“ This is a really stunning example; a former factory press and motor show display car. It was even featured in the launch brochure. ”
The car drives exceptionally well – and it looks as good as it drives. It has been looked-after and cared-for, with no corners cut, compromises entertained or costs dodged, by all the right people in a timely and diligent fashion.

Background
Immediately after the second World War, Rolls-Royce was, just like many other car constructors, in a very difficult spot from a financial perspective. The war years had led to rapidly declining sales and the brand was looking for ways to survive.

The answer was the Rolls-Royce Silver Dawn, with its factory-built body which it shared, together with the chassis, with the Bentley Mark VI until 1952 and from there on the Bentley R-Type until the end of production in 1955.

In 1946 Rolls-Royce moved production from Derby to Crewe where they began building complete cars in-house.

As such, the first new Bentley was the Mark VI, which was then followed by its sister car in 1949, sold under the Rolls-Royce brand name.

Both cars were basically identical, but the Silver Dawn was only built for export until 1953.

Consequently, most Silver Dawns were left-hand drive with the Standard Pressed Steel four-door salon bodywork.

Only about 785 Silver Dawns were built and about 60 of those cars were bodied by different smaller coachbuilders.

A first notable upgrade came in 1951, when the six-cylinder in-line engine size was increased to 4,556cc and received a full flow oil filter.

Later cars also received high compression heads. All the engine iterations had overhead inlet and side exhaust valves.

The Bentley-badged iterations had two carburettors; the Rolls-Royce a single, downdraught Stromberg Zenith carburettor.

An automatic gearbox option became available in late 1952.

Though the company was trying to cut costs, the cars sold for £4,700 when new, which was 12 times the price of a new English Ford.

Overview
In 1953, the previously export-only Silver Dawn was finally made available to British buyers.

And this very vehicle was the first of those cars, which makes it both truly unique and historically significant.

It was the first RHD Silver Dawn with an auto gearbox and a push-button start, a combination of factors that makes it, we believe, the first of the 221 thus configured to emerge from the Rolls-Royce factory.

It was displayed on the Rolls-Royce stand at the 1953 Earls Court Motor Show, reviewed in contemporary road tests by The Autocar and The Motor in October 1953, and illustrated in the official 1953 Rolls-Royce sales brochure…and all while sporting the same RTU272 registration it boasts today.

It came with the options of a sunroof and rear picnic tables.

The car was delivered new to Sir Frederick Handley Page at his home in Grosvenor Square.

If his name seems familiar it will no doubt be in relation to the eponymous Handley Page Halifax heavy bomber, which was constructed in vast numbers at the firm’s Cricklewood factory and, together with the Avro Lancaster, did much of the heavy lifting required by Arthur Harris at RAF Bomber Command during WWII.

Perhaps Sir Frederick’s passion for Rolls-Royce motor cars has its origin story in the four Rolls-Royce Merlin engines that powered the Halifax.

In 1962, the car was exported to California by its then owner, the splendidly monikered Count René de Mallory of Regensburg, Germany.

At some point around 1963, it changed colour from Belco Silver to the Mason’s Black livery you see today.

It returned to these shores (and its original registration plate) in 1988, after which it enjoyed two eras of long-term private ownership for 13 and 10 years, respectively.

The vendor bought the car in 2011 and has spent around £50,000 in the intervening years, mostly with revered marque whisperers Hillier Hill, in ensuring that it is one of the very best available anywhere today.

We have driven the car and can attest to the delightful urgency with which the straight-six engine springs into life at the push of the button.

That said, this car is so extraordinarily quiet that we had to press our ears to the bonnet to discern that it was running at all.

In fact, it’s so quiet it makes most modern electric cars sound like someone dragging a sack of cans down a farm track.

Out on the open road it purrs along effortlessly and doesn’t even look like breaking into a sweat if asked to cruise at 70mph for long periods of time.

It’s really very impressive indeed.

Exterior
Relatively small by the standards of other Rolls-Royces, the Silver Dawn was aimed at the owner/driver and its neat and tidy proportions reflect its intent to be a rewarding car to drive.

Even with the larger boot fitted to the 1953 ‘E’ series cars (to align the styling with the updated Bentley R-Type), the car presents very handsomely from every angle and projects just the right amount of stateliness and grandeur to make you feel more than a little special whether you’re behind the wheel or the driver.

The bodywork is straight and true throughout, and the shut-lines and panel gaps are sufficiently exact to allow the doors, bonnet and boot lid to close with reassuring degrees of gravitas and certainty.

The chrome-work is gleaming and bright wherever you cast your gaze and we’ve seen no tarnishing, foxing or pitting anywhere.

Famously an unforgiving colour, the black livery mostly has a mirror-like shine and real depth of lustre.

In the main, even entirely standard stone chips and light scratches are far more noticeable for their absence than their presence.

All four road wheels are beyond reproach, as is the matching Michelin XCA Plus rubber in which they are shod.

The spare wheel is also fine, although its tyre is rather more worn than its counterparts on the axles.

In short, it’s all very good indeed.

But, as it’s our job to be nit-picking pedants, we’ve peered long and hard at this car with a magnifying glass and come up with the following very minor things to moan about.

In no particular order, there are few very small, touched-up stone chips around the front of the car; some light, sanding marks on the o/s/f wing; the odd paint chip where the offside bonnet handle catches an edge; a hint of overspray towards the bottom of both offside doors; a small scratch below the filler cap; a faint residue of masking tape on the n/s/r door near the handle; a tiny dent, a spot of orange-peel paint and a small scratch under the handle on the n/s/r door; and a paint bubble near the n/s/f indicator.

Like we said, we’re really just nit-picking.

The car’s lights, lenses, badging and other exterior fixtures and fittings all appear to be in fine fettle.

The rarity of the Rolls-Royce made it a more desirable and expensive car to buy compared to the Bentley sister car.

View the car and current bidding price HERE