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ROLLS ROYCE SILVER SPIRIT HISTORY
When Rolls Royce launched the Silver Spirit in 1980 it was looking for a replacement for the longstanding and popular Rolls Royce Silver Shadow. With a purchase price equivalent to £100,000 today, it was clearly a car for the super-rich, for plutocrats for whom a BMW or Mercedes luxury limousine could not compare to the bespoke handbuilt luxury of a Rolls Royce. It is a car that The Independent newspaper tested in 2007 and said "there is something very wonderful about this car...it's a proper Rolls Royce."
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The Rolls Royce Silver Spirit was essentially a Rolls Royce Silver Shadow with new bodywork. A larger more imposing car than the Silver Shadow, the new Rolls Royce was the very essence of a modern Rolls Royce. Whereas older more traditional Rolls Royces were designed to be driven in rather than driven, the Silver Shadow and the Silver Spirit appealed to an audience of businessmen who preferred to take the wheel themselves.
The Rolls Royce Silver Spirit is generally acknowledged as one of the last real Rolls Royces. Designed and built entirely by an independent company using Rolls Royce's own engine and chassis, this car is a true product of a line that goes back to the beautiful Rolls Royce Silver Ghost of the 1920s.
Rolls Royce introduced the Silver Spirit in order to lift flagging sales of ther Silver Shadow. By 1980s the Silver Shadow was showing its age and updated using plastic impact bumpers only served to emphasise the point. The new car was aimed at a world market for Rolls Royce cars and this demanded a vehicle that was bigger, smoother and more luxurious than the outgoing Silver Shadow.
The Rolls Royce Silver Spirit is fitted with the evergreen 6.75 litre Rolls Royce engine. It features deep lambswool over-rugs, leather seats and walnut door cappings and dashboard.
Rolls Royce contuously developed the basic Rolls Royce Silver Spirit design through its life. The car stayed in production until the late 1990s, a remarkable near-20 year production run that demonstrates the fundamental strength and beauty of the basic design.
