SOLD

Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow - FSD 847

Chassis: SRH5284

£5,000

A Shadow From the Early Years

Some Silver Shadows are interesting because of what has happened to them.

Others are interesting simply because of when they were built.

This 1969 example falls firmly into the second category.

It is an early Silver Shadow, and a closer look reveals a rather appealing collection of details that disappeared as the model evolved.

The first thing you notice is the colour.

We don't have a paint code for this car, so we can't officially confirm it, but our best identification is Silver Mink. It's a distinctive blue-green/silver metallic that suits the early Shadow remarkably well, and certainly looks the part here.

The more interesting details are underneath that colour, though.

This is the sort of Silver Shadow that rewards people who know what they're looking at.

Being an early car, it retains the original Chippendale dashboard, the highly sought-after early design with its broad expanse of polished wood, traditional instruments and chrome controls. The earliest Shadows with this style of dashboard are particularly desirable among enthusiasts, and good original examples are becoming increasingly difficult to find.

It also retains the early-style snow packs beneath the headlamps — the small chrome air-intake grilles that were used on early Shadows before later cars adopted different arrangements.

Then there are the rear lights.

Rather than the later arrangement where multiple functions were incorporated into one cluster, this car has the early layout with the reversing lights mounted separately on the boot lid. It's one of those small details most people would never notice, but to an early Shadow enthusiast it immediately gives away just how early this car is.

The solid wheel trims are still present, as are the non-vented brake discs and the original-style non-flared wheel arches.

Individually, none of these details changes the way the car drives.

Together, they tell you that this isn't simply another Silver Shadow.

It's an early Silver Shadow.

And those early cars have a character of their own.

Thankfully, the body appears to have survived rather well too. There is very little obvious corrosion to the main bodywork, and the panels look straight and honest. It's certainly not a concours car, but the fundamentals appear encouraging.

The brightwork is another matter.

The bumpers in particular have seen better days and would need attention, but that's not necessarily a reason to look away. Whoever takes this car on will be able to speak to us about preferential pricing on the parts required, and we'll make sure we do our bit to make the restoration a little easier on the wallet.

The roof is perhaps the most unusual part of the exterior.

From a distance it almost looks like the car has a black or navy Everflex roof, but it doesn't. It's painted.

We're told the roof was painted in the 70s by a company using the car to advertise its newly formulated two-pack paint system. Whatever happened to the company afterwards, its paintwork has certainly made a respectable case for the product. Decades later, it's still there.

Inside, things get even more interesting.

The leather remains largely intact and is in surprisingly good condition. It will benefit from a proper clean and conditioning, naturally, but there is plenty here to work with. The door cards are similarly presentable, while the wooden door cappings have retained much of their lacquer. They're faded in places and have picked up some age-related damage, but nothing that detracts from the overall impression of a remarkably complete early interior.

The catch is that we haven't yet had the opportunity to look underneath the bonnet.

This Shadow arrived as a non-running car and, for now, we've simply had to roll it off the trailer. We haven't yet carried out any mechanical assessment, so we don't know what the engine, brakes, hydraulics or other systems will reveal.

That is reflected in the price.

We're offering the car as it sits for £5,000.

There is work here, and we're not pretending otherwise. But there is also a remarkably complete early Silver Shadow, a desirable collection of original details, a very attractive Silver Mink finish and an interior that has survived considerably better than the brightwork might initially suggest.

For someone looking for an early Shadow to restore, improve and ultimately put back on the road, this could be a very interesting starting point.

It may need plenty of attention.

But sometimes the most interesting projects are the ones that give you something worth preserving before you've even picked up the first spanner.

PLUS: As the new owner of a Flying Spares Rolling Restoration, you'll enjoy exclusive preferential pricing on all the parts you need to complete your project.

For further details, please contact:

Email: andy@flyingspares.co.uk
Direct Dial: +44 1455 299903