Quentin Wilson looks at old Rolls Royces to see how cheap they have become, and the fact that you can buy a good example for less than a 2 year old car. Taken from season 15, episode 2.
Sorry Quentin..I was the one who defiled my granddad's tool kit by borrowing his wrench to literally fix my toilet.It was either that or a plumber in London at £50 an hour...in 1979.So happy to find out that the car still exists in 2021.
Strange comments in regards to a Rolls Royce never breaks down, they fail to proceed. I have owned a 1994 Rolls Royce Silver Spur lll LWB saloon, since March 2014, and I can assure you It has never had a fail to proceed, and I have always driven to Silver Spur on a daily basis.
0:31 UNH 196R Off the road since Sept 1997. 1:25 RRY 355K Off the road since July 1992. 3:31 JJF 471L Off the road since March 1992. 4:15 4 HHN Now on a different car [ 2004 Black Rolls Royce ]
When I was a kid, our local Solicitor had a Red 70's Shadow and it was UTTERLY BEAUTIFUL. Not the sort of thing you expected to see in a small North Yorkshire town back then in a world of Ford Anglias and Morris Marinas!!
And that is the reason why I watch old top gear, top gear with Clarkson-hammond-may, and fifth gear. I even watch motorweek and my classic car(I am in the states). Tried watching the top gear USA (awesome at first, but fell apart before the end of season 1), and for the most shallow part of the new top gear - chris evans(glad he left, so disliked his whole shtick), saw the other hosts....only sabine is worth it. Hate to say this, but the beeb has lost their moneymaker.
I love how he managed the perfect balance between serious advice and some humor. And yes, one point people overlook very often: a car with high part cost might still be lower in running costs than something unreliable or potentially unreliable (if new and reliability isn't known). I wouldn't go as far as saying a old RR is low in running costs, especially outside the UK, tough.
One of the few Quentin Wilson reviews that's aged well. Particularly in terms of pointing out how the car is only as good as how well past owners have treated her, even when something as bombproof and solidly built as this. A good era of RR too, before the dark times... before the germans.
Gotta love the fact the purchase price numbers are still the same for a 15-25 yo Royce are still the same in 2017! Or even 80s Spirits and Spurs as featured in this video I suspect the parts prices have changed somewhat.
In Melbourne I sat in the rear of a 1982 RR that once had been owned by Sir Brian Murray, former Gov of the state of Victoria. I sat in the back, where HM The Queen was said to have sat. Plain vehicle. Owner was taking it out for weddings and country runs.
I have experience & Juergen Buech is correct. Old now-cheap Rolls Royces, like old high-buck Mercedi, have 2 to 3 times the number of parts as other cars, and many are out of production and one must hunt for donor cars for these items and there aren't many donor cars out there! I worked at an exotic used-car firm for several years and they had a number of Rollses, constant headaches mostly because the dealer didn't want to expend the money to provide us mechanics with factory training, therefore his stinginess cost him more money as he had to bring in trained Rolls mechanics for spot fixes at very high cost.
My dad had one. 1949 reg Iearned to drive in the old girl in 1978 and now nearly 66 years old I change the oil and fuel goes in.A new set of tyres in 2001 and flys around until I die now as old as the car.
Depends. If you do the maintenance yourself, a Roller isn't as bad as some think...Yes, the parts are more expensive, but nearly everything on a Royce is designed to be rebuilt rather than replaced as on lesser "throwaway" cars...
Only problem is, if you live or work in a crowded city, no parkingspot is large enough. And big chances a punk or an hippy scratches it. It's a car build for nice people, but ended up in a not so nice world. Such a shame.
I'll give you, their engineering of yesteryear was dated, however I have to respectfully disagree about your comment of them being "garbage". I've owned several Turbo Rs and presently have a '53 R-Type in my stable and, for a 60-year-old car, everything still operates with absolute fluid precision and the car is fantastic to tour in. The engine is silky smooth and quiet to the point that one can barely hear it running. Pretty good stuff for 1953, IMHO.
