1976 Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow LWB Saloon

Description

A giant technical leap for Rolls-Royce when launched at the 1965 Paris Salon, the Silver Shadow ushered the Flying Lady into the modern era with unitary construction for the first time and a more compact - though still substantial - body shell with clean, dignified styling by John Blatchley's team. There were many more firsts for the Crewe company with the Shadow; all-independent suspension with self-levelling front and rear, four-wheel ventilated disc brakes were both welcome advances. The only major components carried over from the previous Silver Cloud was the excellent all-aluminium 6.2-litre V8 and Rolls-Royce's own four-speed automatic transmission with fluid flywheel but the latter was replaced by the GM 400 three-speed unit in October 1968. Inside, the Silver Shadow was all one might expect from Rolls-Royce, with no less than eight individual Connolly hides in each car, rich Wilton carpets and burr walnut veneers all finished to impeccable standards. The Silver Shadow was, interestingly enough, the first model to turn a profit for Rolls-Royce in 50 years and production was relatively high, with 16,717 built (along with a much smaller number of Bentley T-Series variants) before the Shadow II was launched in 1977.