Rolls-Royce Motor Cars PressClub · Article.
MODELS OF THE MARQUE – THE 1940s: THE ROLLS-ROYCE SILVER DAWN
Wed Sep 11 18:27:00 CEST 2024 Press Release
The latest in the ‘Models of the Marque’ series showcases the Rolls-Royce Silver Dawn. Launched in 1949, it marked a profound change for Rolls-Royce, reflecting the realities of the post-war market.
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Author.
Andrew Ball
Rolls-Royce Motor Cars
- A brief history of the Rolls-Royce Silver Dawn, launched in 1949
- The first complete motor cars ever produced by Rolls-Royce
- Silver Dawn models’ design, construction and engineering still influences marque today
- Fifth in a series celebrating landmark models from the marque’s history
- Year-long retrospective marks the 120th anniversary of the first meeting between Henry Royce and The Hon. Charles Stewart Rolls in 1904
“For the first 40 years of its existence, Rolls-Royce built only
rolling chassis, onto which independent coachbuilders installed
bodywork specified by the client. It wasn’t until the late 1940s
that the marque produced its first complete motor car – the Silver
Dawn. Launched in 1949, it marked a profound change for Rolls-Royce,
reflecting the realities of the post-war market while giving the
marque more control than it had ever enjoyed over the exterior
design of its products. It was also the second model to be built on
a single, variable underlying structure, foreshadowing the
Architecture of Luxury upon which all Rolls-Royce motor cars of the
modern era are built.”
Andrew Ball, Head of Corporate Relations and Heritage,
Rolls-Royce Motor Cars
Although Rolls-Royce suspended motor car production
between 1939 and 1945 to focus on building aero engines, design work
on a new model continued in the background.
During the 1930s, Rolls-Royce offered three models, each of
which included numerous parts that were unique to it and could not be
shared between them. This significantly increased the manufacturing
costs per car, which quickly became unsustainable during the austerity
of the post-war years.
Rolls-Royce therefore faced the problem of reducing production
costs without compromising quality or performance. The solution was
new models that could share common parts, a new engine that could be
offered in straight-four, six or eight-cylinder variants, and a single
chassis that could be configured in variable dimensions. The latter
can be seen as a precursor of the proprietary aluminium spaceframe,
known as the Architecture of Luxury, that underpins every motor car
built at the Home of Rolls-Royce in Goodwood today.
These ideas came together in a development programme for what
would be known as the ‘Rationalised Range’. In 1946, Rolls-Royce
launched the first such model: the Silver Wraith. This was a direct
replacement for Phantom III, introduced in 1936. Like its predecessor,
and indeed all the pre-war models, Silver Wraith was a rolling chassis
designed to be fitted with third-party, coach-built bodywork.
Rolls-Royce knew that to be commercially successful in these
more challenging times, it needed a model that was less expensive and
could be produced in greater numbers than was possible with
traditional coachbuilding. So, for the first time in its history,
Rolls-Royce decided to produce a complete motor car, with coachwork
assembled in-house. In the same way that Silver Wraith replaced
Phantom III, this new model would assume the mantle of the
small-horsepower cars the marque had built in previous decades.
The second model in the ‘Rationalised Range’, the Silver Dawn,
was launched in 1949, initially only as an export car mainly for the
North American and Australian markets; it became available to UK
clients in 1952. Of the 761 Silver Dawns produced, most were supplied
with the ‘Standard Steel’ four-door saloon bodies produced in-house.
But in deference to clients’ requirements, Rolls-Royce also offered
the Silver Dawn as a rolling chassis, with some 64 coach-built
examples completed in a production run that lasted until 1955.
As further proof of the Rationalised Range approach, by 1952,
clients could specify both the smaller, complete Silver Dawn and
larger Silver Wraith rolling chassis with automatic gear selection.
Indeed, Silver Dawn would be among the very last Rolls-Royce models to
be offered with a manual transmission. It would be more than half a
century before the advent of the satellite-aided, eight-speed ZF
automatic transmission fitted to all of today’s V12 Rolls-Royce motor
cars – but the die had been cast.
Towards the end of its lifespan, Silver Dawn’s rear section was
reworked by the then newly hired John Blatchley, who had learned his
craft with renowned London coachbuilder Gurney Nutting before joining
Rolls-Royce. His deft eye for detail not only allowed for greater
luggage capacity, but also enhanced the motor car’s looks
considerably; perhaps not surprisingly, he would go on to become the
marque’s Chief Styling Engineer. In 2015, the nameplate was revived
with Dawn, which was the best-selling drophead in Rolls-Royce's
history by the time production ended in 2023.
The ‘youngest’ Silver Dawn is now almost 70 years old. Yet even
now, it offers an exhilarating experience for the driver and a restful
ride for passengers over long distances in modern traffic conditions.
It was and is, in every sense, entirely a Rolls-Royce.