Rolls-Royce

Rolls-Royce is a set of companies, all deriving from the British automobile and aero-engine manufacturing company founded by Henry Royce and C.S. Rolls in 1906. The companies are:

Rolls-Royce cars 1945-1998

The major events in the company's history were:

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• 1965: launch of the modern Silver Shadow.
• 1971: nationalization of the combined aero-engine and car company.
• 1973: privatization of the car division as Rolls-Royce Motor Cars.
• 1980: company acquired by Vickers.

Main cars in this period:

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• Silver Dawn, 1949-1955.
• Silver Cloud, 1955-1966.
• Silver Shadow, 1965-1980. This was the first Rolls-Royce with a monocoque chassis. Started with a 6.23 L V8 engine, later expanded to 6.75 L. This shared its design with the Bentley T-series.
• Camargue, 1975-1986 with a Pininfarina body
• Silver Spirit, 1980-1994. This shared its design with the Bentley Mulsanne.
• Corniche, 1971-1996 (generations I - IV)

Bentley models were produced mostly in parallel with the above cars. The Bentley Continental coupés (produced in various forms from the mid-1950s to the mid-1960s) did not have Rolls-Royce equivalents. Very expensive Rolls-Royce Phantom limousines were also produced. In this period other luxury car makers, such as Mercedes-Benz, BMW and (much later) Lexus, made many technical advances combining sporting abilities with high levels of comfort; this left Rolls-Royces looking old-fashioned in many ways.

Related Topics:
Mercedes-Benz - BMW - Lexus

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