Among the most elegant post-war bodies created for Rolls-Royce was the Silver Cloud II Drophead Coupe by H.J. Mulliner, design number 7504. Known as an “Adaptation,” the car was created using a factory Standard Steel Saloon body, and it was modified into a convertible by removing the steel top, fitting two doors in place of the usual four, and adding a modified chromed waistline molding. So extensive were Mulliner’s modifications that the resulting car was, in its every detail, essentially a fully custom body, and indeed, the cars were available with the same range of bespoke options available to any Rolls-Royce client—that is to say, anything the buyer desired.

The car shown here, chassis number LSAE639, is the last Silver Cloud II Drophead Coupe Adaptation of 107 built, and it is described in the definitive work on these cars, Every Cloud Has a Silver Lining, as “the last one built…gorgeous lines, perfect proportions.” Rolls-Royce specialists agree that this was the most popular body H.J. Mulliner ever created.

Copies of its original chassis cards, which are on file, indicate that the car was specially ordered by its original owner, Boyd Calhoun Hipp of Greenville, South Carolina, a decorated World War II hero who became a leader in the insurance, finance, and television broadcasting industries. Mr. Hipp requested a left-hand-drive, U.S.-specification model with power radio aerial and windows, the newly developed Rolls-Royce air-conditioning system, and special Sundym glass. Mulliner also installed an array of special features supplied by London coachbuilder Harold Radford, including Perspex sun visors, a fitted locker with an ice thermos in the left-hand door pocket, fitted cocktail bars with three spirit flasks and six tumblers in the backs of the front seats, and, most amusingly, removable “toadstool” cushions that affix to the rear bumpers, providing seating for elegant “tailgate” dining in the most literal sense.

Mr. Hipp accepted delivery of his Silver Cloud II in England in September of 1962, with records indicating that it accompanied him home to New York in the most stylish of fashions aboard the fabled Cunard liner HMS Queen Elizabeth.

Later restored in its previous ownership, the car still presents beautifully in Sand, with fine red coach lining, and an interior luxuriously trimmed in Magnolia Connolly hides, Cumberland Stone Wilton carpeting, and Fawn West of England headliner under a fresh mohair top. Correct whitewall tires augment the car’s chic yet sporting stance, and the odometer reads scarcely over 42,000 miles. Marque specialists in the U.K. recently completed a freshening of the car’s mechanical components.

Historians generally consider the rare Silver Cloud II coachbuilt cars, whether in motion or on concours display, to offer the best of all Rolls-Royce worlds: superior engineering, fine quality, and timeless design. This car, as the last of a proud series and one filled with bespoke features, is particularly special and will be at home in any fine collection of cars bearing the Spirit of Ecstasy.