I am thinking of importing one to Ukraine. What do you suggest? I appreciate mechanical principles and understanding lack of fluid and oil changes is the worst enemy
Thank you so much for uploading. I'm glad we can still watch car-enthusiast episodes of Top Gear, and they're all new to me, as it's from the year I was born! :)
daggyy daggyy they'd need life support for their finances as those old bangers are a money pit. Prestige tends to fade when you spend half your time at the repairers!
Have been doing lots of research into buying a shadow 2 - the MOT history check is really useful as gives an indication to earlier problems and whether it had been serviced properly Biggest expense seems to be the 92k service which includes changing hydraulics all round Loads seem to have been missed - on MOT history check have seen loads with corrosion and suspension leaks Going to join Rolls Royce Enthusiasts club before I go any further ! Lots of independents around - so going to continue my research !
Bear in mind he states Recession. Quintin has done well he owns a very early E type coupe no 23 I am sure and various other immaculate classics. He knows his stuff. I am a mechanic I do think this still applies yes prices have risen but you would be surprised what is out there. They don't like to sit with the hydraulic systems. Regular use and maintenance as basic as that rather than waiting for something to go wrong. A transit fuel pump plus reprogramming is £1000 odd depending. No ECU etc classic insurance don't smoke / drink lol. Its basically a DS Citroen but with a V8. Compared to the modern BMWs, Audi and Mercedes nah, I'd easy choose a Shadow I thought that even when I was in my early 20s no change at 31. Yes I am aware also not every one is mechanically minded but you would be surprised with even basic knowledge and regular fluid changes (all fluids) how much trouble/money can be saved. Cheep modern cars can be just as expensive Kia parts! I rest my case.
He didn't even lift back then... Dorian won Mr Olympia 2nd year in a row in 1993. Everyone in the game was on juice. This guy wouldn't even train. What a waste. Also: nobody knows him now. Everybody knows us
The government manipulated the car market in favour of diesels with major tax breaks and other incentives. Anyone giving financial advice back then would have told you to buy one. And now the government is again manipulating the market in favour of something else which you can be sure will be taxed heavily once enough people have bought into it, it's so predictable.
Spurs are as durable for sure. And in fact, because they're fuel injected, reliability is tops as well. The Bosch CIS injection that RR used is the exact same system as Mercedes used in the '80s and early '90s. Brakes and hydraulics are the complex things on RRs and Bentleys which scare most people off, however if you take your time and work to understand the principles of the system, it's really not as difficult as most say. And remember, everything on a RR is meant to be rebuilt, not replaced
This is probably the only full Clarkson-less TG video that I ever watched on youtube(I watch a lot of them) not a shadow of doubt on my mind that i would have bought one of these if i ever lived in the UK.
And having the rolls serviced at the designated dealer ??? In reality they are just money pits, with "king of darkness " electrics, sales aimed at people with money!!! Not social climbers and back street mechanics
Reliable? I own a 1989 Mercedes S-class. It is often described as "Indestructible", but it isn't. I had to change 4 brake pads, 4 brake discs, 1 brake calliper, half of the exhaust, a water pump, the steering box, the thermostat and I had to re-gas the air con. Now its drivable. Don't get me wrong I love my car, but never believe that a car is reliable simply because someone said it is.
It has been said that if you cannot afford a new Rolls Royce, you certainly will not be able to afford a secondhand one... as maintenance & upkeep ( using genuine parts & Rolls Royce service ) are terrifying... Maybe this is different in G.B. where you have these dedicated second hand parts shops & garages who offer competent maintenance at reasonable prices...
Most reassuring! But this segment seems so old, it was made when England was still inhabited by Englishmen. The Shadows weren't really that old, when this was made. What is the consensus? Are the Spurs as durable,...long term...as the Shadows? And now that Shadows and Clouds are both really old, which series is more realistic to keep on the road?
Troubled times?? Oh, if only we could time travel to the future from 1992, instead of only having the ability to look back on the past 30 years from 2022.
