Rolls-Royce & Bentley Driver

SILVER LINING

Tony Bennett. John Lennon. Elvis Presley. Frank Sinatra. These are just some of the names to whom Rolls-Royce dealers issued invoices for Silver Clouds. By the end of production in 1965, the Silver Cloud III’s £5500 list price would have bought you a seven-bedroom house, or ten Minis with almost change for an eleventh. By no standards was this a cheap car, and yet its clientele were changing. In a gradually easing social environment, the Silver Cloud had begun to appeal to the self-made owner-driver. And its replacement, the Silver Shadow, was deliberately tailored towards this market, with its relatively low-slung styling and monocoque construction being the height of modernity by Rolls-Royce standards. The Silver Cloud would therefore be the company’s final separate-chassis saloon, and thus the last to offer significant appeal for coachbuilders.

The Silver Cloud marked the end of an era for Rolls-Royce, a car unashamedly aimed at the company’s traditional customer base. Designed for the well-heeled

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