Vehicle Description
Beautifully presented in Willow Gold (metallic) with hand-painted
dark-almost-black fine-lines to the waist rails and hubcap beauty
rings. Interior finished in delectable and nicely patinaed beige
Connolly hides. The car is Right Hand Drive ("RHD") and is the rare
derivative of the Silver Shadow II - the Bentley T2 - where only
some 1-in-10 were made. This is a "Rest Of the World" ("ROW)
specification T2 and, as such, is manufactured to true Rolls-Royce
designs. It has the correct specification chrome and rubber bumpers
and not the over-protruding "5 mile an hour" bumpers developed for
American standards. Stand back and look at profile pictures of a
ROW spec Silver Shadow/T and you will see it has better lines with
a more "integrated" look. The engine in the car is UK version
higher compression (8:1 vs 7.3:1 for the US) and was designed and
built without catalytic converters using regular silencers instead.
So extra power is noticeable. And, without the plethora of
anti-pollution "add-ons" (which did very little) this not only
provides for better fuel economy but less maintenance cost. The gas
tank is located as per earlier Shadows/Ts with the filler cap on
the right rear quarter panel as opposed to the left rear "C" pillar
for all US-spec cars. Subtle differences include the plush Ambla
head-liner, dash padding and finer chrome and trimmings throughout
the interior, as well as the exterior (headlight brushes), which
were not available on American cars. Being an ROW car, it has a
front air-dam (spoiler) fitted with Lucas fog lamps and covers in
the front and rear red fog-lamps to the rear, with the number plate
mounted below the front bumper and not on it. These are all unique
to non-US specification cars. The car was originally delivered by
Jack Barclays in London. Some time within the first 15 years it was
transported to the US for private use. This car came to us from an
excellent source; JE Robison Rolls-Royce of Massachusetts who have
been servicing her for the previous caretaker for the last 5+
years. As you would expect from the reputation of John Robison, she
is in top mechanical and operational condition. The body is
straight with the paint presenting very nicely. Much of the paint
is original and shows small blemishes and marks with minor
buff-through marks in various places, but I am a firm believer,
originality outweighs perfection. When we received the car, we
repaired a scrape in the left rear quarter and attended to some
paint repair on the left front wing (fender) and a section near the
antennae. The rest, again, appears to be all original which is very
hard to find as most Shadows and Ts have been repainted by this
time. Especially metallic paints, so this gives some testament how
well she was looked after (indoor garaged). The colour "Willow
Gold" is a beautiful, slightly greenish tinged light gold that
presents very much as you would expect its namesake - a Willow tree
- to look in early autumn showing gorgeous pale golden hues. Very
stunning and not often seen in the US market. The interior is in
amazing patinaed condition. At this point, let me say, if you do
not like or understand good old-world patina, then this would be
the time to move one. The leather in this T2 carries all the charm
of an antique chesterfield couch. If you like brand new single
coloured leather, like you would find in a brand new Lexus, then
this car is not for you. Maybe the Lexus is. The leather has lovely
grains and creases to every bit of the tradition one expects of
Connolly Vaumol hides. I'm sure every crease and grain-line tells a
story. There are no rips, tears or fading, just the normal crease
lines on the seats which occur naturally with high quality Connolly
hide leather. Beyond the patina, if you look at some of the
close-up pictures of the interior, you can better understand the
nature of Vaumol hides. The colour is not just plain beige, but
with a "burnished" tone to the leather. You can see t
