The beauty of a Rolls-Royce is less about what it
can do or how it looks, and more about how it can make you feel. In short,
it’ll make you feel like royalty. For
example, this 1960 Silver Cloud II. It belonged to an actual prince, and it’s
coming up for auction. Which means that if you place the winning bid, you can
be rolling like royalty yourself. And for less than you might think.
One of the legendary automaker’s most elegant models,
the Silver Cloud was the sister-model to the Bentley S series. It was longer
than the Silver Dawn, as wide as the Silver Wraith, and draped in bodywork so
timelessly elegant that it put some of the last coachbuilders out of business.
Certainly not Prince Chula of Thailand, that’s for
sure. The half-Thai, half-Ukrainian grandson of King Chulalongkorn of Siam was
educated in the UK, where he evidently developed a keen sense of Anglophilia. And
like his cousin Prince Bira – who remains the only F1 driver ever to come from
Thailand – he had a penchant for driving.
Chula was 52 years old when he bought this
Rolls-Royce. And he ordered it fully loaded with all the
options. So in addition to the then-new 6.2-liter V8, it had air conditioning,
power steering and windows, a sunroof, an onboard champagne bar, and a set of
matching luggage. Sadly he died only a few years later from cancer, and his
Silver Cloud found new owners.
Coys will auction it off at its Chiswick House sale
in London later this month, when it expects the car to sell for
£ 65,000-£ 85,000, or about US$ 87-114k at current exchange rates. That doesn’t seem
like a whole lot, considering its pedigree.
