1989 Rolls-Royce Silver Spirit

Lot details
Registration No: F175NVM
Chassis No: SCAZS00A6KCH27049
Mot Expiry: July 2012

TWO OWNERS FROM NEW

A square-cut, broad-shouldered design, the Rolls-Royce Silver Spirit was styled in-house by Austrian born Fritz Feller. Introduced at the 1980 Paris Motor Show, it enjoyed notably greater road presence than its Silver Shadow predecessor as well as a thirty percent larger glass area. Thus, while it looked suitably imposing from the outside, internally it proved pleasantly airy. Although, based on the Shadow floorpan, the Spirit offered considerable improvements in both ride and handling thanks to its new Girling automatic ride height control and gas shock absorbers. By combining copious amounts of sound deadening with the finest quality upholstery, Crewe's engineers kept intrusion from the 6.75 litre V8 engine and three-speed (later four-speed) automatic transmission to a muted hush - unless the model's reputed 120mph potential was explored. Driver inputs were minimised with power assisted steering and disc brakes. Only in production between 1980 and 1989 (by which time it had gained Bosch fuel injection), just 8,129 Rolls-Royce Silver Spirit Saloons are thought to have been made.

The right-hand drive Silver Spirit being offered dates from 1989 and sports Graphite coachwork complemented by a Slate-piped Parchment hide interior. A two-owner car, it was purchased by the vendor in September 1992; at which time the odometer apparently read 23,450 miles. In his care this figure has increased to an indicated 52,060 miles and the Rolls-Royce is now being offered complete with extensive service history, items of correspondence with the manufacturer and a fresh MOT. The vendor regards the bodywork and paintwork as "good", the interior trim as "good but with slight wear on the driver's side", and the engine and automatic gearbox as "excellent". First registered as `F175 NVM', the Rolls-Royce has recently worn a cherished plate and currently awaits the reissue of the original number or a replacement.

These pre-BMW Rolls-Royces have a uniquely British cachet and good low mileage examples are inevitably increasingly sought after. In terms of luxury per pound, they are currently hard to beat.