24/04/2009 - W de Forte drives Summer Wine Classics' Rolls Royce Silver Cloud

ROLLS ROYCE SILVER CLOUD I (1955-1959) – THE FINEST CAR IN THE WORLD

In 1955, the Rolls Royce Silver Cloud and its Bentley equivalent, the 'S', were launched in a new era of optimism. Rationing had finally ceased and it was once more socially acceptable to spend one's loot on items of style and luxury. Rolls Royces were again rightly trumpeted as the finest cars in the world and in July 1957, just three weeks after our test car, Silver Cloud UOV 894, was delivered to its first owner, Harold MacMillan told us all we had never had it so good.

The new Rolls Royce Silver Cloud succeeded the Silver Ghost, Phantom, Wraith and Dawn and when approaching the car from any angle there are unmistakable signs of its glorious tradition and breeding. It is an evolution of pre-war styles; the handsome Gothic radiator, unchanged for 50 years, and the graceful, sweeping lines of the bodywork give this splendid gentleman's carriage great presence and majesty.

Its 'standard steel' coachwork was finished by artisans at the Crewe factory, the body panels having been made by the Pressed Steel Co Ltd in Oxford, but no matter. Bespoke coachwork was still available from a dwindling number of specialist builders such as H J Mulliner, James Young or Park Ward for chaps fortunate enough to be able to afford something even more exclusive, but the factory-made car is still enormously beautiful. Despite its huge size, it is elegant, balanced and aristocratic. Time has not aged it.

Designed to be equally suited to chauffeur or owner driving, which was itself a reflection of changing times in the 1950s, the car is 20% longer and 5 ½ inches wider than the models that preceded it, dimensions which may give present-day owners problems finding adequate covered storage!

It is also a high car and its interior floor is almost completely flat. As a result entry and egress can be achieved with decorum. The passenger compartment is the epitome of comfort: the wide rear seat contains a generous centre arm rest, the upholstery is carried high to form padded head rests which envelop the occupants, and lights in the rear quarters allow reading without disturbing one's driver. There are pull-down picnic tables and an ample carpeted luggage locker accommodates the largest cases. The front bench seat sports separate front arm rests so a passenger can travel in comfort without reducing the driver's elbow room – handy in the event of some unplanned arm exercise when 'pushing on'!

The Silver Cloud is a handmade motor car of extraordinary quality with cost clearly an afterthought. The interior is trimmed in excellent taste and perfection of detail is to be observed in all respects. The dial-type instruments and gauges are clearly seen and read, the dashboard and door garnish rails are furnished with well matched walnut veneers and the pile carpet and fine English hides are of the first rank.

It is some years since I have driven a Silver Cloud and I was pleased to accept an invitation to go for a spin in a 1957 model recently acquired by Summer Wine Classics in Holmfirth, a purveyor of fine motor cars for chauffeured and self drive hire in Holmfirth in the West Riding of Yorkshire. A quick shufti in the workshop revealed all was tickety-boo with this fine example and it was time to get cracking. Enjoying the ride in the back, and keeping a beady eye on yours truly, were the car's new owners, Summer Wine proprietor Mr Richard Skelton and his good lady, Loretta.

The Royce (never a Roller) moved off smoothly without slurring its automatic gear changes and we were soon passing through Holmfirth drawing admiring glances from the populace. For such a massive coach, UOV 984 was surprisingly manageable around town and and not at all difficult to drive once one has adapted to its great size. Just as well as I had to swerve around several gormless types standing in the middle of the road staring at a teashop; the former residence of a domestic named Norah Batty, apparently. On the open road a Cloud has good acceleration despite its bulk, and mechanical quietness and lack of wind noise make it deceptively fast. So much so it is easy to find oneself tooling along at highly illegal speeds!

Developed from that of the Bentley Continental, the 4,887cc six cylinder engine in the Silver Cloud provides ample urge, although it was replaced in 1959 by a larger American inspired V8. Until relatively recent times it was Rolls Royce policy to be highly secretive about the performance of their engines, simply stating that power output was 'sufficient'. However, aided by several glasses of a very fine malt, which I had brought from the cellar in Bales, I did once persuade RR chairman Lord Hives to admit to a figure of 178 bhp for the Cloud. More significantly, time has proved the over-engineered unit to be capable of a quarter of a million miles service if properly maintained.

The Silver Cloud has an automatic gearbox, pandering to the American fashion of the time, which changes gear itself without regard to the driver's skill or intelligence. No bad thing in many cases! A manual gearbox option was not offered and this raised motoring scribes' hackles at the time, including mine, but in truth, the Hydramatic system, as fitted to 1950s Cadillacs and made under licence from General Motors, goes about its work unobtrusively and is, on the whole, quite delightful. But it is possible to override the Hydramatic's 'brain', holding on to first gear up to 22mph, second up to 34mph and third up to 63mph.

