UPHOLDING royal history, this 1972 Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow previously belonged to opera singer Dame Joan Hilda Hood Hammond according to current owner Keith Welsby.
Mr Welsby said Ms Hammond received the Order of St Michael and St George the same year the car was manufactured.
“The order’s motto is ‘auspicium melioris aevi’ – token of better age,” he said.
“Perhaps this was in mind when the brand-new Rolls-Royce took up residence next to Joan’s other 1956 model.
“It is a bog-standard Silver Shadow although the Dame did order the car with a few of her little quirks.”
Mr Welsby said Ms Hammond ordered the vehicle to be fitted with a miles per hour speedometer.
“She did not like the ‘new’ kilometres measure at the time.
“She also ordered it with a Bentley sports motor instead of the standard Rolls-Royce engine.
“It is an upgraded high-compression 6.75 litre V8 engine with a hydramatic 3-speed automatic,” he said.
Mr Welsby said the original Silver Mink colour was still “coated” when he purchased the vehicle.
“It has been refreshed at some stage in its life,” he said.
“If you look in the doors you can see it fading a bit compared to where it has been refreshed.
“The blue leather interior is also completely original and nothing has been altered.”
Mr Welsby said he had rebuilt the brake and suspension system in the vehicle.
“She has 49,000 miles on the clock so she has not met her running mileage yet,” he said.
“All of the stainless steel is completely original as well as the interior wood-work.
“The total production of the Silver Shadow models numbered 30,057 vehicles, making it the most common Rolls Royce seen on the roads today.”
Mr Welsby said Ms Hammond fled the Ash Wednesday fires in the vehicle.
“When she was driving away she could see the house burning down in the rear-view mirror and the dogs were panicking,” he said.
“There are some stretches from the dogs on the passenger side.
“This car saved her life.”
Mr Welsby bought the vehicle four years ago.
“I saw it advertised in an Auto Mart magazine,” he said.
“The interesting story was when I rang the dealer who specialised in selling Rolls-Royce and Jaguar, he told me it was already sold.
“He rang me two days later and said the man that bought it no longer wanted it because he could not fit it in his garage so I told him I would see him tomorrow.”
Mr Welsby picked up the car from Mornington Peninsula near Melbourne.
“We had a lot of problems with it to start with as it had been in storage for 10 years,” he said.
“All the rubbers had dried out and I have had a few mechanical issues over the years but nothing major.
“Everything that has gone wrong has been age related.”
Mr Welsby said the previous owner of the vehicle had a large car collection.
“They had eight Jaguars and two Rolls-Royces,” he said.
“Two cars from the collection ended up in Robe.”
“Rolls-Royces’ are lovely cars.”
Mr Welsby tries to get the vehicle to Rolls-Royce events every year as well as the Bay to Birdwood every two years.
