Inventory Listing

Lifetime southern car in excellent condition. Beautiful interior, paint, chrome, and top. Mechanically excellent with extensive service records. Drive a Rolls-Royce for the price of a 2-year-old Honda.

Having spent a majority of its life down south, this handsome Silver Spur is extremely clean. The conservative bodywork is unmarked and shows no signs of rust or rot and the doors open and close with a precision that would justify its original $180,000 sticker price. In fact, the hood and trunk feel the same way, as if every hinge was lined with silk, and the heavy, solid feeling of every component speaks to the quality materials within. The paint, which is unexcitingly called Ivory, has a luster and gloss that genuinely reflects the fact that it was hand-rubbed and buffed by denizens of the Crewe factory who have been doing this very thing for decades. There are a few signs of use, of course, but it’s very clear that someone has treated this Rolls-Royce very, very well.

Part of the Rolls-Royce image is chrome, and a lot of it. The famous radiator shell is called “German Silver,” which is another name for high-grade stainless steel, and it’s beautifully preserved and polishes up almost like new. The other shiny parts on the car are chrome plated and it was show-quality plating when it was new, so it’s holding up beautifully. The bumper trim, including the rubber parts, is in excellent condition with no accident damage or UV deterioration and the padded roof, which gives this car a formal look, is original and excellent with no signs of delamination or rust underneath. You will also note that this car carries the more desirable European-style headlights, which give the car a much more sophisticated look than the US-spec system.

But it’s the interior that truly makes any Rolls-Royce special. The combination of spaciousness, materials, and hand craftsmanship has not been duplicated anywhere else at any price, and to be able to live like this for so little money seems almost like a miracle. Tan hides with white piping are elegant and tasteful in the Ivory car, and the world-famous Connolly leather feels (and smells) delightful. There are some light scuff marks on the driver’s outer seat bolster, which shouldn’t be a surprise, but the rest of the interior is almost like new, a testament to the quality materials and expert care it has received. Plush Wilton wool carpets with doubly-plush sheepskin floor mats make you ashamed to wear your shoes in the car and everything that looks like wood IS wood, a combination of burled walnut and exotic African hardwoods. For 1988, every luxury feature you could want is standard equipment: automatic climate control, power windows, locks, seats, and mirrors, cruise control, and even delightful little features you’d never thought you’d need, including a button that transforms the fuel level gauge into an oil level gauge. The only deviation from original specifications is a newer Alpine AM/FM/CD stereo head unit neatly integrated into the center stack and fully integrated with the power antenna out back.

Drop-down tray tables are beautifully crafted but probably more for show than function, but there are plenty of thoughtful touches, ranging from the pockets in the backs of the front seats to the center armrest. The trunk is beautifully appointed using the same materials, and includes the original tools, jack, and spare tire.

Rolls-Royce has been using the “six-and-three-quarter” liter OHV V8 engine for decades, but why change a good thing? The intervening decades have proven the engine’s durability and reliability, and you will be pleased to note that this car comes with a huge service history with receipts and documentation, so it remains in first-class mechanical condition. It starts quickly and easily thanks to the fuel injection, and while it is not going to win many drag races, it moves this enormous car without apparent effort. Pushing the throttle results in exactly the same amount of power every time, and it never strains itself no matter how hard you push. There’s a hushed burble from the original exhaust system, very proper and not at all boisterous, and from within it’s so silent that they should have included a rev counter just so you can be sure it’s still running.

The transmission, even though Rolls-Royce doesn’t want you to know it, is a General Motors TH400 3-speed automatic. It clicks through the gears completely unobtrusively, again emphasizing smoothness over all else. Tall 3.08 gears in the independent rear end mean that overdrive is completely unnecessary. Four-wheel disc brakes, automatic leveling air suspension, and enormous sway bars at both ends give it the kind of competence that you’d never expect from a 6000-pound vehicle. Original steel wheels wear color-matched hubcaps and big 235/70/15 whitewall radials—Avon Turbosteels, of course.

The Rolls-Royce experience is different, and you’ll know it from the moment you slide behind the wheel. I will also say that no other car I’ve driven has attracted this much attention: not Ferraris, not big Full Classics, not boisterous muscle cars. EVERYONE recognizes that this is an important car. What they don’t recognize is that it’s available for pennies on the dollar and still delivers the kind of peerless luxury experience—even after 30 years—that no other manufacturer has ever been able to match. I can think of no greater automotive achievement available for less money than this.