Rolls Royce Silver Shadow II

When things don’t happen right away, just remember; it takes 6 months to build a Rolls Royce, 13 hours to build a Toyota.
- Rolls Royce

An iconic slogan that Rolls Royce came up with to make a quality statement. Let me give you a small example; first the grille of a Rolls Royce is assembled by hand. Then the stainless steel is polished by hand for 5 hours, until your valet Charles can count his whiskers in the reflection before he drives up to ‘the Rolls’. That’s why Henry Royce modestly said that Silver Shadows don’t do anything that other luxury cars can’t do, they just do everything a little better, with more precision and manners.

Henry Royce’s favourite aphorism came from Latin; ‘whatever is rightly done, however humble, is noble.’ This is reflected in the design of the Silver Shadow. It is all perfectly executed, and yet it manages to excel and distinguish itself in every detail in a modest way. Jim Brokaw, for example, selected leather hides for the interior of Rolls Royce. Of every 10,000 hides, only thirty were considered good enough to be shoved under the buttocks of the bigwigs. The rest of this top quality leather was used for the bags of the ladies who of course also liked to be driven around.

This Rolls Royce was originally delivered in England in 1977 by Jack Barclay, the world's oldest Rolls Royce/Bentley dealer. The first owner apparently also wanted to see 'the human' in the wild, after all, it has an original Rolls Royce tow bar. Perhaps the owner used the car for trips to exotic destinations, as the beautiful Caribbean Blue paintwork might reveal. In 2005, the car came to the Netherlands and since then the car has remained in good condition and perfectly maintained. After that, the car has been abroad several times for foreign rallies. All the original badging is still there, as befits the English gentlemen.

Will you come and test drive it soon, Charles? The gentleman is already sold and is sitting in the back of the car, ready.

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