Rolls Royce Silver Spur

We ask: what makes a 1988 Silver Spur so special?

EDWARD Harkness seemed destined for a purpose: philanthropy.

Heir to the second largest stake in Standard Oil after Rockefeller, Mr. Harkness channeled petrol profits into non-profit institutions both academic (ex. Yale) and charitable (ex. Pilgrim Trust UK).

His donations of more than $200 million during the course of his life were a kind of noblesse oblige, American style.

Mr. Harkness’ works include the state-bequeathed, 230 acre, Newport style summer property that rests on a hill overlooking Long Island Sound; a few twisting miles from New London’s shipyards.

During the time that the mansion was built (1906) Rolls-Royce was in the business of making horseless carriages for well-to-do British aristos and moneyed American industrialists.

By the time the same Crewe factory had hand built this banker’s grey on black Silver Spur Mk1 for much the same clientele in 1988, the Harkness property had been known for 36 years in the Connecticut parks system as “Harkness Memorial”.

Judging by Mr. Harkness’ grand architectural preferences, he would have found the character of this Silver Spur much to his liking.

“Eolia,” the great house that is the estate’s center piece, is classically proportioned. But when compared to a McKim, Mead & White commission, it strikes the onlooker as visibly austere. It takes the artful greenery of Beatrix Farrand’s whimsical landscaping to soften the building’s hard granite façade.

Similarly, it takes the chrome flute of a single exhaust pipe, and the smooth slope of a fender line to soften this edgy Roller’s appearance. Such is the aesthetics of this series one, Silver Spur.

PERIOD PERFECT

Debuting in 1980 to critical acclaim in Paris, the Silver Spur (or Spirit which is four inches shorter) was meant to be a modern step forward for Rolls-Royce. In the same way that Sir William Lyons signed off on the box-headlamped Jaguar XJ40, Crewe felt that to stay relevant in a car market that was busy embracing slant-nosed sports cars and digital readouts, the soft arcs and rolling fenders would require a cubist updating.

Enter Austrian designer Fritz Feller, whose seminal work now seems the British conflagration of a W126 S-Class Benz and a Lincoln Town Car. The Silver Spur is period perfect, if perfectly period.

For as we have every reason to embrace the three box design theory as once practiced by Ze Germans, we’re tempted to reject it in a Crewe-built Royce. The reason is simple – we’ve come to expect a timeless baroque quality of old Rollers.

As parodied as the Silver Cloud is, it’s what many of us expect of a Rolls-Royce: chrome laden, rolling fendered land yachts; proceeding with a nautical high bow-to-low- stern stature.

The Silver Spur actually has the audacity to greet the elements with a slight forward bow.

BIBLICAL

This 80s Royce was as much a true Rolls as any Cloud or Shadow, if only for the fact that much of what went into the earlier Royces was still very much present in this car.

For instance, the Spur’s body (74.5” wide ) sits broadly over its wheels because it’s still resting on the old Silver Shadow platform; a base that was built for a car three inches narrower.

And the same Biblical pushrod V8 that’s powering the Bentley Arnage line, propels the Spur as it did the Shadow and the Silver Cloud III before it. Pushing the go pedal at standstill will elicit an antediluvian sound similar to the rumblings of distance thunder. It’s only once you gain momentum that the sounds of the engine blend into soft wind and road noise.

Oh, we musn’t forget GM’s contribution! Because Rolls-Royce was forever in a cash limited position, Crewe had a postwar history of outsourcing its technological requirements to other car manufacturers. Today it’s BMW. Yesterday, it was General Motors.

For example, a GM three speed auto box is at work in the Silver Spur, similar in concept to the four speed GM automatic that was used in the Silver Shadow, and the pre-war Oldsmobile unit that made-do in the original Silver Cloud.

Use the directional and the loud click-clack that you hear is in fact the same click-clack you heard in your grandfather’s ’88 Oldsmobile Tornado. Same goes with all the behind-the-scenes electronics (which there are many in this car). And the GM sourced radio. Sporting a green digital 888.88 display, scanning through radio stations is a noisy process similar to twisting an old radio dial.

That said, the sound system is superb in both clarity and audio distribution. But play anything other than chamber music and you’ll feel like a complete ass. This, by the way, is where the timeless and staid pedigree of a car from the go-go 80s transcends the decade of Boy George and Madonna v. 1.0.

