In the gallery of chassisnumbers:   Main menu of the chassisnumbers The meaning of chassisnumbers up to 1980 The meaning of chassisnumbers from 1981 The chassisnumbers of the modelchanges The chassisnumbers of the technical changes Lists of Silver Shadows and T's

The meaning of the chassisnumbers up to 1980

In the beginning the chassisnumbers of the Silver Shadows consisted of 3 letters followed by 4 digits. For instance the Silver Shadow of my own has the chassisnumber: SRH6839. In 1971 the numbers reached 10,000 and got enlarged from 4 to 5 digits. In 1980 on cars for the Californian market a suffix, an extra letter behind the 5 digits, was added at the end of the number. In 1979 and 1980 the chassisnumbers for the English market were filled up with 2 zero's in order to get a number of 10 positions. Below I explain the meaning of the numbers. I start my explanation with the letters and finish it with the digits. At the end of this page there are some examples. The chassisnumber of a Silver Shadow is sometimes fitted to the dashboard, directly in the left corner under the front screen. On the picture at the right you see the chassisnumber of a 1979 Silver Shadow II. 1. The letters The first letter points out the body-variant. In the first years, until the spring of 1969, the next letters occurred: S = Standard 4-door saloon C = 2-door saloon and 2-door convertible, as well James Young as Mulliner Park Ward L = Long Wheelbase (series of 10 in 1967, before introduction in 1969) Up to the chassisnummer 6646 (watch the numbers further on this page) in 1969 the letter C was used for as well the 2-door saloon- as the convertible-coaches. From 6646 on the convertible got the letter D. Therefore from 1969 the next letters can occur: S = Standard 4-door saloon C = 2-door saloon (in the US called Coupé) D = Convertible (in England called Drophead coupé) L = Long Wheelbase 4-door saloon J = Camargue The second letter points out whether the car is a Rolls-Royce or a Bentley. The next letters can occur: R = Rolls-Royce B = Bentley The third letter points out whether the car is left hand driven or right hand driven or whether the car was destined for the american market. The next letters can occur: H = Right-hand drive, RHD, Home-market X = Left-hand drive, LHD, Export A = North-American model, year of model 1972 B = North-American model, year of model 1973 C = North-American model, year of model 1974 D = North-American model, year of model 1975 E = North-American model, year of model 1976 F = North-American model, year of model 1977 G = North-American model, year of model 1978 K = North-American model, year of model 1979 L = North-American model, year of model 1980 In 1980 an extra suffix C could occur in a chassisnumber behind the digits. For instance SRL40595C. This pointed out that the car was destined for the Californian market. This meant that the car was fitted with the Bosch Jetronic fuel-injection-system. 2. The digits In the beginning the chassisnumber existed of 4 digits, starting with the number 1001. At 10000 the enumeration went on and the number was lengthened to 5 digits. In principle one counted from low to high without interruption. In the course of the years there were several reasons to deviate from the normal order. The introduction of a new model for instance. Or the introduction of a technical change. In 1979 (from about number 39000) and in 1980 the chassisnumbers of the RHD cars for the English markets (not the LHD cars and not the RHD for the other markets) were enlarged with 2 zero's between the letters and digits in order to lengthen the number to 10 positions. The 2 zero's had no further meaning. For example: SRH0040610. The next table contains the chassisnumbers that have NOT been used. Series of numbers Explanation 4108 and some other separate numbers These numbers were assigned to the Phantom VI models 4549 - 4669 These numbers were assigned to the Phantom VI models 4670 - 4699 Not used 4700 - 4874 These numbers were assigned to the Phantom VI models 4875 - 5000 Not used 5604 - 6000 Not used 8862 - 9000 Not used 26709 - 30000 The not-used numbers between the Silver Shadow and the Silver Shadow II 41649 - 50000 From March 1979 until autumn 1980 the coachbuilders used the 50001- series for the Corniche and Camargue whilst the numbers of the Silver Shadow II and Silver Wraith II were continued untill 41648. 3. Particularities and examples In the next table there are some examples of chassisnumbers. All those numbers are really existing numbers. Chassisnumber Explanation CBH2267 Bentley T James Young 2-door saloon from 1967 C=2-door saloon; B=Bentley; H=Home-market (RHD). CRX2275 Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow Mulliner Park Ward 2-door Saloon from 1967 C=2-door saloon; R=Rolls-Royce; X=Export (LHD). DRX11385 Rolls-Royce Corniche Convertible from 1971 D=Convertible; R=Rolls-Royce; X=LHD. SRX12901 Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow from 1972 S=Standard 4-door saloon; R=Rolls-Royce; X=LHD (not the American market for in that case it would have been an A). DRH17362 Rolls-Royce Corniche Convertible from 1974 D=Convertible; R=Rolls-Royce; H=RHD. JRH19088 Rolls-Royce Camargue from 1975 J=Camargue; R=Rolls-Royce; H=RHD. LBX19566 Bentley T Long Wheelbase from 1975 L=Long Wheelbase 4-door saloon; B=Bentley; X=LHD (not the American market for in that case it would have been a D). CRH23535 Rolls-Royce Corniche 2-door Saloon from 1976 C=2-door saloon; R=Rolls-Royce; H=RHD. SRH41167 Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow II from 1980 S=Standard 4-door saloon; R=Rolls-Royce; H=RHD. LRL41346 Rolls-Royce Silver Wraith II from 1980 L=Long Wheelbase 4-door saloon; R=Rolls-Royce; L=North-American model, modelyear 1980.