There’s a definite ‘back to the ’70s’ vibe in the UK at the moment. Paul McCartney has just headlined at Glastonbury, Kate Bush has been topping the charts, rampant inflation is sparking industrial unrest, fuel prices are at record levels – and the Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow is a cool car again. How come?
In the 1970s, a Shadow was the car to aspire to. It would almost be easier to compile a list of celebrities who didn’t own one than to name those who did. In particular, if you were a working-class kid made good, the Shadow was the ultimate sign of success: everyone from Jimmy Tarbuck (with his registration COM 1C) to, yes, Paul McCartney had one. The class-busting symbolism was perhaps less significant across The Pond but the Shadow was equally revered over there, with mega-famous owners including Johnny Cash, Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra. Even counterculture types such as Andy Warhol couldn’t resist the lure of owning The Best Car in the World.
That was then, however. Time passed and the conservative-looking Shadow had started to look dated in the thrusting, greed-is-good world of the late ’80s. It didn’t help that Rolls-Royce built so many of the damned things: more than 38,000 if you include the badge-engineered Bentley variants. And, it has to be said, the Shadow’s glamour started to fade in parallel with the reputations of their once-popular owners. Jimmy Savile had a Shadow. Enough said.
Which is all terribly unfair, because the Silver Shadow is a truly exceptional car. Just ask contributor Harry Metcalfe, whose proverbial dream garage of exotic motors also includes a 1970 Shadow. Harry drove his Shadow to the Arctic Circle for a feature in 181 and subsequently wrote: ‘The trip was one of the most memorable ones I’ve done and the Shadow has become a firm favourite in the garage
