The Silver Shadow, like its predecessor, the Silver Cloud, was designed by John Blatchley, but represented a major departure for the company. It incorporated unibody construction, disk brakes, and a hydro pneumatic self-leveling suspension system licensed from Citroen. The unibody design allowed for a smaller and easier to drive car in terms of outward dimensions but more room in the passenger compartment than the Silver Cloud.

The sedan became the best selling Rolls in history during its production run from 1966 to 1980 and continued as the Mulliner Park Park Ward Corniche convertible until 1996.

Jim’s car is a 1974 saloon built near the end of the first series production run and incorporates crash resistant bumpers and a customized airfoil and fog lights typical of the second series cars sold in Europe.