Lot 232: 1971 Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow Two-Door Saloon
Coachwork by H J Mulliner, Park Ward Ltd

Rolls-Royce’s adoption of unitary construction for its new Silver Shadow and T-Series Bentley necessitated the reorganisation of in-house coachbuilder H J Mulliner, Park Ward to enable it to produce new designs on the Shadow floorpan. Recalling the firm’s glamorous Grands Routiers of pre-war days such as the Phantom II Continental, these final coachbuilt models were limited to just two, a two-door coupé or similar convertible, the former arriving in March 1966 and the latter in September the following year. Some of the frontal panels were shared with the standard four-door saloon, but otherwise the new bodyshells were unique, featuring a distinctive dipping upper wing line with parallel crease, and revised, more rounded posterior. Construction involved shuttling the bodyshells between the Crewe factory and MPW’s Willesden plant, a necessarily lengthy process that took all of 20 weeks for the saloon and slightly longer for the more complex convertible. These exclusive cars were hand built in the best traditions of British coachbuilding using only materials of the finest quality including Wilton carpeting, Connolly hide and burr walnut veneers, such painstaking attention to detail resulting in a price some 50% higher than that of the standard Silver Shadow. Nevertheless, demand for these more glamorous alternatives to the much more numerous four-door model was strong right from the start, a state of affairs that resulted in them being given their own model name - ‘Corniche’ - in March 1971.
First registered in January 1971, this Mulliner, Park Ward-bodied 6.7-litre Silver Shadow two-door saloon came into the vendor’s possession in 1995 and has enjoyed just five owners in total from new. Somewhat unusually, the roof is not Everflex-covered but painted (in dark blue) while the remainder of the coachwork is finished in silver. This attractive combination is complimented by the original blue leather upholstered interior. Always well maintained, the car has covered 93,063 miles from new and is described by the private vendor as running well. Four new tyres were fitted recently. MoT’d to April 2009, the car is offered with a comprehensive history file containing numerous bills for servicing by recognised specialists including Broughton’s and P & A Wood; virtually a full set of expired MoTs dating back to 1974; owner’s instruction and service books; and Swansea V5 registration document.