Car Of The Day: July 7, 2012

Today's car of the day comes from juantoo3's collection and is Matchbox's 1956 Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud.

The Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud was the core model of the Rolls-Royce Motor Cars range from April 1955 until March 1966. It replaced the Silver Dawn and was, in turn, replaced by the Silver Shadow. The J. P. Blatchley design was a major change from the pre-war models and the highly derivative Silver Dawn. As part of a range rationalisation the Bentley S1 is very similar, apart from its radiator grille.

For more information and pictures of the real car please visit: Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud

Rolls-Royce has not allowed any 1/64 company to replicate one of their cars in over two decades.  This one dates to the mid '80s and was one of the last new Rolls-Royce castings in small scale.

The chassis was a simple steel box section, welded together and very rigid. Construction retained the traditional split between chassis and body, which facilitated the provision of special bodied versions though in practice the overwhelming majority of cars were delivered with the standard steel body shell, produced by Pressed Steel, and employing light weight aluminium based alloy for the doors, bonnet/hood and boot/trunk lid. The car was 5.38 m (212 in) long, 1.90 m (75 in) wide, and massed 1.95 tonnes. The engine was a 155 hp / 4000 rpm 4.9 L six-cylinder unit with inlet over exhaust valves: twin SU carburettors were added in September 1957. The standard transmission was a four-speed automatic. The turning circle was 41 feet 8 inches (12.70 m).

Brakes were hydraulic and assisted by the Rolls-Royce mechanical servo with 11 in (279 mm) drums and suspension was independent coils at the front and semi-elliptic springs at the rear. Twin brake master cylinders were incorporated from April 1956.

Power steering became an option in 1956 along with air conditioning.

A long-wheelbase version, lengthened by 4 in (102 mm), was also made available in September 1957, outwardly very similar to the existing car, but offering improved leg space for rear-seat passengers.
The British Motor magazine tested a standard-wheelbase factory-bodied Series I in 1956 recording a top speed of 102.9 mph (165.6 km/h) and acceleration from 0-60 mph (97 km/h) in 13.5 seconds and a fuel consumption of 14.5 miles per imperial gallon (19.5 L/100 km; 12.1 mpg-US). The test car cost £5078 including taxes.