The Silver Cloud was introduced in April 1955, and it represented a watershed for Rolls-Royce, whose cars had been delivered in bare chassis form to have coachwork fitted by outside coachbuilders. Times were changing, however, and the sun was setting on the coachbuilt luxury car business, particularly in material-starved and overtaxed austere post-war Britain. Additionally, increasingly streamlined automobile styles did not lend themselves to individual bespoke bodies, particularly when they had to include the manufacturer’s own front-end styling.

Bentley had offered an in-house “Standard Steel” saloon body from 1946, known as the Mark VI, which had been well received. In fact, the Standard Steel body had also been available as a Rolls-Royce Silver Dawn from 1949, but it was initially only available for export. Chief designer John Blatchley penned the new Silver Cloud Saloon with a few styling cues that had been inherited from H.J. Mulliner, and the result was a very elegant owner-driver saloon on a massively strong, new box section 123-inch wheelbase chassis.

In September 1959, the Silver Cloud II arrived, powered by an all-new aluminium overhead-valve V-8 engine of 6,230-cubic centimetre displacement. The Silver Cloud II was available in two wheelbases and was built through 1962, to a production total of 2,717. The Cloud II, incidentally the first V-8 Rolls-Royce in 50 years, represented an exponential increase in performance over its predecessor, and today’s example is one of only one hundred seven to be built on the short-wheelbase Silver Cloud II chassis by H.J. Mulliner. It is also one of only 75 left-hand-drive examples to be built with the sublimely handsome drophead coachwork. Both of the main surviving London coachbuilders, H.J. Mulliner and Park, Ward & Co., had long histories with Rolls-Royce Ltd., but by the late 1950s, with bespoke coachbuilding at a low ebb, Rolls-Royce purchased H.J. Mulliner and had folded Park Ward into the new subsidiary two years later. The new Mulliner Park Ward Ltd. then became an in-house supplier of specialty bodies, which ranged from Phantom Vs for royal use to superb designs, such as the lovely drophead coupé.

This very early Cloud II is a remarkable example of the H.J. Mulliner coachbuilt convertible, which is generally accepted to be amongst the most elegant of all post-war coachwork. According to information on file from The Rolls-Royce Foundation, chassis LSRA 309 was originally a U.S.-delivered example that was equipped with left-hand drive and electric windows, and its first owner requested that the factory aerial not be installed so that a Cadillac unit could be installed! LSRA 309 made its way to Los Angeles from London on the MS Loch Garth, and its original owner was H. Bruce Butterworth, of California. By 1971, the Rolls-Royce had moved into the hands of Buell Smith, of Iowa, in 1972. Mr Smith seemed to have used the car carefully and sparingly, as it spent much of the latter part of his tenure in storage, until his death in 2010. After 29 faithful years, the car passed to his heirs. From the Smith’s family ownership, the Silver Cloud was acquired by an owner in Florida, and then it returned to its homeland.

Recently, the current owner has undertaken a very thorough and expert re-commissioning process with renowned marque experts at West Hoathly Garage in Sussex, England, to the tune of approximately £65,000, and detailed receipts for this work are on file. The work included completely re-trimming the interior in a superb shade of grey-blue leather, fitting new Wilton carpets, and, of course, refinishing all of the beautiful walnut wood cappings, which was a feature of the model. All of this work was followed by a superb-quality, bare-metal repaint in a well-chosen shade of Silver Grey, as well as a re-plating of all of the necessary items included in the exterior brightwork, with the aim being to bring the car back to its former glory after its long period of slumber.

Chassis LSRA 309 is an original H. J. Mulliner Drophead that is exquisitely presented and is accompanied by period documentation, which include a factory handbook, the original Radiomobile operating instructions, a detailed account of the refurbishment by West Hoathly Garage, and a series of registration certificates, which confirm its lengthy tenure in Iowa under the loving ownership of the Buell Smith family.