor is off the scale. Beautifully crafted, technically advanced and good to drive, it sold like no Rolls-Royce before or since with 37,000 examples rolling from the Crewe production line before it was finally replaced by the Silver Spirit in 1980.

This 1968 Silver Shadow I was put into storage in 1972 with a suspension fault and remained there for the next 35 years until the nephew of its one and only owner decided to retrieve it. He has recommissioned the car and treated it to a full brake and suspension system rebuild and it is now said to drive very well indeed, covering around 1,000 trouble-free miles in the last year.

The paintwork had suffered while in storage and has since been given a blow over, but this is not up to Rolls-Royce standards and the car deserves to have a full respray to restore it to its former glory. Said to be in good condition throughout and to have covered less than 40,000 miles in total, it is due to be driven 200 miles to the sale and will have a fresh MOT before it arrives.

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