Background
The Rolls-Royce Silver Spirit was launched in 1980 with production lasting a full 19 years until 1999. This prestige vehicle of the highest order was appreciated by businessmen, bankers, celebrities, and heads of states alike for its luxurious and roomy interior and powerful motorisation. As the final hand-built Rolls-Royce produced before BMW took control of the brand, the Silver Spirit was an extremely expensive car to buy at the time, limiting its addressable market. At the same time, one can argue that it is the last ‘true’ Rolls-Royce since it was manufactured with little automation involved, as the founders had intended.
As a new generation of car models, the Silver Spirit laid the foundation of the modern Rolls-Royce, but carried over some aesthetical and mechanical features from previous models such as the 6,75 litre V8 engine as well as the basic design concept of the Silver Shadow. The engine produced approximately 200bhp in the first series cars, which was enough to keep the 2,2 tonne car gliding along in the typical laid-back fashion which Rolls-Royce clients have always appreciated. Later cars received engine upgrades that improved power output. The Silver Spirit was built in four different iterations, branded I, II, III and ‘New Silver Spirit’ – the number four being associated with death in some middle eastern countries, an important market for the brand.
Each series came with slight modifications: the II featured an improved suspension which automatically adjusted its dampers at the four wheels as well as fuel injection and ABS. A four-speed automatic gearbox was introduced in 1991 onwards. The III, which is the model for sale here, was introduced in 1993 and only 234 Silver Spirit III were built, compared to multiple thousand for the I and II series cars. The second-last series would feature engine improvements that increased power output alongside some design updates. An important safety upgrade was the addition of dual airbags. The fourth and thus last version got some minor styling revisions and a new fuel injection system.
