1977 Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow II

Description

This Lot is now On Sale and will be sold to the highest bidder.

Few owners; only 79k miles with 24 services to date, the last only 200 miles ago; over £25k spent in the last six years including full brake system overhaul; new Avon tyres; driven 140 miles to the sale; a proper Shadow with a proper history

As the factory build sheets confirm, this Shadow II left the Crewe factory in June 1977 and was originally finished in Nutmeg Brown with a Tan Everflex roof, Sundym glass, Dark Brown Parkertex Savoy Velvet upholstery, Brown Hide doorcards and Dark Brown carpets. Brown was cool in the Seventies, as older viewers may recall.

The Shadow had been specially ordered seven months previously by Lex Mead of Weybridge for their customer, Mr ID Zender of Milborne Piano Works in Hackney, the invoice showing that it cost £21,592 including £20 for 23 gallons of petrol. This was almost double the average price of a house in London at the time, as younger viewers may be shocked to learn.

Mr Zender kept the car until 1997 (during which time it was registered as 616 SZ) and it has had just five further owners since, the third, an RREC member, keeping it from 2004 to 2017. It has covered just under 79,000 miles to date, the three service books showing that it was serviced no fewer than 20 times during Mr Zender’s ownership, the last at 68,623 miles in June 1997, the vast majority of the servicing being carried out by Wraith Motors of New Barnet.

HPI records a colour change from Brown to Gold in October 1995 so this is presumably when the car was repainted in its current Honey Gold and the brown velvet seats and door cards were swapped for Light Fawn leather, although there are no invoices for this work.

The 20 old MOTs and 23 tax discs on file show that the car was unused from 1997 to 2000, the invoices picking up again in May 2005 when the car had a major service and an overhaul of the brakes and suspension at West Hoathly Garage of Sussex at 74,384 miles. It was serviced again by R-R specialist Bob Seymour of Hove in May 2007 at 75,312 miles when some MOT advisories were also attended to. Mr Seymour also replaced the power steering pipes and serviced the gearbox in August 2007. In October 2008 the air conditioning system was overhauled and converted to modern gas, and in 2017 it was fitted with a new set of Blenheim Autumn Leaf carpets.

In March 2018 at 78,125 miles it had a major service and check-over at Harwoods Bentley of Pulborough which cost £11,700 and included a complete brake system overhaul with new accumulator spheres, calipers, discs, pads, hoses etc. The exhaust silencers and the headlamps were also renewed, along with many other jobs.

In April 2022 at 78,752 miles it had another major service at Specialist Cars of Exeter which cost £5,934 and included five new Avon whitewall tyres. In November 2022 the interior was removed and the car had a new floor fitted by an ex-Rolls-Royce engineer who built these cars when they were new. All the interior woodwork was also refurbished at the same time, the bill for this lot coming to £6,529. In June 2023 the car was rewired by Specialist Cars at a cost of £1,031.

As you will have gathered by now, no expense has been spared on this car (over £25k in the last six years alone) and our vendor (also an RREC member) reports that it drives beautifully with an MOT until May 2024 with just a couple of advisories for a slight oil leak and a slightly damaged o/s/f seat belt. It comes with two sets of keys, all three cigar lighters and a wheel-changing kit. An immobiliser switch has also been discreetly fitted beneath the dash as a security feature.

Driven over 140 miles to the sale, it has been starting instantly and running like a Rolls-Royce should as we have moved it around on site. Apart from a couple of minor paintwork blemishes and some loose stitching on the driver’s seat back (see photos), this stately old Shadow appears to be in good shape throughout and looks an absolute steal at the modest guide price suggested.

For more information contact James on 07970 309907 or email james.dennison@brightwells.com