1957 ROLLS-ROYCE SILVER CLOUD Registration Number: YRX 416 ...

Estimate

£28,000 - £32,000

1957 ROLLS-ROYCE SILVER CLOUD

Registration Number: YRX 416
Chassis Number: SED429
Recorded Mileage: c. 25,500

Low ownership
Older restoration
Recent recommissioning and remedial works

Following the Silver Dawn, the Rolls Royce Silver Cloud was introduced in 1955 with a curvy, Rubenesque body shell, designed by J.P. Blatchley. While maintaining the traditional grill and headlights, and hinting at the separate fenders seen on previous models, it was Rolls Royce's first move towards a more modern, integrated look. As in the past, the car was built on a separate chassis so custom-bodied cars could be built for those who wanted a personalized version of Rolls Royce's most popular model. The body was steel, with lightweight aluminum panels for the doors, hood, and trunk lid, foreshadowing the weight saving measures taken by many car manufacturers today.

Equipped with an inline six-cylinder engine, four-speed automatic transmission, and independent front suspension, the car could reach 60mph in 13.5 seconds and top out at 103mph if Sir was in a hurry, as reported in a contemporary review in Motor magazine. While the engine was carried over from the pre-war Silver Wraith, it was considered smoother than the V8 that followed in the Silver Cloud II. It also doesn't give up much in performance to its successor, and is said to be easier to maintain. When owners of ordinary cars were making do with two- or three-speed automatics, or even a manual transmission, the Cloud came with a four-speed automatic, a specification that only went out of date some 50 years later.

The entire package made a very successful car for Rolls Royce, with greater production and a longer lifespan than any model that preceded it. It remains a quintessential Rolls Royce, with enough power to be used on modern roads, and a degree of style that only this marque can offer.

This handsome early Cloud was supplied new by London dealer Jack Barclay, and has we understand, had just a handful of owners from new. We understand the Rolls was in the custodianship of just one family from the 1970s to the late 1990s, at which point it was acquired by another family who owned the car until 2018, whereup ownership passed to the current vendor.

Over the years the Rolls has received much care and attention, notably in 2000 the coachwork was restored and refinished (supported by a photographic record) and still presents very well. In current ownership the Cloud has received further attention to the ignition and electrical systems, the braking, fuelling, and power steering, and the floors have been undersealed. More recently the exhaust manifolds have been resurfaced and refitted to the car to ensure smooth running.

Finished in Masons Black over Tudor Grey, with a red leather interior, and supplied with bills for works completed, tax discs to the late 1960s, and older MoT certificates, this is a nice low mileage example of this ever popular post-war Rolls-Royce