Man Buys a Rolls-Royce for the Price of an Old Polo—and Finds a Nightmare Under the Hood

He first spotted the car while filming a barn-find video and couldn’t shake the idea. The Silver Shadow II is a distinctive version, featuring rack-and-pinion steering and chunky rubber bumpers that purists love to hate. Yet every enthusiast knows the rule: there’s no such thing as a cheap Rolls-Royce. If the purchase price is low, the repair bills usually aren’t, and the saying about cheap luxury cars exists for a reason.

The problems became clear the moment the bonnet was lifted. While the exterior looked passable, underneath was chaos. The climate control ran constantly, draining the battery, and a mess of questionable wiring hinted at years of amateur tinkering. Worse still, the legendary 6.75-liter V8 ran terribly, coughing, stalling, and barely holding itself together.