Well, why not? Someone has taken a Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow and turned it into a dually. Just because you can doesn’t mean you should, but this Roller conversion makes more sense once we explain.
Are Rolls-Royce Silver Shadows built like trucks?
Rolls-Royce flatbed dually truck | CC
Some have suggested (and it isn’t us) that Rolls-Royce cars are built like trucks. And some say that a Rolls-Royce is as big as a truck. We do agree with these two premises. Still, there are others that say “built like a truck,” means they’re built to no better degree than a truck today.
In other words, the quality exhibited on Rolls-Royce cars of old is really nothing better than a new F-150 or Ram 1500. So why not take that a step further and convert your old Silver Shadow into an actual truck? Some may say it is sacrilege, but this conversion was done by a shop specializing in Rolls-Royce and Bentley vehicles.
“Haul around Rolls-Royces with a Rolls-Royce truck”
Rolls Royce flatbed dually truck | CC
The father and son team at Central Conversions in Florida hammered this together. “The truck was originally built to haul other Rolls-Royces on a three-car trailer,” Jordan told the Drive. “It started as a joke that my dad wanted to haul around his Rolls-Royces with another Rolls-Royce, and it eventually turned into a reality.”
The chassis is from a one-ton Chevy dually. Though currently motoring around with a 350 ci Chevy engine, that’s pretty weak sauce for towing. So a 6.0-liter LS is in the works. What, you were thinking maybe a 4.9-liter six-banger from some old Silver Cloud?
The LS will get hooked to the current Turbo 400 automatic transmission. The Roller’s column shift handles shifting chores just like new trucks. And even with the trusty 350, it has still hauled upwards of 13 tons. So the Rolls does what a truck is supposed to do.
Even the Rolls-Royce paint is truck-like: Fleet White
Rolls Royce flatbed dually truck | CC
For a little bling, those wheels are 10-lug alloys off of a semi-truck. They even carry the Rolls-Royce logo on the caps. Central Conversions used adapters so it could use the original Chevy truck hubs. And the Fleet-White paint just adds to the truckiness of it all.
Inside, it is mostly all Silver Shadow, right down to the lacquered burl wood. But it is simple enough that it could be just a nicely-optioned truck from today. And that original Silver Shadow steering wheel looks so truck-like it could be from a tractor.
Why are used Rollers so cheap?
Rolls Royce flatbed dually truck interior | CC
These old Rollers can be bought fairly cheaply. Why? Because they’re usually high-mileage survivors. Once you get into the maintenance they need, especially if an engine rebuild is in order, it takes a thick wallet to cover the costs. So Rolls enthusiasts and collectors like to find the best they can and pay the price. They come out paying far less than trying to bring some old heap back to life. Thus the cheap prices.
Not only is it quite appropriate for a Rolls shop to do its hauling with a Rolls, but it tends to support our earlier contention that these things are built like and look like trucks. Though we’ve heard some compare them to old New York Checker cabs. There are similarities, you know?
Keyword: Just When You Thought You’d Seen Everything Here’s a Rolls-Royce Dually