ROLLS ROYCE

Rolls-Royce Silver Seraph: Effortless Elegance

In 1989, Rolls-Royce sold a record 3,333 examples of the Silver Spirit – a model that by this point had been in production for a decade and would eventually stretch to 18 years. The Silver Spirit was the descendant of a long-lived ancestor, the Silver Shadow, which itself had a career spanning around 15 years.

Such long life cycles were highly unusual in the automotive industry. The longevity and commercial success of these models seemed to prove that conventional wisdom did not necessarily apply to large, luxurious cars. However, the Silver Spirit’s replacement was already in development; work on the project, codenamed SXB, had begun five years earlier, in 1984.

The SXB was to be an entirely new model. The challenge facing the design team was to create a car that could simultaneously satisfy the contrasting market requirements of the United States and the United Kingdom. Customers of the former still wanted a car that unabashedly celebrated wealth and success; while those of the latter were uncomfortable with displays of conspicuous consumption at a time of economic recession.

The Silver Spirit was based on the long-established SZ range; designers were initially briefed that the SXB should be smaller than the SZ cars, but have at least the same interior dimensions. They were also instructed to include as much boot space as possible without compromising the design aesthetics. Finally, the new model had to accommodate the driver and occupants in the commanding yet comfortable ‘Command Position’ that had long been a signature Rolls-Royce feature and is retained to this day in the Phantom VIII.

It was a complex task, but fortunately the designers were able to call upon a wonderful new technology to help them. The SXB was the first Rolls-Royce to be created using computer-aided design (CAD), which became available to the team in 1989, to complement the traditional clay, wood and fibreglass styling cues still used at Goodwood on contemporary Rolls-Royce projects.

At that time, car designers everywhere were obsessed with the wedge shape: low at the front, high at the back. Everywhere, that is, except in the Rolls-Royce styling department. Not only did Rolls-Royce – then as now – never just follow fashion; its own fundamental design principles were precisely the reverse, with a high front tapering to a lower rear.

Another important factor that its heirs and successors at Goodwood would recognise was customer feedback. When asked, American owners admitted that the SZ range were good cars, but commented that it lacked the charisma of the earlier Silver Cloud and Corniche models. Launched in 1955, the Silver Cloud was styled after motor yachts, with a tall radiator forming a bow, flowing front wings like a bow wave, curvilinear rear wings representing a wake wave, and a low, sloping tail. To increase the design team’s burden, they were instructed to include similar aesthetic touches on the SXB.

Initially, the plan was to build Rolls-Royce and Bentley variants of the SXB on the same underpinnings but with different bodywork. As the design developed, it became clear that a single-body design could accommodate the major aesthetic difference—the two brands’ distinctive radiator grilles—with other details providing sufficient visual separation between them. The decision to abandon the two-body approach was also motivated by an urgent need to cut costs. Despite this major saving, however, the project was halted in 1992 for financial reasons. When the SXB was finally revived in January 1994, designers continued their homage to the Silver Cloud, producing designs featuring its distinctive stepped rear wing. The SXB was given a more contemporary waistline while retaining some elements of the Silver Cloud’s iconic yacht influence. Designers paid particular attention to the three-quarter and full-rear views, reasoning that, given its performance, these were the angles from which it would most commonly be seen by other drivers.

In October 1994, the SXB (now known as project P600) was given the formal green light for a 1998 launch. In a first for the brand and a harbinger of events to come, the new models would be powered by BMW engines: a 5.4-litre V12 for the Rolls-Royce and a 4.4-litre V8 for the Bentley variant.

Six months later, in May 1995, the P600 was redesignated P3000 (P2000 for the Bentley variant), and the design details were finalised. After many changes, the radiator shroud was made less angular and more rounded than the original design; the Spirit of Ecstasy was also made slightly smaller than the Silver Spirit. Viewed from the side, the subtle but clear styling cues of the Silver Shadow remained in place, with flat panels kept to an absolute minimum to restore that all-important ‘charisma’.

The new Rolls-Royce Silver Seraph was unveiled to the world’s press in January 1998 at Ackergill Tower Castle in Scotland. The assembled journalists were told that the car had “Solidity without weight. Authority without arrogance. Effortless elegance. Presence without pomp.” To help them understand what the designers called the car’s “aesthetic premise”, they were given a limited-edition print of chief designer Graham Hull’s ‘Yacht Aesthetics’ rendering. The Silver Seraph remained in production until 2002, along with a long-wheelbase version introduced in 2000 known as the Park Ward Rolls-Royce Touring, some four years after the Rolls-Royce brand was acquired by the BMW Group. Indeed, its use of BMW’s powertrain, expertise and engineering is believed to have been instrumental in making Rolls-Royce appealing to its new owners. Having taken an astonishing 14 years to get from the drawing board to the open road – almost certainly the longest gestation period of any Rolls-Royce in history – the Silver Seraph had one of the shortest lifespans. Its overall concept – to be smaller and less imposing than its predecessors – also overturned previous Rolls-Royce thinking (and indeed was completely refuted by the consistent success of the Goodwood-era models).

Nevertheless, the Silver Seraph remains a highly significant model. It was the right design for its time; and like all great designs, it has aged well and remains a beautiful car to this day, albeit very much out of date. Perhaps the most enduring, with its BMW V12 engine and production stretching until 2002, it also acts as a technological bridge and tangible connection between the ‘old’ Rolls-Royce and the modern Goodwood era.

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