This is the 1978 Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow II that belonged to Noel Gallagher of Oasis during the band’s heyday in the 1990s. The car’s first owner, back in the late 1970s, was Sir Jack Cohen – the founder of supermarket chain Tesco.
It was in this car that Noel arrived at the “Cool Britannia” Party held at number 10 Downing Street and hosted by the then-current Prime Minister Tony Blair. He ultimately kept the car until 2012, perhaps a sign of how much sentimental value it had to him.
Fast Facts: Noel Gallagher’s Silver Shadow II
- The Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow II was introduced in 1977 as a revised version of the original Silver Shadow, with 8,425 built through 1980. Its 1,659 modifications included rack-and-pinion steering, revised suspension geometry, improved climate control, updated instrumentation, and external styling changes designed to improve comfort, handling, and everyday usability.
- Power came from a 6.75 liter aluminum V8 paired with a GM Turbo Hydramatic 400 3-speed automatic transmission. The Silver Shadow II had independent suspension, four-wheel disc brakes, and hydraulic rear self-leveling suspension. Revised carburetors, twin exhausts, and cooling improvements helped to reduce fuel consumption by ~10%.
- This particular 1978 Silver Shadow II was originally purchased by Tesco founder Sir Jack Cohen and finished in Chestnut brown with Champagne Beige upholstery. After Cohen’s death in 1979, it passed to London jeweller Clive Ross-Field before Creation Records founder Alan McGee bought it as a Christmas present for Oasis guitarist Noel Gallagher in 1995.
- Gallagher famously arrived in the Rolls-Royce at Tony Blair’s 1997 Cool Britannia reception at Downing Street, despite being unable to drive himself. Sold in 2012, the car has since undergone extensive refurbishment while keeping its original registration. Showing 63,773 miles, it’s now heading to auction with an estimate of £25,000 to £30,000.
History Speedrun: The Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow II
Rolls-Royce built 8,425 Silver Shadow IIs between 1977 and 1980, it was a comprehensive revision of the earlier 1965 Silver Shadow, and it was first shown to the press at Mijas, in the hills above Torremolinos in southern Spain, in early 1977, along with the long-wheelbase Silver Wraith II and the Bentley T2.
The Rolls-Royce was a comprehensive revision of the earlier 1965 Silver Shadow, and it was first shown to the press at Mijas, in the hills above Torremolinos in southern Spain, in early 1977. Image courtesy of Rolls-Royce.
Rolls-Royce was selling more cars than ever at the time, its sales had risen from 2,000 in 1971 to 3,261 in 1976. By then the company believed that 60% of its cars were driven by their owners at least some of the time – as opposed to being chauffeured. At the car’s launch, group managing director David Plastow presented the Rolls-Royce as a working tool for businessmen rather than merely a status symbol. Of course, it was always more of a status symbol, but the Shadow II had 1,659 modifications over the earlier model, and Rolls-Royce insisted that it was built for people who drove themselves.
The most important change over the original Silver Shadow was the steering, Crewe’s engineers had wanted rack and pinion since 1971 but they couldn’t find a suitable unit, or a supplier interested in small volumes, until Burman & Sons Ltd. agreed to build one. The power-assisted rack replaced the old recirculating-ball box, its tie rods connected at the center of the rack, an arrangement that was chosen to keep the existing steering geometry.
The car was also given revised front suspension geometry, designed to hold the wheels more upright in corners and cut body roll, and a thinner rear anti-roll bar helped balance it all out. The Corniche and Camargue both received the same steering and suspension changes, perhaps unsurprisingly as they were based on the same platform.
The design that underpinned the Silver Shadow II dated back to 1965, it had a steel unibody with separate front and rear subframes (they kept road noise away from the body), with wishbones and coil springs at the front and semi-trailing arms with coil springs at the rear. A high-pressure hydraulic system built under license from Citroën ran the rear self-leveling, and it had four-wheel disc brakes with ventilated units up front.
The aluminum 6.75 liter overhead valve V8, with a 104.1 mm bore and 99.1 mm stroke, was given twin exhausts and tamper-proof SU HIF7 carburetors. A smaller engine-driven fan was backed by an electric booster, and the changes together were expected to cut fuel consumption by around 10%. Drive went to the rear wheels through GM’s 3-speed Turbo Hydramatic 400 automatic.
