Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow

For those of you familiar with the Rolls-Royce marque, the name Silver Shadow should somewhat ring a bell. It may not be the name, but it’s looks will definitely be familiar. The Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow was the best selling Rolls-Royce of all time during it’s 15 year production period between 1965 – 1980. The initial 5 years it had a 6.23 litre V8 in it but was then subsequently replace by the ever famous 6.75 litre V8 in the 1970s.

The Rolls-Royce brand name together with Bentley has always been associated with status and wealth as it was a car only owned by the super-rich due to it’s high prices even today. During the production period there were two models of the Silver Shadow produced, namely the Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow I and the Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow II.  Minor mechanical as well as interior and exterior changes were done to improve it’s performance as well as to adhere to stricter safety regulations.

There are still several fine examples running around in Malaysia as well as some abandoned and rotting ones behind workshops. They are not too expensive to buy, a decent condition Silver Shadow costs just under RM 100,000 and some higher depending on the condition of it but then again don’t forget that you must be able to afford it’s road tax as well which is quite a bomb as well even after getting the ‘Classic Status’ road tax.

The two photos above show the two models, the Silver Shadow I and the Silver Shadow II.

Restoration - Mercedes-Benz W126 300SE (part 1)

This is part 1 of my Mercedes-Benz W126 300SE restoration. In my earlier post titled ‘My first ‘sort of’ classic car’, I wrote about the Mercedes-Benz W126 and how I had actually purchased one some years back. Here I will give a brief step-by-step explanation on the restoration process. As mentioned in the earlier post, I do not have any pictures left due to a hard disk crash but I’ll try to explain so hopefully it could still be understood.

When I bought the car, it was immediately brought from the dealership to a friend of mine (who unfortunately has since passed on) for the restoration and naturally I was planning to do a thorough restoration on the car. The car was basically stripped off the interior and exterior parts and was sent to the paint shop. And there the process of paint removal started and obviously the car looked very unattractive once the paint and body panels were off. But to me and my painter’s amazement, the car’s body was so straight, had never been involved in an accident and the best part was that it didn’t have even a spot of rust on it which of course left the painter all smiles.

It was then painted using Glasurit paint in Brabus Black. It was a very deep black and the gloss on it was amazing and I coupled the lower plastic panels with a medium grey.

End of part 1

Private Treaty Sales 2014 #1

A few days back, my good friend Jon texted me about the Private Treaty Sales happening at the Bangsar Shopping Centre and of course we decided to go and have a look. We had read an article stating that 2 of the cars had been sold, one being a Mercedes-Benz W126 560SEC and the other a Mercedes-Benz W123 280CE.

There were a few cars for sale there namely the Jaguar E-type as well as a rare Mercedes-Benz W121 190SL roadster (pic above). They were also other cars such as a rare Datsun 240Z and the Porsche 356A Coupe but the Jaguar and Mercedes-Benz naturally caught my eye. And not surprising some of the cars were actually sold or booked as some of the prices were actually not too bad at all. Aston Martin Kuala Lumpur was also present with two of their cars, the Vantage and the Vanquish and some of you may remember the Vanquish aka The Vanish in the James Bond movie ‘Die Another Day’.

Below are some of the other shots taken by Jon.

Happy Birthday to my dad!

Happy Birthday Dad! Well I’m sure he won’t be reading this unless I show it to him as he’s not much of a computer person. I’ve mentioned previously in ‘My passion for automobiles’, that my dad was very much a car person. Well, today is his 73^rd birthday and I know if it was not for his influence in caring for his cars I would not have been a car person myself. A number of cars that he previously owned included 2 Volkswagen Beetles, a 1200 and a 1300, a Fiat 124 ST sedan as well as a Mitsubishi Galant.

Above is a photo that was taken a couple of months back at the Istana Seri Menanti in Kuala Pilah, Negeri Sembilan. It was a drive that I made sure my dad came for simply because the first four years of my life was in Kuala Pilah and that certainly felt nice as it was the first time that we’re actually going there in almost 20 years. It was a good drive and we actually managed to spot the house that I used to live in before. It certainly brought back memories for us.

Mercedes-Benz 600 W100

One of the rarest Mercedes-Benz to be found on the road today, the Mercedes-Benz 600 W100 is a car that was used for heads of states during it’s time. There were only less than 3,000 units ever built ranging from the short wheel base (SWB), the long wheel base (LWB) and the landaulet.

The Mercedes 600 had many famous and infamous owners as it was a symbol of wealth and power. Some of the notable owners were John Lennon, Hugh Hefner, Elvis Presley and Rowan Atkinson but the Mercedes 600 also caught the eye of several dictators familiar to us such as Saddam Hussein and Ferdinand Marcos.

Being a car that was indeed ahead of it’s time, the Mercedes 600 boasted the largest engines built by Mercedes-Benz then, which was the fuel injected M100 6.3 litre V8. It also featured a hydraulic pressure system that powered almost everything from seats to windows. It was also installed with an adjustable air suspension which could be adjusted from inside the car. Just imagine, this sort of technology even existed back then in the 1960s.

Despite not many built, there are a few fine examples here in Malaysia. Can’t wait to see one in real? Just hang on till the next classic car exhibition here in Kuala Lumpur which is normally held towards the end of the year, chances are you’ll see at least one. This happens to be one of the classics that I love but unfortunately the prices are still a little too steep for me at the moment.