First car of Italian Job star up for grabs

By: Unique Cars magazine

Date: 08.03.2023

Michael Caine's first car, a 1968 Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow, goes under the hammer

The year before he starred on the silver screen in The Italian Job, actor Sir Michael Caine CBE bought his first car, this 1968 Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow, that’s now going under the hammer on March 15, the day after his 90th birthday.

With an estimated sale price between $175-$260,000 Caine’s car is one of 506 Silver Shadow two-door drophead coupes hand-built by Rolls-Royce’s in-house coachbuilder Mulliner Park Ward.

The story goes that, in 1968, Caine wandered into the renowned Jack Barclay showroom on Berkeley Square, with a handwritten shopping list which read, "milk, bread, newspaper, cigarettes, Rolls-Royce."

Dishevelled and unshaven, Caine was ushered off the premises so he headed to another Rolls-Royce dealership in Mayfair, HA Fox, where he found the Silver Shadow after the playwright and screenwriter, Terence Rattigan, cancelled his order for it.

Despite not having a licence Caine purchased the car and said it was cheaper to employ a chauffeur than pay the premium insurers quoted should he decide to go down the ‘L-plate’ path. The 35-year-old actor subsequently took great pleasure in being driven past the offending Jack Barclay salesman in his new car and flicking him a V-sign!

Less than two years later, the Silver Shadow was acquired by Jack Leach – owner of the Fulham’s Gasworks restaurant, a notorious hotspot for the rich and famous. The rRoller became a familiar sight on the Fulham and Kings roads for the decades following, with Leach owning the car for the next 43-years until his death in 2013.

"Personifying cool since the swinging sixties, Caine and the Silver Shadow remain instantly recognisable and widely admired," said Damien Jones, of auction house H&H Classics. More at handh.co.uk.

From Unique Cars #476, March 2023

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