Long term Rolls-Royce enthusiast.

(Posted by David Irvine)

It all started in Belfast, Northern Ireland in 1975 when (as a pimply 13 year old) I purchased a copy of 'Autocar' which included a free Rolls-Royce poster.

There was a Camargue in the centre of it , which was at the time, the most expensive production car in the world. Special people owned Camargues... So the poster goes up on the bedroom wall and the RR hunt begins.

Here is my bedroom wall in 1980.

In no time my whole room was covered in Rolls-Royce and Bentley pictures and I had accumulated a nice little collection of 40 or so RR & B models. 

Also, anything to do with Rolls-Royce was cut from magazines and newspapers to be pasted in big 'scrapbooks'. I still have it all stashed away in a safe place.

In 1976, a neighbour of mine purchased a new blue Silver Shadow, and I'd take the long way to the shops for my parents' newspapers just to look at it. One day I took a photograph.

Here it is my first picture of the blue Silver Shadow (number plate KOI3232) in Belfast that started it all.

That summer I went to London to visit my Grandfather and started taking more photos. I went to London once or twice a year and snapped photos with my sad little cameras, paying for the film and developing from my 50p a week pay/allowance (or whatever you may call it) and  put those (some not too good) photos in albums. I finally got a nice Praktica SLR in 1980 and a job , so more (and much better) photos were taken. Consider this: every picture taken actually cost something and you never saw the result for a week or so - unlike todays digital cameras. Hence , the bad shots. But the 1970's cars and scenery tell a story. I could't throw the pictures out.

Here is myself next to a Silver Shadow with a very old number plate (B3) in London.

I moved to Canada in 1980 and I worked at a detailing shop for a few years, so I got to see up close and drive many of these cars. I would still go to London and Belfast every year, too.

I finally scanned these rarely seen photos (a handful from the negatives, which takes longer, but has better results) and Jordan and Marinus at  rrsilvershadow.com  loved them.

Jordan has ALL the pictures as seen in the prior post, and Marinus just uses the Silver Shadow derivatives (Corniche, Camargue etc.)

I still love these cars, especially Silver Shadows and Camargues which I admired so much as I grew up. And I am still thrilled when I see any Bentley or Rolls-Royce on the road. Toronto's a good place for that.

Thanks to Jordan for giving me access to his great site, and hopefully my articles can be as interesting as his.