Vehicle Description
West Coast Classics are proud to present an absolutely stunning and
exceptionally rare example of this unrestored and fully documented
1961 Rolls Royce Silver Cloud II V8 4 door saloon, with only 2,417
of these hand built cars ever built and with only very few
remaining! This particular example boasts only one southern
California family ownership since 1972 when the car was imported
from Switzerland having been sold originally when new in 1961 to
it's original European owner in France. The car has it's original
factory 'Shell Gray over Blue/Gray' two-tone factory color
combination paint with matching 'Light Gray' Connolly leather hides
and very rare dealer ordered options of:Factory air
conditioning,'Sundym' reflective tinted glass,Adjustable footrests
fitted to the base of each rear seat,'Cubby boxes' with sliding
panels in each front door,Combined direction indicators with side
indicators (rare) and headlamp flashing switches,Hand Brake Warning
Light (rarely seen)Rear Window De-mister,Additional heater duct
installed to provide additional heated air to the rear compartment
with the original single heater replaced by two smaller matrices,
one for the 'upper' and 'lower' systems with each system able to be
operated independently,Safety Belts,Fog Lamps,Driver amp; Passenger
Outside Rear View Mirrors,White sided tubeless tires andPower
windows.Finished in its original and very striking factory special
order color of 'Shell Gray over Blue/Gray' paint with factory
painted pin striping and with its all original 'Light Gray' color
Connolly hides showing superb maintenance and care from its long
time owners with only very minimal and quite desirable patina for
its age.For those who are unfamiliar, the Bentley S2 and the Silver
Cloud II were absolutely identical with both vehicles hand built at
the Rolls Royce factory in Crewe, England with the only differences
being their nameplates, radiator and mascots. The Silver Cloud II
was introduced in 1959 and lasted until 1962. Little changed
externally from the Silver Cloud I of of 1956-59 but it now had a
much improved 6.2 L V8 engine, which pushed the weight to 2.11
tonnes. Performance was greatly improved and top speed was raised
to 183 km/h (114 mph) yet the main improvements were in
acceleration and torque. Power steering became standard.
Electrically operated windows and air conditioning were now
available as an option.This particular original U.S specification
example (Left Hand Drive Model) was originally sold in late 1961 to
France and imported to the U.S. from Switzerland in 1972 for its
original long time southern California owners of the Rolling Hills
Estates, California who have owned the car until we recently
purchased the car from their estate.The car was factory ordered and
optioned with rare upgrades including:Cash Price of Car:
$15,655Electric Windows $220'Sundym' Glass: $45Air Conditioning:
$795Special Paint: $54.The car still retains many original items
including quite amazingly its rare all original Burlwood and it's
original leather wrapped rear leaf springs and Connolly leather.
The car has been maintained in recent years at the renown
independent Rolls Royce amp; Bentley specialists 'Ronny's Garage,
Inc' of Santa Ana, California and this family owned and cherished
and obviously always garaged car has had no accidents and is a
completely rust free example - the floor boards, trunk and all the
typical rust-prone areas are completely solid and rust free!The
beautiful and highly desirable original factory special ordered
paint color combination is in quite exceptional condition,
especially considering it's age and the car has its original
matching Rolls Royce hubcaps and a full 'Connolly' 'Light Gray'
color leather interior. Connolly leather is legendary for being
exclusively used in Rolls Royce and other high end British cars and
came from unfenced cows which produced unblemished hides. The hides
are in phenomenal condition throughout with only very minor patina
for their age. All the chrome work including the front Rolls Royce
grille and bumpers is in outstanding condition. The door panels,
carpets, dashboard and the original mohair headliner remarkably
show very little signs of any wear. The car has it's original spare
wheel with original jack still located in their rightful place of
storage in the trunk compartment. The car also boasts its original
owners handbook with supplementary dealer added factory options
descriptions, radio manual, delivery note, shipping order, factory
toolkit, trunk carpet, and all it's original factory heavy tools;
electric inspection lamp and charging plug, pressure gauge and tire
pump, all unused and unlatched from their original trunk
compartment location!Obviously always garaged with no accidents or
damage history and owned by only obviously one very careful family
for almost 50 years - never abused! The car drives exactly like a
well maintained and serviced Rolls Royce should and must be driven
to be fully appreciated and seen to be believed!The car boasts a
thick file of service records from 'Ronny's Garage' showing that at
no time was any expense spared on this particular car's preventive
maintenance with recent and comprehensive service history including
but not limited to the following;Replacement or overhaul of the
exhaust system, braking system including dual master cylinders,
servos, brake cylinders amp; hoses, heating amp; cooling system
including new demister heater/AC matrix box, heater valve amp;
actuator, all heater hoses, evaporator amp; expansion valves,
replace air conditioning drier amp; service AC system with added
R12 freon, new tires, radiator recore, new summer thermostat, new
heavy duty battery, transmission service, and with a full major
service and tune up completed at 71,062 miles.The car therefore
drives like few other Cloud's - exactly as it is supposed to; the
engine is extremely strong and purrs like a sewing machine, the
transmission shifts smooth as silk with Rolls Royce's legendary
almost imperceptible shift and the engine temperature always
remains cool. The car drives straight as an arrow with no strange
road wobbles, shakes or rattles and is a truly remarkable and
responsive daily driver! The factory air conditioning blows cold
air throughout the car and the power windows work smooth and fast.
A truly remarkable example both mechanically and cosmetically.This
particular model truly must be driven and seen to be fully
appreciated. For those who are unfamiliar, Rolls Royce no longer
exists as it had for over one hundred years - this is one of the
last in the original line of cars built in the legendary Rolls
Royce factory in Crewe, England with a quality and craftsmanship
that far surpasses that of today's mass produced models with many
BMW parts - this is a rare opportunity to own a piece of automobile
history, from a time when Rolls Royce was truly building the
world's finest motor cars. This increasingly desirable and
collectible Silver Cloud II, one of the most desired of the Silver
Clouds by enthusiasts with the all aluminum 6.2L V8 engine and the
single head lights - which of note, Rolls Royce purists were
appalled with at the time when the later Silver Cloud III's
transformation with the dubious redesigned front-end lower hood and
radiator with quad front headlamps mounted in oval nacelles -
considered a shocking violation of RR tradition - one magazine went
so far as to refer to the quad lights as the equivalent to
installing a jukebox in Winchester cathedral!Along with it's tall
grill and tall flying lady the Silver Cloud II is an absolute
moving work of art from a time when Rolls-Royce and Bentley were
arguably building the "Best Cars in the World" at the time of it's
production; the craftsmanship an...for more information please
contact the seller.