Incidentally, with a heavy boot it is possible to spin the wheels on a V8 Silver Cloud, quite something for an automatic car, although this is not something I would attempt with the owner present! I recall leaving black lines up the road outside the Rose & Crown in Bales in a borrowed Cloud II in '59. Impressing some Popsy or other no doubt!

Free from vibration and bounce on good roads (soft tyres help) the rear seat passenger's experience is of near silent wafting progression. In fact, at 70mph on the M1, the the loudest sound I detected from UOV was the incessant twittering of the bods in the rear! Back in 1955 much was made of the fact the 100mph Silver Cloud was the fastest motor car to bear the Rolls Royce name. Poppycock! Pater's 1939 12 cylinder Phantom regularly saw the ton up on its silver plated Warner speedometer, but I will concede the Cloud may well have been the first 100mph closed Rolls Royce motor car.

Sadly, second class road surfaces, once only experienced in backward parts of Europe, are now all too commonplace here in Blighty and my rear seat passengers were sometimes made all too aware of the unsprung mass of the rear axle below them when travelling quickly on Kirklees Metropolitan Council's horrid patchwork A and B roads. A two position switch on the steering column selects either 'firm' or 'soft' rear damper settings, but in reality the difference is minimal and the generous foam overlay and substantial spring case of the rear seat base can become tested to the limit.

Power steering became standard equipment on the Silver Cloud in October 1956 and Rolls Royce's new hydraulic system brought great joy to chauffeurs everywhere. Previously a chore, parking was made easy, yet 'feel' was retained when the car was on the move. In fact, above all else it was exactness of steering and stopping that put Rolls Royce in a different class to other cars in the 1950s.

A two ton car needs damned good binders and the Silver Cloud's huge cast iron drums are the best that drum brakes can be, boasting 240 square inches of braking surface. The firm's venerable mechanical servo (designed in 1919!) lags at walking speeds, causing some frightening parking moments, and it is always good policy to engage gear with the handbrake safely deployed, but when it really matters, the car can be hauled down from high speed without any snaking, squealing, shuddering or unwelcome pong!

Fine demisting wires set in the rear window was an advanced feature in the 1950s and the device still works well on UOV, but the car's over-elaborate heating and ventilation system performs poorly by modern standards. I found it hard to keep the screen clear and provide a comfortable environment for my passengers and frequent fiddling with the blasted thing is the only option, as deafening wind roar is the result of opening the windows at speed.

Frederick Henry Royce was a fine British engineer and it is down to him that his company became a universal synonym for excellence (and remarkably, this is still the case despite the firm's embarrassing bankruptcy in 1980, and subsequent cataclysmic catastrophes such as the fitting of BMW engines, which eventually led to a total takeover by the dratted sausage eaters).

Royce perfected convention rather than invented the unorthodox. A driven man, he had a capacity for taking pains, carried out uniquely exhaustive tests, took great pride in craftsmanship and brought a perfectionist attitude to all he did. The Silver Cloud was released 22 years after his death but the exquisite line and form of the car and its exemplary driving behaviour are a testimony to his values and remain so to this day.

The Silver Cloud is essentially quite simply engineered, but sophistication is not necessarily an attribute. Uncomplicated, cultured and refined, the Silver Cloud is a very fine motor car. Royce's personal motto was: “Whatever is rightly done, however humble, is noble,” and in the 1950s the thoroughly British Rolls Royce Silver Cloud was the most carefully made car in the world.

In June 1957, UOV 984 cost Mr Halford of Birmingham £4,796.10s.1d inc purchase tax, the cost of two semi-detached houses. Today it is worth around £25,000. This is still a great deal of money but the huge prices paid for coachbuilt cars on the same chassis make that valuation seem a bargain. The 'standard steel' Rolls Royce Silver Cloud is a quite charming car of extraordinary quality that satisfies the senses and easily justifies the cost of purchase. It's just a shame it's too long for most chaps' motor houses!

THE BENTLEY MK VI

When, in 1946, Great Britain's most globally renowned and highly esteemed motor car manufacturer began producing civilian vehicles once again, after several years dedicated largely to aero engine design and manufacture, the firm took an understandably pragmatic approach.

The country was on its uppers, having just bankrupted itself beating Jerry for the second time and steel was strictly rationed. Furthermore, being seen to be rolling in lolly in times of austerity, was not at all the done thing, so Rolls Royce made their new car smaller than those of pre-war design and marketed it as a Bentley, previously a manufacturer of sporting cars driven by raffish types, and a marque that Rolls Royce had acquired back in 1931.

But the most remarkable thing about the new Bentley Mk VI was it was the first Rolls Royce car to be sold with a body fitted at the factory. Previously, the firm's well heeled customers took their new motorised chassis frames to a specialist coachbuilder of choice, of which there were a proliferation in the inter-war years, and had a body made to their specifications and requirements. This remained an option, but most of these splendid post war motor cars were sold with what became known as 'standard steel' bodies.