1957 Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud 1

The paperwork accompanying this fine Silver Cloud confirms it as an E-series car built for the 1958 model year but supplied and registered in the dying days of December 1957. The supplying dealer was The CarMart of North London, perhaps more widely known as the capital’s sole Austin concessionaire at that time. The first lucky keeper of the Silver Cloud was the Kleen Klip Scissor Company of North London, with this prestigious car provided for the use of Mr S. Stevens Esq. – presumably the proprietor.

The first registered keepers retained the Silver Cloud until 1989 clocking up around 109,000 miles in their thirty plus year tenure. At that stage our vendor Roger, acquired the Rolls-Royce. Within a couple of years of acquiring this sublime Silver Cloud, Roger commissioned a thorough schedule of works to bring the Rolls-Royce fully back to its former glory. This would include the lower half of the car being stripped back to the metal and resprayed. All exterior brightwork was re-chromed, the interior veneers were re-lacquered, and the non-original headlining replaced with the factory-specified material. 

Now resplendent once more, this Silver Cloud went on to feature on television twice during the 1990’s. The TV adaptation of Agatha Christie’s “The Mirror Crack’d from Side to Side” starring Joan Hickson as Miss Marple featured it, as did “The Darling Buds of May” series starring David Jason as Pa Larkin. In 2007 Roger had some further bodywork commissioned to keep the Rolls-Royce in the condition we see today. During Roger’s 35 year stewardship he has covered around 20,000 miles, bringing today’s total to an indicated (1)28,572.

Rolls-Royce liked to refer to their factory Silver Cloud body (more accurately produced by Pressed Steel of Cowley, Oxford) as the “standard steel body.” This is somewhat of a misnomer as the bonnet, boot lid and door skins were all crafted from aluminium. This helped to keep the kerb weight down to around 1.9 tonnes but also made the operation of these opening panels generally less arduous. 

This example presents in a delightful Shell Grey / Tudor Grey two-tone livery maintaining its original specification. The darker Tudor Grey adorns the curvaceous lower panels of the timeless Blatchley design, while the Shell Grey serves to visually lift the bonnet, sloping roof panel and boot lid. The combination delivers a highly Rolls-Royce appropriate and sophisticated look. The front profile of the car is imposing indeed, with the iconic Pantheon grill looking especially tall and prominent in this iteration. The auxiliary driving lamps, and curvaceous wings give the car enormous road presence. The paintwork looks deeply lustrous and in keeping with Roger’s diligent ownership standards.

Given this Silver Cloud’s age, however, there are some inevitable imperfections consisting of minor scrapes, stone chips and the like. The most obvious of these is an area on the trailing edge of the offside rear door where the paint appears to have cracked and flaked off. These areas have been carefully captured by our photographer for your review. This Silver Cloud sits on a set of 15-inch steel wheels finished with chromed and body coloured hub caps. A couple of these exhibit varying degrees of rust bleed from beneath the chrome. The 4-ply radial tyres feature a deep side wall and exhibit some minor perishing of the rubber in places. 

Hailing from the days before the automotive marketing department got hold of leather hue descriptions and came up with “Crimson Elegance” or “Imperial Garnet,” this Silver Cloud is listed as possessing “red hide with red piping (VM3195).” That is, indeed, what greets you upon opening a door of this Silver Cloud. Clearly still featuring its original hides, the front seat facings exhibit a charming, relatively significant level of use related patina. Personal preference will deem if this requires some attention or if it just adds charming character to this Silver Cloud. No splits or tears are evident, however. The rear bench has clearly been less frequented judging by its condition. The rear seat passengers enjoy the benefits of fold down, inlaid veneer picnic tables complete with period-obligatory ashtrays.

Door cards front and rear are finished in red leather, inset detailing and chromed door furniture, walnut cappings and carpeted kick panels. The fronts include charming dealer identifiers promoting the CarMart of North London. The Maroon (105) carpets are leather edge-bound for added luxury and durability, and the headlining is now courtesy of tightly fitted Fawn hued West of England cloth. The veneered and inlaid dashboard is scattered with white on black Smiths gauges and chromed switches and buttons. The original, slender Bakelite, three spoke steering wheel is present as is the factory fitted push button radio. The latter even retains the iconic HMV “Nipper” logo to one of the buttons. To ensure the driver and front passenger don’t feel neglected, a small sliding picnic table features here, too. The deep boot is trimmed with a more contemporary looking black corded carpet which has sustained some minor damage. The spare wheel is housed under the boot floor and Smiths tools and jack are in evidence. 

This first series of Silver Cloud featured Rolls-Royce’s familiar six-cylinder inlet-over-exhaust engine in a 4887cc capacity. At this stage, of course, power output was simply described as “adequate” by Crewe. Whatever the magic number was (probably somewhere around the 150 – 170 bhp mark) it was “adequate” enough to propel the near 2-tonne car past the 100mph benchmark. Power is relayed via the smooth four-speed General Motors Hydramatic automatic gearbox to the rear wheels. The brakes are drums all round and are powered by a semi-hydraulic and semi-mechanical system to ensure redundancy in case of a loss of hydraulic pressure.

Suspension is configured for cosseting comfort and consists of a live axle on leaf springs at the back and a very good independent coil system at the front, copied from a 1930s Packard. The shocks are lever-arm, adjustable at the back between a smoother ride or sharper handling. 

The under-bonnet presentation is very original looking, overall, and clean and tidy for a car of this age. There are some nice bits of detail in here, such as the various labelling of parts, mechanics’ instruction plates and deeply embossed chassis number plate. The underside looks to be in very good shape, too. Everything here looks to be well greased and clearly the beneficiary of the car’s diligent maintenance.

The Silver Cloud comes compete with a very impressive document archive with over 90 images present in our document section. The V5 registration document is present which classifies the Silver Cloud as an Historic Vehicle. This renders the car MoT exempt and zero rated for VED in the UK. Despite this the car holds a current test certificate which is valid until October 2025. Numerous earlier MoT hard copies are also present.

There are some fascinating build records present from Rolls-Royce documenting the original specifications of this Silver Cloud. A generous photographic record of the earlier restorative works is also on hand. The bulk of the remainder of the archive consists of many, many invoices recording work undertaken, and parts procured for the car. It’s well worth taking time to study this impressive history to fully appreciate its cosseted history. Roger notes that Rolls-Royce specialists have always been retained during his tenure to maintain the car. Some spares, workshop manuals, a parts manual, history books and a genuine Rolls-Royce indoor fitted cover are all notably included.

The Silver Cloud represents a key point in Rolls-Royce history, considered by some as the last of the “real” Rolls-Royces with the traditional “body on chassis” arrangement before the arrival of the unitary Silver Shadow. By today’s anodyne standards they impressively showcase the much-admired craft of, arguably, the world’s greatest luxury car manufacturer.

This example of the Silver Cloud is notable for its incredible provenance. Clearly it has been a cherished family member but not to the detriment of the car’s originality and charm which, in both cases, abounds. A delightful example with much to recommend it.

We are happy to offer this car for auction with an estimate in the range of £18,000 - £23,000.

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