1953 Rolls-Royce Silver Dawn

Following World War II, Rolls-Royce Motors production was moved to Crewe where they planned to produce their own complete motorcar wearing an in-house design. The Rolls-Royce Silver Dawn was built for a new generation of owners who favored buying a complete, new automobile and driving it themselves, compared to the previous method of employing a coachbuilder and a chauffeur. Customers who desired a Silver Dawn with custom bodywork could still buy a chassis, and 64 such buyers selected this option, however, the depressed economics of the time-restricted the sales of the lavish, coachbuilt cars. The fully-clothed option was more popular, with 761 examples built between 1949 and 1955.

The standardized, all-steel factory body and mechanical components were largely shared with the Bentley Mark VI. It was initially introduced as an export-only model, but with the R Type-based model, it became officially available on the home market, from October 1953. Models with left-hand drive manual transmission used a column gear change, while right-hand drives had a floor change by the door.

The Silver Dawn was equipped with an inline six-cylinder with overhead inlet and side exhaust valves, a displacement size of 4,257cc, and breathing through a single double downdraught Stromberg type AAV 26. Displacement grew to 4,566cc in 1951, and the Stromberg carburetor was replaced by a Zenith DBVC42 unit in 1952. The engine was backed by a four-speed manual gearbox, with a four-speed automatic unit becoming optional in late 1952 on the 'E' Series chassis, and on the corresponding Bentley 'R' Type chassis.

The separate chassis used traditional riveted construction until 1953 after which it was welded. In the front was an independent suspension with coils springs while the rear used a live axle with half elliptic leaf springs. Stopping power was provided by servo-assisted 12.25-inch drum brakes, with hydraulic operation at the front while the rear used mechanical operation. The wheelbase measured 120-inches and the length was 192- to 210-inches. The standard factory bodywork was a four-door saloon, with the Series A-D bodywork was identical to the Mark V, however, the body panels forward of the bulkhead/firewall were slightly different than those of the Bentley. The Series 'E' arrived in 1953 (with chassis number SKE2) and the bodywork was modified in parallel to the Bentley MK VI body. The Bentley MK VI became the Bentley R following this change, but the Silver Dawn retained its name.

by Daniel Vaughan | Sep 2021