Want a Rolls-Royce ? Read on…
There are two sayings to remember when purchasing a classic from Crewe’s glory years.
Firstly; ‘if you can’t afford a good Rolls-Royce, you really can’t afford a bad one’ and secondly, and perhaps more importantly, ‘there is nothing more expensive than a cheap Rolls-Royce.’ These sayings are often ringing in my ears when I look on Auto Trader and see the sub-£12k Bentley Continentals and early unloved-looking Rolls-Royces from the 80s and 90s.
These sayings aren’t intended to scare perspective buyers away but merely as a warning for those who rush in where angels fear to tread.
Go back to the 1980s when the Silver Spirit and its long wheelbase sibling, the Silver Spur were new and the kings of the road the world was a very different place. Luxury cars were meant to be like a stately home on wheels and don’t mention fuel economy or road holding. A decade earlier and the Silver Shadow famously had such poor steering there was a joke about it being designed to withstand a sneezing chauffeur pulling the steering wheel down and the car retained its place on the road, thus, not to disturb the VIP passenger in the back! This was from a time a new DB6 Volante would set you back £6000 and a new Silver Shadow £7500.
Fast forward to 2025 where the Aston will now set you back £750k and a usable Silver Shadow is £8-£35k! If only we’d known.
However, despite the horror stories that everyone appears to have there are good cars available that won’t break the bank in terms of purchase price and running costs. These cars will return many years of loyal service whilst you gently waft to your destination.
The term ‘usable’ seems to translate to a rough old car in general terms, however when it comes to a ‘Royce’ (get the vernacular, to owners they are never ‘Rollers’, only ever a Royce, in deference to the great engineer, Sir Henry) a usable Silver Spirit will cost you around £10-13k and will be a good car in great condition, sub-100k miles and a reasonable service history. The fastidious may insist on a full and comprehensive service history, and if there is one that’s a bonus. However, evidence of recent maintenance is key, certainly more important than if the car was serviced by a main dealer some ten years before.
Like all used cars, you pay your money, you take your chances, but getting the vehicle checked out by a Rolls-Royce mechanic will be a couple of hundred pounds well spent and will give you peace of mind that you aren’t merely purchasing somebody else’s problems. There are experts available across the UK.
As a rule, when driving you want to see no warning lights, a low running temperature and high oil pressure. If the latter two are reversed, then make a hasty exit as the head gasket is likely on the way out and this is an £8000 repair due to the high labour costs involved.
The interior should be gently mellowed with clean leather and good and even varnish on the woodwork. The former is easy to put right, the latter less so, so it is better not to have to sort out either so soon after purchase. There should also be lambswool over-rugs to protect the carpets, these are a dry clean-only item but if any owner is parking their Royce in a muddy field and leaving the mud on the floor, they aren’t the kind of person to be buying your next cherished classic from.
Royces from this era are prone to rust, around the wheel arches and sills so check these carefully. Replacement arches and sills are available at reasonable cost, around £200 for the arches and up to £1000 for the sills but this is plus removal of the old ones, fitting, welding and painting so expect to pay £3000 for a full replacement of these items and a partial respray.
It pays to invest in rust-proofing treatment as a preventative measure.
But if you find the car and the inspection is positive, then find a good garage for maintenance and make sure the car is serviced annually which will be a couple of hundred pounds for the oil and filter, with the B Service, which covers engine, gearbox, rear axle, and auxiliary belts every 12 thousand miles. Do this and you’ll find the car will run and run. Ignore maintenance at your peril.
The correct tyres are Avon Turbo Steels but these retail at £300 a corner, however there are perfectly good alternatives that are around £120 each and always go for the white band tyres.
Running costs are high. One warning light even a healthy Royce will often show is the orange fuel light, expect no more than 10, that’s ten miles per gallon on short journeys around town and high teens on a longer motorway/dual carriageway trip.
But what does this guy know? Well, quite a bit, here’s my experiences and I hope they help someone from making the same mistakes.
In 2008 I bought a 1986 Rolls-Royce Silver Spirit for £8k. It was in a fetching gold as you’ll see from the pictures and certainly looked the part however it was a bag of bolts and cost me a further £3000 over the next two years and the next 3000 miles. One challenge was rough running that had the car off the road from one July to November.
When I sold the car for £5500 two years later, I vowed I’d never be tempted by a shiny car again.
Six years and several cars later I was feeling the pull of a classic Royce again and this time I took my time, looking at several cars, some way of my price range just to get a feel of where the levels in costs were and the differences in the quality of the cars. I was surprised to find that high-end dealers were stocking cars at twice the price of some private sellers and the differences in quality were far from obvious. I eventually found my next car, a glorious dark blue with cream leather 1990 Spur II being sold through a dealer out of an estate sale of a local car collector. The gentleman had been an avid collector of blue cars and had seventeen at the time of his passing! The dealer handling the sale was a family friend who disposed of the collection for the family. When I arrived at the garage, there was a blue E-Type, a blue Aston, a blue Range Rover, and what I was there to see, a pair of blue Silvers Spurs. Both had about the same miles, around 80k, both were blue, but one was a mark two, so had the updated dashboard, inlay wood, better wheels and more modern switch gear, and they were the same price. I went for the later model.
After an inspection of the paperwork, which I took time to read, a detailed look around the car and a mechanical inspection, I took the car out and the deal was done.
A week later I picked up the car and drove it home; it was magical.
A week after that I had the aforementioned ‘B service’ and it came back tight and like a different car. That was nine years ago. The car and I have done 13,000 trouble-free miles together, I wash her weekly, store her properly in the winter, service her annually, attend lots of classic car events and generally love the Royce experience.
She’s taken me to hundreds of cars shows and still puts a smile on my face more than anything else I drive. During my ownership, a Mercedes R129 SL320 and a Porsche 944 have shared the driveway with her, but neither lasted more than a year or so as neither could hope to replicate the driving pleasure and sense of occasion I get from the Royce, affectionally known as ‘Rosemary the Royce’.
So, if you are considering a Rolls-Royce Silver Spirit or Spur remember those two sayings from the start of this article. Do your homework, get the car inspected and keep on top of the maintenance. There are breakers selling used parts and aftermarket generics are available, Flying Spares and Westminster Autos are two that are worth checking out.
If you’re in the Midlands, I’d recommend V8 specialist Phoenix Car Clinic, who have looked after Rosemary since day one. They aren’t a Rolls-Royce shop but rather V8s in general. Rosemary has shared ramp space with Aston Martins, TVRs, Bentleys and a myriad of American classics over the years.
Follow the rules, do your homework and I expect you’ll find a car that delivers on every level. I wish you luck. Now I’ve just seen a tempting Conty GT to join the stable, there may be trouble ahead……
Happy motoring
Maximilian James
Maximilian James is a Carcadia contributor, podcaster, Youtuber, collector of classic cars and husband to a long-suffering wife. Recently turning his hand to magic; just last week he turned a new kitchen into a classic Volvo.