The main problem with '70s Rollers was that hand-built quality and twenty coats of hand-rubbed lacquer or not, they were just as rust prone as every other car from that era. Also RR sourced their gearboxes from Detroit in the shape of the GM Turbo-Hydramatic that went into a whole load of '60s/'70s GM products starting with anything propelled by Pontiac's 389 cubic inch V-8 not to mention just about any Oldsmobile or Cadillac. Not exactly as exclusive as the rest of the car but probably the most reliable and cheapest assembly to repair. In any case, since when did Rolls Royce owners concern themselves about the greasy bits? I remember that RR were the first to propose sealing the bonnet shut precisely so that owners couldn't tamper with the mechanicals (beyond checking fluid levels and topping them up) and that was over 30 years ago.
Rolls used to source the very best of the world...and at time time the GM turbohydramatic was the finest, most durable transmission in the world. You will also probably find a GM Frigidaire air conditioner compressor under the bonnet, as that was the best in the world too.
Live in Lancashire and have been quoted for full hydraulic service every 8 years £2200 and another expensive service / repair area is in board rear discs at £1200 There seems to an awful lot of rubbish on the market ! New govt MOT check often shows up loads of woes ! Worryingly from some independent dealers cars described as exceptional and immaculate have a load of advisories at MOT going back years not rectified Still want one but will be ultra careful buying one !
it was also before petrol was £1.50 a litre. They are still fantastic, just don't expect fantastic mileage (tested by me to be around 8-10 miles per brit gallon).
^ And?. To drive a car on public roads - even park upon one - requires paying Vehicle Exise Duty [VED]. (sometimes incorrectly called ""road tax"", even though the proceeds don't go on road maintainance, nor is it a tax) Using a Television Set that's capable of recieving public sector television is little different. Offcom's incompetance in reigning in the BBC & C4 on bias is their fault, not the TL's.
Interestingly Rolls-Royce were honest about this and factory rated them at 22l/100km or just under 13 imperial mpg. The government tests reckoned at best you can expect 18 probably driving down hill with no clothes on and your pinky on the throttle!
What a gem! So utterly true......we're all dead afraid of touching one. They are deals as he said. But you cop the finger out on the roads! ......as you should!
The tune is 'Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme' by JS Bach, BVW 645. Unsure of the artist for that version though. Have a search for 'Bach-fest'09 Wachet auf BWV 645', similar but live.
Could be worse , you could buy an s class merc like me , cost 75k sold it for 2, yes TWO !! LOL it was a pile of crap too .:) I bet if I'd got a secondhand RR I'd still have it now , wonderful cars
The dark blue "minter" looked nice, but in my mind was let down by the fuel filler flap. It wasn't damped and it sounded tinny as it opened. If you saw a closeup of that opening you could be forgiven for thinking it was on a Lada, not a Rolls Royce.
For those wondering what the fate of that sad old blue 1971 Rolls-Royce (shown at 1:25) became after this video was shot in 1992, wonder no more. It was scrapped. The license plate "RBY355K" on the UK MOT check website shows that it was last registered in 1992. The dealer shown in the video probably couldn't give it away, much less sell it, so they scrapped it. Edit: Same with the other blue one after it.
I didn't believe you, so I checked it out myself and you're absolutely right! Even at 'rock bottom' prices, during the recession these things must've been very hard to sell.
The first run of Top Gear ended in 1999 due to lack of popularity. People found it to be too boring. If you want something like old Top Gear then watch Fifth Gear. Several presenters of old Top Gear are now doing Fifth Gear.
I had a 1975 Silver Shadow, the old bugger never achieved more than 9mpg & regularly 5mpg, but I loved it & with a lottery win would buy a minter & travel the world in it.
They're not. I just checked them and made a seperate post but to save you looking: 0:31 UNH 196R Off the road since Sept 1997. 1:25 RRY 355K Off the road since July 1992. 3:31 JJF 471L Off the road since March 1992. 4:15 4 HHN Now on a different car [ 2004 Black Rolls Royce ]
I own a Silver Shadow "Roly Poly" and I do have to watch it on the corners, but Quentin Willson's attitude to these 40+ yr old dowagers is out of date.
Man that 2 door Corniche, what a beauty. Personally I like the Bentley version a bit better. These cars just look a bit less formal, smaller compared to the previous Silver Cloud Rolls, which were very traditional IMO. The more restrained Bentley bits flow better with the styling IMO. I know when this model came out in the mid 60's it was a revelation vs the "stodgy/old" Silver Cloud, but IMO the Silver Cloud has aged a bit better and has that more "classic" Rolls look.
