Lot Ended
Description
Few owners, the current since 2015; known history from new; last
serviced less than 400 miles ago; highly original; running and driving nicely on
site
The factory
build sheets show that this Shadow I left the Crewe works in December 1969
finished in Regal Red with Tan leather upholstery, Sandringham Beige carpets,
plain Sundym glass and whitewall tyres. Supplied new via Jack Barclays, the
first owner was a Mr Marcus Tillotson, owner of Tillotsons Newspapers Ltd of
Bolton, the original purchase invoice showing that it cost the princely sum of
£7,694.
To put this into context, the average
price of a terraced house in Lancashire was about £3,000 at the time and the
average annual salary was about £1,200 so Mr Tillotson’s flagship publication,
The Bolton Evening News, founded by his grandfather in 1867, was
clearly doing very nicely.
Mr Tillotson kept the
car for over 20 years during which time it wore his private plate, 54 BRU, and
it has had just five more owners since. Our vendor acquired the car in April
2015 from Rolls-Royce specialists Mulliner Ltd of Chester who were selling it on
behalf of a Mr P Taylor of Wigan who had owned it for the previous 11 years,
Mulliner’s ad stating that it was a car they had known for over 25 years (see
photos).
An engineer’s report dated June 2014
gave the car a very positive report, declaring it to be “exceedingly original
and correct” and worth £16,000 for insurance purposes (see photos), the mileage
at this point being 101,500, with only another 1,800 miles being added since
then.
Both the Mulliner ad and the engineer’s
report refer to a large and detailed portfolio documenting the service history
but unfortunately this paperwork is no longer with the car. However, there
are four invoices from Rolls and Bentley specialists Classic Motor
Corporation of Carmarthenshire for service work carried out between June 2015
and October 2017 when it was last serviced and it has only covered 250 miles
since, the odometer currently showing 103,225 miles (see
photos).
Other documentation includes 16 old
MOTs; current V5C; copy older V5C; invoices; engineer’s report; RREC literature;
original owner’s handbook; Flying Spares parts catalogue; copies of the factory
build sheets plus some nice period brochures for the Shadow and the Corniche. It
also comes with two sets of keys.
Part of a
small collection of classics owned by our vendor, this Shadow has been very
lightly used during his 11-year ownership and is only reluctantly for sale as he
has now relocated to the South West of England and has lost his storage facility
in West Wales.
As you can see in the photos, this
stately old Shadow looks to be in good shape for a 57-year-old with a
beautifully preserved interior, no obvious signs of corrosion on the body panels
and decent paintwork with just the odd blemish here and there.
It has
been starting instantly and running very smoothly as we have moved it around on
site, with effective brakes and finger-light steering, although we did note a
slight ticking from the engine bay which sounds like a minor blow on the exhaust
manifold. Gamely on offer here at no reserve, the best
bid drives it home.
Consigned by James
Dennison – 07970 309907 – [email protected]