6,750cc OHV V8 Engine
220bhp at 4,000rpm
3-Speed GM400 Automatic Transmission
4-Wheel Independent Suspension
4-Wheel Disc Brakes

*'TC 100' sister movie car to the Dune Buggy
*Simple ownership chain including Petersen Automotive Museum
*Elegant touring Rolls coupe
*Offered with copies of factory records

THE MOTORCAR OFFERED

There were three 'star cars' in the slickly produced Thomas Crown Affair filmed and released in 1968; starring Steve McQueen as high stakes businessman and bank robber Thomas Crown, and Faye Dunaway as Crown's would be foil and love interest, insurance investigator Vicki Anderson. Norman Jewison was on to direct.

Among them was Thomas Crown's "daily driver," this 1967 Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow Coupe, an elegant, two-door version of the current Silver Shadow sedan. Chassis number CRX2672, a factory left-hand drive example, was painted an appropriately elegant shade of non-metallic navy blue, with a buff-colored leather interior. Each Shadow Coupe was hand-built to order, and the bodies were crafted at HJ Mulliner Park Ward Limited, an amalgam of two significant English coachbuilders. This ever-elegant Rolls was also available in a convertible version (subsequently named the Corniche, one of which McQueen later owned) and could be had as a Bentley.

Power came courtesy of Rolls' standard issue 6.2 all-aluminum OHV V-8; back when the company could get away with declaring that its horsepower output was "adequate" and its torque rating "sufficient," but most estimate it was good for around 250 horses and at least 300 pounds-feet of torque. The butter smooth, V-8 was backed by a 4-speed automatic transmission; as you'd expect, a host of luxury touches were standard. It wouldn't be a Rolls-Royce without a cabin well dressed in grain matched walnut instrument and door panels, Connolly leather, and footwells of Wilton carpets. An appropriate ride for an upper crust bank robber.

2672 appears throughout The Thomas Crown Affair, most often with McQueen as Crown at the wheel. One notable scene shows him driving Vicki to his Boston mansion on a rainy evening. The Rolls looks entirely at home in this environment, highly waxed paint glimmering in the rainwater; a cozy way for two beautiful people to travel. This dashing coupe sticks out more during the day, especially when Crown drives it to a cemetery to collect bags of money from his latest bank job.

The Rolls was ordered new in 1967 and first owned by Hollywood film producer and writer Jerry Bresler. It is not clear how the car came to be used in Crown, as Bresler is not credited as being involved with the film. Perhaps he knew the producers or director, and either lent or rented it to them as it was appropriate for the need. Bresler passed away in 1977, and the car was sold by his estate around 1980.

Beyond that, its ownership chain is relatively short, including the world-famous Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles, ultimately ending up in the hands of the private and prestigious collection that consigns the car today.

These rare cars were hand built in the best traditions of British coachbuilding using only materials of the finest quality, a necessarily lengthy process that took all of 20 weeks for the Coupe and slightly longer for the more complex convertible. This painstaking attention to detail resulted in a price some 50% higher than the standard Silver Shadow sedans. Nevertheless, demand for these glamorous alternatives to the more numerous Silver Shadow 4-door was strong right from the start, a state of affairs that resulted in them being given their own model name - 'Corniche'- in 1971.

Factory build cards evidence that Mr. Bresler ordered this left-hand drive Rolls-Royce with numerous enhancements including lowered steering column, Firestone white-wall tires, electric aerial, electric windows, Sundym tinted glass, air conditioning, driver's door mirror, hazard warning device, and inertia-reel safety belts to the front seats. Finished in its proper deep navy blue with beige leather interior, CRX2672 is offered with owner's manual and, in addition to the aforementioned Rolls-Royce factory documentation, comes with available service records, and a single high quality repaint, in proper materials and to original color, undertaken by Pro Finish Auto Body in December 2000. Serial and powertrain numbers match appropriately.

The mechanicals and interior are highly original, well maintained, and demonstrate the gently earned patina of time, use, and care. The remarkable motorcar on offer here comes from the truly hand-built, coach-crafted era of Rolls-Royce production, and combines the nearly incalculable intrinsic, artistic, cultural, and historic connection to a great award-winning film, and Hollywood's ultimate car guy.