EVERY BIT A ROLLS

For all the Silver Spur’s period architecture (from the rear the Silver Spur resembles a Chevy Caprice) and the use of standard rate GM gear, the Spur is every bit a Rolls. This telegraphs the moment you enter the car and look out over a long bonnet that seems as if it was derived straight from the Silver Ghost.

The car’s very paint job, an otherwise muted grey, seems to radiate the sky’s powder blue when lit by the sun. It is a magnificent finish.

Inside, reposing in the rear quarters, it’s easy to never find the need for another car (unless you miss not having adjustable heated rear seats, a DVD player, or your own climate control). In fact, that’s why so many first owners still use their Silver Spurs, inside it is like stepping into the drawing room at your favorite gentleman’s club in St. James.

The interior is overstuffed with wood and leather furniture. The Connolly hide is thick. The deep pile carpeting gently caresses the soles of your shoes – or – for an intimate experience your bare feet! And the perennial gloss of the box wood on burl inlays reflect a mastery of bespoke craftsmanship.

It is Gorgeous.

In the Silver Spur, you are encapsulated in the quintessence of British luxury.

Under way, sounds from wind and road do softly infiltrate. This car marks a hugely impressive feat in noise cancellation engineering even by today’s standards – considering that the gaps between most body panels on this car are wide enough to stick a dime in edge wise.

The Girling hydraulic suspension system has you floating on something softer than a Cloud…

ACTING ON FAITH

Trade places with your driver and you soon realize that the Silver Spur is the driver’s gentleman’s gentleman.

The Rolls keeps you, the driver, completely removed from the act. Every action feels like a request rather than something you yourself execute. Expecting performance from this car is not only defeating its stately purpose, but it’s like trying to get a rise out of a British butler, he’ll laugh politely but never share in the joke.

There’s a polite middle man for everything: whether it’s the long travel of the directional stalk, the friction-free motion of the gear change lever, the ease with which you use your fingertip to adjust the thin-rimmed helm or even the application of throttle, your hope is that in each instance the desired result will transpire.

Each input is a perceptive act of faith.

Set a curved course and the Rolls will hold to it faithfully. Try to be sly with a moment of fast back and forth and you’ll receive a frightening tug of inertia as the car’s heft will continue to roll back and forth AFTER you’ve finished steering.

What, would you really expect your butler to be a gymnast?

Vehicular control is so blithely provided for a car that’s longer and heavier than a GMC Yukon. This is what makes BMW’s foray into Rolls-Royce such a blessing in Bavarian disguise. While all the graceful operative elements remain, the fact is that a new Phantom Coupe, when pressed, can perform with a level of control that the Silver Spur never could given the limitations of the old Royce’s luxury-tuned suspension and power inadequacy.

PURPOSE-BUILT

In every way the Silver Cloud was purpose-built and that the new Phantom Coupe is a product of focused engineering, the Silver Spur dispatches its mission with true Rolls-Royce credentials; that is providing a paramount level of comfort through ample and luxurious appointment.

You really can’t expect much else from this Royce.

If you wanted speed, you should’ve bought a Bentley. If you wanted speed + flash, a Ferrari. This Rolls isn’t trying to be all things to all people, though the manual countermand that observation literally–it’s a veritable Rosetta Stone with instructions in English, French, Italian, German, and Arabic.

By contemporary standards, those hard edges, (eventually softened in the 90s with fitted bumpers and newer side mounted mirrors) may be dated by architecture penned within the constraints of 80s populism, but in the same timeless sense that defines Harkness Memorial as a philanthropist’s legacy and/or a mansion with a superb water view, the Silver Spur is a car designed with a tight focus on luxury which, if cared for properly, will waft through the hordes of terribly competent Honda Accords and Toyota Priuses.

Both endure the ravages of time remarkably well.

To round the edges of this car’s case, the Silver Spur is like an old treasury note.

As a means of symbolizing an honorable asset, it’s dated. An AMEX black card has more popular curbside appeal.

But by virtue of its worth – especially among those in the know – it’s readily accepted everywhere. For a Rolls-Royce, there is no credential more qualifying. Which is why I bet that were he alive to see 1988, Mr. Harkness himself would have commissioned one such Silver Spur, in banker’s grey on black.

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