Outside, the Shadow II kept the wraparound rubber-faced bumpers that had appeared on late Shadow I and added an air dam, though US-market cars went without it. Inside were a new dashboard, a Jaeger electronic speedometer and the split-level automatic air conditioning introduced on the Camargue. That system accounted for much of a price rise of nearly £4,000. In Britain the Shadow II cost £22,809, or about $39,000 USD, which works out to $216,842 USD in 2026 dollars.
John Entwistle of The Who had a 1980 Silver Shadow II converted into a shooting brake to carry his dogs, Rolls-Royce never offered a factory-built station wagon but Entwistle wasn’t about to let that stop him. One of the most famous Shadow IIs is the “Tesco Car,” chassis SRH 35177, a 1978 Shadow II finished in Chestnut and sold new to Sir Jack Cohen, the founder of Tesco.
Outside, the Shadow II kept the wraparound rubber-faced bumpers that had appeared on late Shadow I and added an air dam, though US-market cars went without it. Inside were a new dashboard, a Jaeger electronic speedometer and the split-level automatic air conditioning introduced on the Camargue. Image courtesy of Rolls-Royce.
Noel Gallagher had told Creation Records founder Alan McGee that he wanted a chocolate brown Rolls-Royce. In late-1995, after the success of (What’s the Story) Morning Glory?, McGee secretly bought the car and presented it to him at a Christmas party.
The Ex-Noel Gallagher Rolls-Royce Shown Here
This 1978 Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow II was originally bought by Sir Jack Cohen, the founder of Tesco, and first registered on October the 9th, 1978. Finished in Chestnut brown with Champagne Beige upholstery, it was supplied through Southend Motor & Aero Company Ltd. of Essex. Following Cohen’s death in March of 1979, the car passed to London jeweller Clive Ross-Field in 1980, who kept it for approximately 15 years and had it regularly maintained by Rolls-Royce.
In late-1995, the car was bought by Creation Records founder Alan McGee, with assistance from Joe Foster, as a Christmas gift for Oasis guitarist and songwriter Noel Gallagher. McGee knew Gallagher had always wanted a chocolate-brown Rolls-Royce and presented it to him at a Christmas party in London’s Halcyon Hotel.
Gallagher famously recalled the gift in a 2004 television interview, joking that Liam had received a Rolex while he had received a Rolls-Royce, despite the fact that he couldn’t drive at the time. The car soon became part of Britpop history when it transported Gallagher, his then-wife Meg Matthews, McGee, and Kate Holmes to Prime Minister Tony Blair’s celebrated “Cool Britannia” reception at number 10 Downing Street on July the 30th, 1997.
By the mid-2000s, Gallagher was using the Rolls-Royce less frequently, and it was eventually placed into storage. The current seller bought it in 2012, becoming its 4th owner. Over the following 14 years, the car received considerable attention, including a professional respray in its original Chestnut color, a replacement Everflex roof, new carpets, whitewall tires, and regular servicing by a former Rolls-Royce mechanic.
This 1978 Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow II was originally bought by Sir Jack Cohen, the founder of Tesco, and first registered on October the 9th, 1978. Finished in Chestnut brown with Champagne Beige upholstery, it was supplied through Southend Motor & Aero Company Ltd. of Essex.
The car is now showing 63,773 miles and is reportedly running and driving well. It keeps its original registration, DEV 851T, along with an extensive history file containing servicing records, its original owner’s manuals, a December 1995 sales invoice, and a previous V5C registration document bearing Noel Gallagher’s signature.
This is arguably the most famous of all the Silver Shadow IIs that were made due to its double-barreled celebrity ownership. It’s now due to roll across the auction block with Iconic Auctioneers in mid-November with a price guide of £25,000 – £30,000 or $33,300 – $40,000 USD. If you’d like to read more you can visit the listing here.
Images provided by Iconic Auctioneers
Articles that Ben Branch has written have been covered on CNN, Popular Mechanics, Smithsonian Magazine, Road & Track Magazine, the official Pinterest blog, the official eBay Motors blog, BuzzFeed, Autoweek Magazine, Wired Magazine, Autoblog, Gear Patrol, Jalopnik, The Verge, and many more.
Silodrome was founded by Ben back in 2010, in the years since the site has grown to become a world leader in the alternative and vintage motoring sector, with well over a million monthly readers from around the world and many hundreds of thousands of followers on social media.
