Among the rarest bodies on the Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud I chassis was James Young’s style no. SC20, an elegant modern version of the sedanca coupe, a popular Classic Era body style with a patented sliding roof panel over the driver’s compartment. The sedanca coupe had become virtually extinct in the post-war era, with James Young the only coachbuilder to offer it on a Rolls-Royce. Just two examples of style no. SC20 were produced, both of them for American clients.

Chassis no. LSFE99 was commissioned by Dr. Rudolph A. Light of Nashville, Tennessee, a prominent neurosurgeon and pharmaceutical heir. Its build documents, copies of which accompany the car, note the fitment of automatic transmission and power steering, and an original livery of silver with green interior. The original engine was SE49, still present today.

In the 1960s the car was purchased by Dr. Samuel L. Scher, a pioneering New York plastic surgeon and early automobile collector. Having retired to Palm Beach, Dr. Scher continued to indulge his taste for unusual automobiles, particularly coachbuilt Rolls-Royces. Over time he would own both of the James Young sedanca coupes, and had both redesigned to his tastes by the British coachbuilders FLM-Panelcraft. The side windows in the roof were blanked off and landau irons added, the rear window was reduced in size, and free-standing Marchal headlights were installed; the body was finished in Reuter Red, Dr. Scher’s longstanding “house color” dating to his Silver Ghost restorations of the 1950s.

Dr. Scher admired the car, as did his neighbor in Palm Beach, who eventually acquired it. In the late 1990s it was acquired from the neighbor by a marque specialist, who sold it to the current owners. The car was in very low-mileage condition, as it remains today, with just 6,553 miles recorded at the time of cataloguing. While its finishes are somewhat older, and some may even still date from the Panelcraft work, they are still very attractive, and the Rolls remains quite authentic with the exception of a modern Blaupunkt stereo system and trunk-mounted air conditioning. It is accompanied by four cut crystal shot glasses and a pair of flasks, housed within one of the door “cubbies;” as well as a partial set of hand tools and lambswool over-rugs.

With the only surviving sedanca coupe part of a long-term private collection, this is the only opportunity to acquire one of these truly bespoke Silver Clouds.