VALUES:

Rolls-Royce values vary wildly, entirely dependent on their condition. There are, of course, other aspects that add or subtract from their values – Long Wheel Base versus regular, the year which dictated certain technical changes, etc. The color alone, for example can make a big difference. So for the benefit of new-comers to the marque please see the approximate guide to values based on a particular model below. Please remember, these are “plus-or-minus” figures:

Year: 1977-1980
Make: Rolls-Royce

Model: Silver Shadow II

Collectable: $50,000+

Show car: $40,000+

Exceptional: $35-40,000

Excellent: $25-35,000

Good: $18-25,000

Average: $12-18,000

When it was launched in 1965, the Silver Shadow cost an impossibly steep $19,700, or about three times as much as a contemporary Cadillac Sedan de Ville.

The Silver Shadow was designed to be less expensive to produce than its predecessors, a volume Rolls-Royce for both the nouveau riche and the old guard. Intended to succeed the increasingly dated Silver Cloud, the new car was revolutionary, and doubly so for a company so heavily invested in tradition. Six decades of body-on-frame construction was abandoned in favor of unit construction, a clear acknowledgement that the golden age of coachbuilding was truly dead. This was the first Rolls-Royce designed around a V-8 engine (the Silver Cloud initially had a straight-six) and with four-wheel disc brakes, independent suspension and automatic level control.

The new car was a sensation. Everyone who was anyone had to have one--heads of state, starlets, captains of industry, rock stars. Despite the increased production levels, demand could not be met--in fact, it was possible to buy a new Shadow and immediately resell it at a handsome profit to someone who lacked the patience for Crewe's two-year waiting list. Demand held steady through a series of price increases driven by inflation, changing exchange rates, rising labor costs and Rolls-Royce's need to make a profit.

What this meant was that the Silver Shadow was produced in numbers not seen before, or since. More than 25,000 standard-wheelbase four-door sedans were built, in addition to nearly 5,000 long-wheelbase models. Factory-built two-door coupes and convertibles added another 6,200 units to the total.

The Silver Shadow and its nearly identical twin, the Bentley T-Series, were launched at the Paris Motor Show in October 1965. The V-8 engine was similar to that which had powered the Silver Cloud II and III, featuring aluminum cylinder heads and an aluminum block with wet liners. The heads were redesigned from the Cloud's to place the spark plugs above the exhaust manifolds, where they were easier to service. A bore and stroke of 101.14mm x 91.44mm gave a displacement of 6,230cc. The factory would not disclose something so vulgar as the engine's output, but it was estimated at somewhere around 200 horsepower.

There would be no drudgery of shifting with the Shadow. Early cars had the Hydra-Matic four-speed automatic with a fluid-flywheel coupling, a holdover from the Cloud, electrically controlled from a stalk on the steering column. This was supplanted in 1968 by the GM400 Turbo Hydra-Matic three-speed automatic, which had been fitted to export models from Day One.

In March of 1966, the factory offered a two-door sedan, built in north London by its coachbuilding subsidiary, Mulliner Park Ward. It became known as the Corniche. A glamorous convertible version of the two-door came a year later, followed in 1969 by a long-wheelbase version of the four-door. This could be ordered with or without a divider between the front and rear compartments, although federal safety requirements prohibited the company from offering the divider to its U.S. customers.

Safety regulations also dictated a significant change in the dashboard's design. The upright, veneered panel gained extensive padding above and below in May of 1969, designed to prevent an occupant's head from striking any of the switchgear in a crash.

To help the engine regain the power lost in meeting emissions limits, displacement was increased to 6,750cc in September of 1970; the larger engine became standard for all models, import and export, until the end of the Shadow's run.

The Shadow went through its only major revision in 1977. Its delicate chromed bumpers were replaced with rubber-faced bashers capable of meeting U.S. 5-MPH impact requirements, while rack-and-pinion steering succeeded the earlier recirculating-ball setup; passengers were even further coddled with a two-level air-conditioning system. The dashboard went through a complete redesign, with the bulk of the surrounding padding pared down. There were so many changes, more than 2,000 in all, that Rolls-Royce re-christened the car the Silver Shadow II; its Bentley stablemate became the T2. The long-wheelbase Shadow now wore the Silver Wraith II name.

The good news for anyone contemplating their first Royce is that the most affordable model is every bit worthy of its Flying Lady mascot. The Silver Shadow offers a combination of comfort and cachet that few cars can approach, and if its biggest drawback is a certain lack of scarcity, well, is that so hard to live with?