4,887 cc F-head inline six-cylinder engine, four-speed manual transmission, coil spring independent front suspension, live rear axle with semi-elliptic leaf springs, and four-wheel servo-assisted hydraulic drum brakes. Wheelbase: 133"

- Handsome Hooper limousine body

- Last of the true coachbuilt Rolls

- Single-family ownership since 1975

Rolls-Royce, Ltd. had begun updating its namesake and companion Bentley cars prior to World War II. The Rolls-Royce Wraith, introduced in 1938, and Mark V Bentley the following year both had coil-spring independent front suspension. Their engines were adaptations of the 4¼-Litre Bentley’s 4,257 cc overhead valve unit, now with crossflow cylinder heads. Before production could really get under way, World War II began.

When hostilities finally ceased, the makeovers continued. Bentley, for the first time, got a factory production body, the Mark VI Standard Steel Saloon. The 4,257 cc engine was reconfigured as an F-head, with overhead intake valves and exhaust valves in the block. At Rolls-Royce, however, bare chassis continued to be sent out for coachbuilt bodies, the majority of which were formal limousines.

While the Mark VI Bentley was succeeded by the R-Type in 1952, the Silver Wraith continued in production through 1958, even when joined by the Silver Dawn, a Mark VI equivalent, in 1949, and the revolutionary Silver Shadow in 1955. During the period, the Silver Wraith’s engine was twice enlarged, to 4,566 cc in 1951, when the wheelbase was increased by six inches, and 4,887 cc three years later. From 1952, the four-speed automatic transmission was optional.

This Silver Wraith touring limousine was delivered by Hooper to a Mr. F.C. Fisher in May of 1955. It was purchased by the current owner in 1975 and has been carefully maintained, serviced and exercised on a regular basis in his collection ever since. The Silver Wraith was the last Rolls-Royce to be seen with a wide variety of coachwork. The Silver Dawn ushered in an era of factory bodies and a limited range of customs built by coachworks that had become Rolls-Royce subsidiaries. This is an excellent example from the sunset of genuine coachbuilding.