Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow and Wraith (1965 – 1980) Review

In 1965, the Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow was little short of a revolution for the company. Out went the old palatial style, to be replaced by a more contemporary three-box style - and it certainly worked, because the Silver Shadow and its Bentley counterpart, the T-Series became the company's best-selling cars to date.

The advancements over the Cloud were many - the Silver Shadow boasted unitary construction, all-round disc brakes and self-levelling suspension. But because of the sheer size and scale of the new Rolls-Royce, it carried off all of these advancements in style.

The 6230cc V8 was a known quantity, and did its job very well indeed - but it rose in capacity to 6750cc in 1970, although as usual Rolls-Royce merely described its power as 'sufficient'. In 1977, it was facelifted to become the Silver Shadow II, and its most identifiable features are its rubber-faced bumpers and a front air dam. The previous long-wheelbase 'Shadow became a model in its own right, the Silver Wraith, at the same time. These were all sold with a vinyl roof as standard.