1960 ROLLS-ROYCE SILVER CLOUD II

The partnership between Charles Stewart Rolls, a London aristocrat, and Sir Henry Royce, an engineer from Manchester then manufacturing power cranes in 1904, gave birth to Rolls-Royce Ltd. in 1906. Their first automobile produced, the “10 hp Royce” by Henry Royce in 1905. The 6-cylinder Silver Ghost was introduced in 1906, and remained in production with 6,173 numbers built, first in Manchester, followed by the new location in Derby in 1908, until 1925. A Springfield, Massachusetts, USA factory opened in 1920 manufactured 2,944 Rolls-Royce, including 1,703 Silver Ghosts up to the end of 1931. 1925 saw the introduction of Phantom I, followed by the improved Phantom II in 1930. In 1931, Sir Henry acquired Rolls-Royce’s bankrupt competitor Bentley. When he died in 1933, the red “R” letter on the emblem was changed to black. The 12-cylinder Phantom III was introduced in 1935, followed by the Wraith in 1939. The first Rolls-Royce manufactured in the new factory in Crewe after the war in 1946 was the Silver Wraith. In 1949, it was followed by the first factory bodied Silver Dawn (based on a standard Bentley saloon body), initially only sold abroad. British Royalty officially began using Rolls-Royces in 1949, in the shape of the manual 8-cylinder Phantom.

The Silver Cloud I was introduced in April 1955 with a 6-cylinder 298 cu.in. engine. Hitherto,

Rolls-Royce only manufactured the chassis and commissioned renowned companies for the body, but the Silver Cloud was first designed by John Blatchley and the “Standard Saloon” body was built in the factory. In Autumn 1959, the Silver Cloud II as seen in our Museum was introduced with the same appearance, but featuring a new 378 cu.in. V8 engine used for the first time by Rolls-Royce and a Hydra-Matic transmission by General Motors. This Silver Cloud II, the last model to earn the title of  “the best car in the world” for Rolls-Royce, came to our Museum from the United States.