Rolls-Royce Silver Dawn

The Rolls-Royce Silver Dawn is a car that was produced by Rolls-Royce at their Crewe works between 1949 and 1955. It was the first Rolls-Royce car to be offered with a factory built body which it shared, along with its chassis, with the Bentley Mark VI until 1952 and then the Bentley R Type until production finished in 1955. The car was intended as an export only model and most were left hand drive with column gear shift. Only with the R Type based model was it officially available on the home market. A mere 785 were produced between 1949 and 1955, as opposed to over 7500 Bentleys over the same time period. Early models had a different fascia (dashboard) from their Bentley counterparts. Later models were differentiated only by the entwined R-R logos on the gauges, hubcaps, engine covers, etc plus the different bonnet on the standard steel saloon as well as the square radiator. The in-line six cylinder, engine had overhead inlet and side exhaust valves and had a capacity of 4257 cc until 1951 when it was enlarged to 4566 cc. The carburettor was a single downdraught Stromberg until 1952 when it was replaced by a Zenith. A four speed manual gearbox was fitted to all cars at first with a 3 speed automatic becoming an option in 1952 and standard in 1953. Only the Rolls Royce models offered an automatic transmission. The suspension was independent at the front using coil springs, at the rear the live axle used half elliptic leaf springs. The car had a separate chassis made with traditional riveted construction until 1953 after which it was welded. Servo assisted 12.25 in (311 mm) drum brakes were used, hydraulically operated at the front but retaining mechanical operation at the rear. Although many cars were fitted with factory built bodies, others were supplied to external coachbuilders.