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2017 Shannons Melbourne Spring Classic Auction
Lot
44

1978 Rolls-Royce Camargue 2-Door Saloon

$60,000

Sold

Specifications

Engine V8, 6750cc
Gearbox 3-speed automatic
Body Work 2-Door Saloon
Colour White
Interior Cream
Trim Leather
Wheels Steel Disc
Brakes Discs

Description

This lot is no longer available

Launched in 1975, Rolls-Royce’s Camargue represented a break with tradition for the Crewe company, combining the Silver Shadow platform and Corniche’s engine with an avant-garde body from the Italian design studio Pininfarina.  Penned by Paolo Martin and named after a region in the South of France, the Camargue was a sharply contoured, elegant two-door coupe quite unlike anything produced by staunchly conservative Rolls-Royce at the time.  Built on a separate production line at the Crewe factory from 1978, the Camargue became Rolls-Royce’s flagship model for just over a decade, with production limited to just 525 cars.  Costing almost twice as much as a Silver Shadow, the Camargue featured a unique split level air conditioning system developed over a long period, automatically adjusted for outside temperatures.  Mechanically, the Camargue boasted the slightly more powerful Corniche mechanical specification, the earliest models employing SU carburettors but the majority sold had a single Solex four-barrel carburettor and most found homes in exclusive addresses like Beverly Hills or the oil rich Middle East.  The Camargue was updated in line with the Silver Shadow, meaning a new rack-and-pinion steering system in February 1977 and the updated platform from the Silver Spirit starting in 1980.  Often maligned due to the controversial styling, the Camargue is finally starting gain recognition as a future classic and values are starting to reflect its exclusivity and rarity, the Seventies successor to the coachbuilt Silver Cloud models and precursor to the Bentley Continental R.