Quentin Wilson on 1992 Top Gear about an old Rolls Royce: *gives actual advice about buying and servicing an old Rolls Royce.* James May on 2003 Top Gear about an old Rolls Royce: *talks about how it ruined his life*
I would love to fully restore one of these. Dark blue with red piped leather. Then take the 6.75 litre V8 and add a couple of small turbos :-) and give it bigger injectors and manifolds, but keep the looks!
5:57 "As long as they're maintained properly, they'll run and run and run".. Yeah!! One could say that about ANY car.. You could get a damn YUGO to run forever if you keep repairing it, aka "maintain it properly"
There is a big difference between maintenance and repairing, maintenance means regular servicing, oil changes etc. Repairing is fixing it when it goes wrong.
+bliglum You can't keep many cars "forever" by maintenance and minor repairs. Interior will just desintegrate, all the bottom of car can rot away. And cars like Yugo, Skoda 105/120, Polonez .... has such poor enginnering precision, you need to change all engine seals and gaskets like every 100-150k km's, nothing fits, you can't use synthetic oil so every moving part worn out fast. Cars like Yugo are bad example of barndoor engineering while old RR's are finest example of barndoor engineering.
Yeah, you could keep replacing the interior parts.. Weld on new frame parts where it rots. Though certainly, keeping a Yugo on the road would be particularly challenging, but it could be done!
True most of those parts were over 20 years old, but the water pump practically exploded, while I was driving, causing the engine to overheat(the car had only 110k on the clock). Even though the replacement was fairly cheap, it the car kept overheating. Only weeks later I found out that the thermostat was busted too. By the way, do you own an E-Type? Those cars are so beautiful that I was motivated to get a job at Jaguar's design department and I got it. Someday, I will design a modern E-Type.
As soon as I seen Quentin in this, I'm like - hang on, thats Withnail - still the rolls is a step up from a rusty old jag, and surely it MUST HAVE MORE BOOZE !
some one -Banger raced most likely. You'd be amazed what ends up on the track. It's the same reason why there are hardly any RWD Volvos or Mk2 Granada's left now.
Just about every Rolls from that period that's still on the road now would be bodged up to high Hell, because almost no one with enough money to maintain it would buy one, and that leaves middle to lower class people who just want a Rolls and will patch it up with whatever they can find.
The upper-class british accent, attitudes and language of this video are fascinating. It's almost as though they inadvertently recorded a David Attenborough documentary on how to be high-society. "Inspect the tool kit - untouched, obviously, by aristocratic hands. If it be sullied, one may presume the previous owner to be a cad, or a bounder. Remember, rough people and rough cars go together!"
I wouldn't be surprised if that's because a new owner put a private plate on the car to hide its age, lots of Rolls' have private plates, - in which case it comes up as 'unlicenced' on the DVLA database.
LOL. I've got a Shadow II and a Turbo R and while the Shad II is better than a Shad I in terms of "handling" you are pretty spot on with your remark ;) but it looks so good doing it!
The white mk 2 escort, he waas following, is worth double the price of that silver shadow now, go figure 🤷♂️. ive got the Bentely T1 and if you have to pay someoe to fix one, you will go broke, dont know where he got the “cheap to run/maintain’ bit from 🤔, these cars are insanly labour intensive and i should know, as i do all my own work on my one, i also worked on them for 3.5 years, in a vintage Bentely/rolls garage.
Actually, we're recent transplants to Minnesota. Wanted to experience the place before it's gone (it's being degraded almost as quickly as is Sweden). We have houses in other places, however, and so are not entirely able to avoid London.
Who can argue regarding RR automobiles from the 1960s to the 90s. I'm 100% on the money! Modern RR automobiles though from the mid 90s to the most recent models are absolutely amazing cars. It's just very important to note that England couldn't do it on their own and they required German engineering because Brittan has lost it's technical know how for some years. This is the point I'm making here and a reality you seem unaware of. Brittan is basically, as I assert, a services sector economy
