Customer Reviews

Rolls Royce Silver Shadow (Crowood Autoclassics)

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This is a magnificent text on one of the most successfully designed and constructed cars ever built. Readers will be transported to the world of the late 1950's when against all tradition the world's finest car builder successfully questioned their strategy to produce chassis based vehicles and then spend the next 10 years developing the Silver Shadow and Bentley T1. You will gain an understanding of the boldness of the plans to build the worlds finest monocoque car, understand the influence of Mercedes Benz and General Motors and then see how the Silver Shadow was designed, manufactured and assembled in trully hand built form. Not content to leave the readers in a time capsule of the 1960's - there is extremely interesting information on the Shadow's derivatives - the mark 2, the corniche, camargue and other cars leading into the mid 1980's. This is an indespensable text on a motoring icon - but also learn about the economic conditions, the American market influences and the clarity and focus of the company that set out to build a pillar of motoring history. Not to be missed !!

This is a typical Graham Robson book; that is, thoroughly researched, comprehensive and accurate. I have bought this book in particular because it is written by G. Robson and I have not regretted it.

The book describes in great detail every aspect of the life of the Rolls Royce Silver Shadow and its "identical twin" the Bentley T1. Among other things, the author explains why the manufacturer settled for the particular specification - monocoque construction, independent suspension at both ends, disc brakes on all wheels - and describes in detail the front and rear suspensions and the changes (the original, the compliant, the deletion of the self-levelling device at the front) they underwent over the life of the car. Also, he describes in depth all the improvements made to the steering mechanism (from the original recirculating ball to the later rack-and-pinion) in an effort to improve the feel and response of the steering wheel. Described too are the automatic transmissions used (GM Hydramatic with fluid coupling, GM 400 Hydramatic with torque converter, etc), as well as the improvements made to the 6,2-litre V8 engine.

In parallel to the development of the car itself, G. Robson gives a very interesting insight into the manufacturer. He informs the reader on what Rolls Royce meant when they described their car as being "the best car in the world". He reveals the policy of Rolls Royce with respect to the development of the car, as being one where the development was never hurried - time to the market did not seem to matter - and one where the maker gave to the customers what he thought they wanted. Also, the price did not seem to mean much - as the book reveals, in 1975 the Camargue cost almost three times as much as a contemporary Mercedes-Benz 450SE saloon!

The book is fully illustrated - including 8 pages of colour photos; every change, say, to the dashboard or the exterior of the car mentioned in the text, can be seen on the photos too.

A big plus of the book is the quotes G. Robson gives from contemporary road tests of Autocar, MOTOR, Road&Track, etc which help illustrate a point, while at the same time convey an objective picture to the reader.

Another very positive aspect of the book is the big number of side bars that are sprinkled throughout the book, which put the reader into the broader picture of things. Such side bars describe the influence the competition had upon Rolls Royce in settling for the specification of the Silver Shadow/Bentley T1, the various coachbuilders used by Rolls Royce, the relationship to Rolls Royce aero engines, Vickers, Pininfarina, Cosworth, etc.

There is a small, insignificant error on page 145 where it is stated that in '89 Cosworth had developed a 16-valve, twin overhead camshaft cylinder head for Rolls Royce. Surely, the author means a 32-valve cylinder head.

All-in-all the book leaves nothing to be desired; it exhausts its subject by describing literally every aspect of the Silver Shadow/Bentley T1. It is worth every cent of its price and highly recommended.