This is the 5.4 liter aluminum V12 from a 1999 Rolls-Royce Silver Seraph. It’s an engine that was actually sourced from BMW, some of you may have recognized it as a version of the BMW M73 that was in production from the 1990s through to the early 2000s.
The Rolls-Royce Silver Seraph made its debut in 1998 as the successor to the long-running Rolls-Royce Silver Spirit which had been in production since 1980, and was appearing a little long in the tooth.
This is the Rolls-Royce Silver Seraph, it was unveiled in 1998 and sold until 2002 when it was replaced with the first generation Rolls-Royce Ghost. Image courtesy of Rolls-Royce.
The reason the Silver Seraph was using a BMW engine is that Rolls-Royce had been sold to the German marque. In fact the company remains a subsidiary of BMW today, a relationship that has been running for 26 years and counting.
The version of the BMW M73 used in the Silver Seraph was internally code-named M73TUB54, it was also used in the BMW E38 of the time as well as the Symbol Design Lavazza GTX, and the Monte Carlo Automobile Rascasse.
The M73TUB54 featured an aluminum block and heads, a single overhead cam per bank with two valves per cylinder, roller-rockers, and dual Bosch Motronic engine control units. The displacement is 5,379cc or 5.4 liters, and it was capable of 322 bhp at 5,000 rpm with 361 lb ft of torque at 3,900 rpm.
For use in the Silver Seraph, this engine was mated to the automatic five-speed ZF 5HP30 automatic transmission which sent power to the rear wheels. There was no manual transmission option. The car had a listed top speed of 225 km/h or 140 mph, deemed more than sufficient for the time, as the maximum speed limit in the UK at the time was 70 mph.
With 322 bhp and 361 lb ft of torque, this V12 could sent the Silver Seraph from 0 – 62 mph in 6.9 seconds and on to a top speed of 140 mph.
The engine you see here has been removed from a 1999 Rolls-Royce Silver Seraph that had 64,000 miles on the odometer. It’s now being offered for sale out of Lansdale, Pennsylvania on eBay and the listing notes that it is fully operational.
If you’d like to read more about it or place a bid you can visit the listing here. It’s being offered with a Buy It Now price of $7,410 USD, down from the original asking price of $9,500 USD.
Images courtesy of Lansdale Autoparts
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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.
