PennSilverTaco's European vehicle photo montage and rant/rave thread!

That yellow one looks hideous

 

If you look closely, in that first picture, the guy has a NRA sticker on the butterfly window. Haha, never thought I would see that.

Reminds me of the George Carlin stand-up where he says you will never see a "shit happens" sticker on a Rolls Royce.

 

And in Beverly Hills too! Maybe it's Jed Clampett's grandson!

 

This '76 Silver Shadow is finished Old Ivory, and aside from the incorrect BF Goodrich rubber, I am digging this car!



One thing I would like to point about this Silver Shadow is the stereo system...

You will notice in the picture below that it has the factory AM/FM radio in the factory location (center console). However, you will also notice that a modern Pioneer receiver has been installed in place of the 8-track player. In newer Roll-Royces and Bentleys (late fifties and newer), I believe it is acceptable to install a modern stereo system as long as it is done properly. By properly, I mean not hacking up the interior or causing damage to the wiring loom during the installation. If you are not experienced with car stereo installations, it is best to take your motorcar to a specialist to have a new stereo installed...

This is one of the better aftermarket stereo installations I've seen in an SY car..

 

This is a '79 Silver Shadow II, correctly done in Champagne over Chestnut, with the color on the wheel disc matching the lower paint color...



The tires are not exactly what I would call correct, but the wheel discs do match the lower paint color!

 

Highly incorrect steering wheel in a '73 Corniche FHC...

 

This dude pisses me off. All of those one off cars he’s hoarding will rot in his garage

 

FUN FACT: FHC is an abbreviation of Fixed-Head Coupe, which is British English for a hardtop coupe...

Here is an exterior shot of the same 1973 Rolls-Royce Corniche...



This is, without a doubt, one of the most beautiful Rolls-Royces ever built!

 

I agree with you there!

However, some of the Sultan's vehicles were to sold to private buyers. I don't know about the fate of any of the Dominator SUVs, sadly...

 

I’ve got a really soft spot for Ghosts, Wraiths and Dawns. I’ll never forget taking a ride in a Ghost

 

That's quite understandable! I still have a soft spot for the 2004-present Bentley Continental GT...

They are nice cars, but the 2004-newer Rolls-Royces are not true Roll-Royces. Rolls-Royce has been owned by BMW since the late 1990s!

 

I’m also a massive BMW fanboy, so I can’t complain too much about that. My current X5 with the latest version of iDrive isn’t so bad. Now way back when it came out.... TERRIBLE Lol

 

Here are some nicely done aftermarket stereo installs in older Rolls-Royces and Bentleys...

1969 Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow:



1979 Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow II:



1936 Rolls-Royce Phantom III:



1965 Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud III:



1989 Bentley Mulsanne:



1989 Bentley Turbo R:



1993 Rolls-Royce Silver Spur II Mulliner Park Ward limousine:



1976 Rolls-Royce Camargue (newer Blaupunkt CD receiver in lower opening):



1996 Rolls-Royce Silver Spur Springfield Edition (I believe this is actually the factory radio):

 

BMWs are great cars, and yes iDrive was terrible!

My favorite BMW is probably the E46!

 

Neat thread Charlie! Keep it going. There was an outfit in Colorado Springs, CO in the late 1980's swapping Chevy small blocks, and big blocks too, into these. The owner purchased them from around the US with drive train or engine problems and outfitted them with Chevy engines, transmissions and rear ends. It almost seems like a travesty to do this to such nice cars, but hey, if the price is right... I don't think his company ever took off, but he produced some neat vehicles that could really tear up the pavement... even for cars that weighed nearly 3 tons.

 

This was really popular among limo companies that used 1956-1965 Silver Clouds, to make the cars more reliable and cheaper to maintain...

It did make them cheaper to maintain, but it completely ruined the cars...

You just DO NOT put a Chevy engine in a Rolls-Royce!

 

This is what it looks like underneath the bonnet of a 1979 Rolls-Royce Silver Wraith II, a car which obviously came from the factory with R-12 factory. However, you can see by the caps (circled in red) on the high side (red cap) and low side (blue cap) that this car has been retrofitted to R134a refrigerant at some point in its life. This is a very common thing to do in all older vehicles when the A/C system starts to leak or otherwise needs an overhaul, as R-12 is not being produced any more, and is getting more and more expensive as a result of being harder to find.


Any Rolls-Royce or Bentley automobile newer than 1993 is guaranteed to have R134a from the factory, due to the regulations set in place by the Montreal Protocol. However, European automakers seem to have started complying with these regulations sooner than the American and Japanese manufacturers. The oldest vehicle I've ever seen with R134a from the factory was a 1993 Mercedes S-class manufactured in late 1992, and the newest I've ever seen with R-12 from the factory was a 1994 Chevrolet S-10 Blazer. I've been looking at engine bay pictures of 1992 Rolls-Royces and Bentleys, and all the ones I've seen thus far still seem to have black caps on the high and low sides. Since I can't find the A/C info sticker in the pictures, this could mean that these cars either came from the factory with R-12 and haven't been converted, or they came from the factory with R134a...

Under the bonnet of a 1992 Bentley Continental R (note how the caps are black)...

 

Under the bonnet of a 1992 Rolls-Royce Corniche IV (again, note how the caps are black)

 

Does anybody know if 1992-1993 Rolls-Royces and Bentleys came with R-12 or R134a from the factory?!?!

 

And here's a '91 Silver Spur II. It is quite easy to see that this one was retrofitted to R134a by looking at the blue sticker on the underside of the bonnet. For some reason, the high side has a red cap, but the low side still seems to have a black cap...


Now we know that Rolls-Royce and Bentley air-conditioners used R-12 until at least 1991!