Lot details Registration No: VOY 59L Chassis No: DRA14155 Mot Expiry: June 2012
FORMER MUSEUM EXHIBIT
Rolls-Royce registered the Corniche name in the 1930s and apparently assigned it to a prototype based on the Bentley MKV, but the model was never progressed due to the onset of WW2. The moniker was finally first employed in 1971 on the Coupe and Convertible versions of the Silver Shadow. In common with the Shadow, the newcomer was penned by in-house designer John Polwhele Blatchley and the underbody and floorpan crafted by Pressed Steel Fisher. Initial assembly (including alloy bonnet, bootlid and doors) was then carried out by Mulliner Park Ward of Willesden, London - by then a wholly-owned division of Rolls-Royce. At this stage the cars were transported to the main factory in Crewe for the installation of the running gear before returning to London for the trimming, painting and finishing. Power was provided by the company's venerable 6.75-litre V8, whose origins could be traced back to the 1950s. This was mated to a GM Turbo Hydramatic 400 three-speed automatic transmission. Suspension was independent by coil springs all round, augmented by a Citroen-originated hydraulic self-levelling system. Braking was by discs, with ventilated units being phased in for 1972. A total of 4,347 of these Corniche Is were produced between 1971 and 1987, 3,239 of which were Convertibles.
The Rolls-Royce currently on sale is a Corniche Convertible manufactured in December 1972 and first registered in 1973 - it is finished in Cream with a Dark Tan interior. A left-hand drive federal specification car, it was repatriated in 2009, for which all taxes and duties were paid the relevant papers being available. It apparently comes with some history and fresh tax and MOT but, in the museum's own words, "needs tidying to make mint". They consider the bodywork, paintwork and engine as "good/average", the transmission as "good" and the trim as "average and needing restoration".
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