CarBrandLogos archive · Rolls-Royce · 1955

Rolls-RoyceSilver Cloud

John Blatchley's shape, and the debut of a V8 still in service half a century on.

Photo: Rico Heil · CC BY-SA 3.0

The story

A defining chapter in Rolls-Royce history.

Explore the ideas, engineering and context that shaped the Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud, then continue into its specifications and place in the marque's lineage.

1965 Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud III James Young Saloon

Origins

Rolls-Royce had been building bodies in-house since the war, and the Silver Cloud of 1955 was where that began to look deliberate rather than expedient. John Blatchley's standard steel saloon body, pressed by Pressed Steel and finished at Crewe, gave the car a lightness of line that its immediate predecessor lacked, and it defined how a Rolls-Royce looked for the next decade. Coachbuilt alternatives from Mulliner, Park Ward and James Young remained available for those who wanted them.

1965 Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud III James Young Saloon · Stephen Foskett (Wikipedia User: sfoskett) · CC BY-SA 3.0

Rolls Royce CLOUD II dutch licence registration AL-54-97

Design and engineering

Underneath, the Mark I used a 4.9-litre inline six with a four-speed automatic gearbox, the last of a long line. The important change came in 1959 with the Mark II, which introduced the aluminium 6.2-litre V8 that Rolls-Royce had developed in-house. Enlarged to 6.75 litres in the 1970s, that engine went on to power almost every Rolls-Royce and Bentley until 2020, an unusually long career for any powerplant. The Mark III of 1962 lowered the bonnet line and adopted four headlamps, which purists have argued about ever since.

Rolls Royce CLOUD II dutch licence registration AL-54-97 · AlfvanBeem · CC0

In production

Bentley sold the same car as the S-series, differing mainly in the radiator shell, and by this point the Rolls-Royce version outsold it heavily. In total 7,372 were built to 1966, when the monocoque Silver Shadow replaced a car that was still, structurally, a separate chassis with a body bolted on top.

Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud · Rex Gray · CC BY 2.0

At a glance