Tag Archives: Silver

Perfect Car For A Wedding #6 – Rolls Royce Corniche

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I am off to a wedding today, the first one I have attended where my friends children are the ones getting married, so it seems appropriate to feature another Perfect Car for a wedding on today’s blog.

Rolls Royce Corniche, Haynes IMM

Today’s Rolls Royce is known as the Silver Shadow Mulliner Park Ward Drop Head Coupé which first appeared in 1967 was renamed Corniche in 1971 when this model scene at the Haynes International Motor Museum was built.

Rolls Royce Corniche, Haynes IMM

The Corniche assembled and finished in London by Mulliner Park Ward is based on the Rolls Royce Silver Shadow / Bentley T floor plan with the same ‘adequate’ aluminium 6230 cc / 380 cui Rolls Royce motor.

Rolls Royce Corniche, Haynes IMM

The Corniche name was first used by Rolls Royce in the 1930’s for a Mark V prototype with Parisian coach work by van Vooren, legend has it that after 15,000 miles of Continental testing in Europe was awaiting repatriation to England when it was hit by a bomb at Dieppe docks.

In the UK it would probably take a particularly brave couple to opt for a convertible on their wedding day but then as they used to say in Rome ‘Fortes fortuna adiuvat’. For the brave this Corniche can be hired from the Haynes International Motor Museum.

Wishing Lotti & Ronnie and all those getting married today all the best and many happy years together.

Thanks for joining me on this Corniche edition of ‘Gettin a lil’ psycho on tyres’, I hope you’ll join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

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The Spirit that never breaks down – Rolls Royce Silver Spirit.

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The radiator grill design and tragic Spirit of Ecstasy mascot makes Rolls Royce one of the few instantly recognisable brands no matter what age or model. The mascot on this model instantly retracts if dislodged allegedly preventing injury to pedestrians and making the item much harder to collect by even the most determined fans of the Beasty Boys.

The Silver Spirit was a development of the Silver Shadow with a new body and suspension that brought RR into the 1980’s.

Sufficiently powered by a 6750cc / 411 cui V8 the Silver Spirit and slightly longer Silver Spur no longer featured the Citroen licensed self levelling suspension of the Silver Shadow but one using a Girling automatic hydraulic ride height control system riding on gas charged shock absorbers.

The Registration of this vehicle suggests that this might be a 1984 model but the alloy wheels to my not so well trained eye look to be of a more recent vintage. The Silver Spirit/Spur series is the twin of the Bentley Mulsanne / Eight series.

The Silver Spirit is the only Rolls Royce model that has ever come in to my hands, albeit briefly in my capacity as quality controller at a Volvo Garage, it certainly is an impressive machine to be seen driven around in, the ride quality is superb but the feel of the car with its spindly steering wheel and column shift left me feeling I was driving a very well appointed 1972 Volvo 144.

It should always be remembered that a Rolls Royce never ‘breaks down’, but if not looked after properly it might ‘fail to proceed’.

Erratum: in response to a question about the Citroen SM suspension on October 20th I stated that ‘Rolls Royce / Bentley took out licenses to use similar (Citroen hydropneumatic self levelling) systems on the Silver Shadow/T, Silver Spur/Mulsanne’ in fact as I have written above the Silver Spirit/Spur have a Girling self levelling systems. Apologies for any confusion that arose.

Hope you have enjoyed your stay, don’t forget to come back now !

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Everything stops for the – Bentley T

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Today I am looking at this Bentley T twin to the most successfull Rolls Royce in history the Silver Shadow.

The only discernible difference between the Shadow and the T was the grill which was, simpler to manufacturer, lighter, smoother and largely responsible for the Bentley at £ 5375 being £50 cheaper than the Shadow when introduced in 1965.

The T was the first Bentley to feature a monocoque construction. The car was ‘adequately’ powered by a 6230 cc / 380 cui Rolls Royce V8, power output was never mentioned in connection with Rolls or Bentley at this time, presumably because ‘adequate’ in connection with a vehicle weighing 2 tons avoided any embarrassing direct power to weight ratio comparisons.

Where the T really scored over the Shadow other than marginally more discrete badging was exclusivity, between 1965 and 1977 16,717 Series 1 Shadows were built against just 1,703 Series 1 T’s

Thanks for joining me, don’t forget to come back now !

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