1980 Rolls-Royce Silver Spirit

This highly distinctive ‘Laurel Green’ Silver Spirit was the 66th to leave the factory.

It comes with gold highlights, badging, trim and Spirit of Ecstasy mascot - just in case being greener than Kermit’s recycling bin isn’t distinctive enough for you.

It was first owned by Prince Hannibal Reitano, an Argentine aristocrat, polo player and socialite.

Its next curator was George Petrou, a Greek multi-millionaire industrialist and the then owner of Chilham Castle, Kent.

The third and final owner is the vendor, who has had the car since 2002.

We haven’t driven the car more than a few metres and so can’t offer an insightful opinion on its mechanical and dynamic attributes.

The odometer currently states that the car has covered some 59,597 miles. We understand that the odometer was replaced in 1984 and that the true mileage is 23,350 miles higher than that.

Either way, the car has covered no more than 230 or so miles in the last eight years.

Cosmetically, it has a few issues to contend with. 

The bodywork on this striking vehicle is largely free of any dinks, dents, creases or folds of consequence that we can see, and the panel gaps and shut-lines are broadly consistent and even.

That said, the o/s/r door is a trifle stiff and reluctant to open - although it does comply if given a bit of a tug - and the front bumper is proud of the bodywork on the offside.

Aside from the central strip on the bonnet, which has some pitting to it, the gold trim is in decent order.

Elsewhere, the chrome trim is foxed and tarnished in places, particularly on the door handles.

The wheels are reasonable, as far as we can tell, and the Avon tyres look to have plenty of life in them. 

There is some bubbling on the driver’s door beneath the window, some bubbling and flaking in the n/s/r wheel-arch, and some splits to the paint at the top of both ‘C’ pillars and some bubbling lower down where they meet the rear screen. There’s also some bubbling in evidence on the rear bumper and valance.

The paintwork has seen better days and you’ll find, variously, scratches, scuffs, micro-blisters, cracks, ripples and patches of flat or discoloured paint pretty much anywhere you choose to rest your gaze.

The interior has generally weathered the vicissitudes of time and wear with rather more success than its exterior counterpart.

The leather upholstery has some creasing and wear on all the seat cushions, indicating that the car probably hosted chauffeur-driven rear seat passengers on a regular basis.

The original handbook states that the leather is ‘Tan’, although to our eyes it looks to have a decidedly olive-green hue to it. 

Either way, and although creased and possessed of patina, the leather is not cracked, holed or split anywhere that we’ve seen. 

It would no doubt welcome an introduction to some efficacious cleaning and feeding products.

The carpets are mostly OK, but those in the rear on the nearside have some splits to them.

The lambswool over-rugs are currently in the capacious boot and are of a thickness sufficient to convince your ankles that your feet have been stolen.

The door cards are reasonable, as is the headlining.

The wood veneers on the dashboard and door cappings look good and are unusual in having apparently resisted the temptation to crack or shed their lacquer. 

The steering wheel, gear selector and other controls look good, although some black paint has worn away in places. 

We didn’t tweak every lever, press every knob or flick every switch, but those we did tweak, press and flick did as they were told without any unseemly shows of recalcitrance or attitude. 

The car starts, drives and stops but it feels a little lumpy and we think it would benefit no end from a spot of light recommissioning, a service, and a good long run soon thereafter.

We suspect that a new battery will be on the next owner’s shopping list in the near future, too. 

Everything under the bonnet appears to be in its right and proper place.

The car’s undersides look to be possessed of plenty of structural integrity although there is some rust in the sills and you’ll clearly want to see for yourself and reach your own conclusion.

The car comes with bills, invoices and receipts totalling over £50,000. Bills for 1980-2001 total £45,764.11, with bills for work since 2000 coming to just under £5,000. There are no bills covering the period 1994-1995, when the car was in Greece. 

The vendor has put together a thoroughly detailed and very impressive history of work carried out over the years, much of it courtesy of such revered names as Hooper & Co., Mulliner Park Ward, Connolly Bros., Jack Barclay, The Chelsea Workshop, and W. Mumford. 

The car comes with a user handbook, a service book that’s stamped up until 1992, a V5C, a recent, clear HPI report and various photographs, pieces of correspondence and other miscellany. 

Yes, there’s some work to be done, but this is such a rare, distinctive and unusual car that we think it fully deserves the time and effort required for it to recapture all, most or just some of its considerable former glory.

You can be pretty sure you’ll never find another laurel green with gold trim Rolls-Royce Silver Spirit parked next to yours.

We are happy to offer this car for auction with an estimate in the range of £8,000 - £12,000.

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