The Silver Shadow represented a major sea change in the way Rolls-Royce approached car production. Launched in 1965, it spawned everything the Crewe marque created until its purchase by BMW in 1998, meaning the Shadow left its mark on over 30 years of Rolls-Royce and Bentley history.
The Silver Shadow enjoyed a 15-year career of its own, which saw it go from being a cutting-edge design packed with modernity to the highly respected elder statesman of the luxury saloon world. It left the automotive stage with dignity – and to this day its model run of over 30,000 examples has yet to be beaten in terms of Rolls-Royce production figures. By contrast, the almost identical Bentley T-series unveiled the same month marked a remarkable fall from grace for the marque. Previously, Bentleys had often been the better sellers, but just 2336 examples of the T1 and T2 were sold, leading Rolls-Royce to contemplate dropping the Bentley marque altogether when work began on a Silver Shadow successor in the 1970s. Luckily, that never happened, and nowadays both the Silver Shadow and T-Series are revered luxury classics. What’s more, all of the advice here for the Shadow applies equally to the Bentley-badged cars.
At its launch in 1965, the Silver Shadow cost
