What is the value of a car once owned by a celebrity? The seller of this four-door 1972 Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow provides documentation showing that Walter Matthau purchased it new for his second wife, Carol. Aside from the celebrity halo, this example has been meticulously maintained and shows fewer than 32k miles on the odometer. Find it here on eBay, bid to $11,000 – barely above prevailing prices for examples in project condition. This Rolls has made its way from California to Greer, South Carolina and its new owner can drive it home. But as nice a car as it is, should the seller expect any premium deriving from Matthau’s ownership?
The celebrity-owned cars shown here were all marketed within the last decade or so; they remain socked away in private collections. The Porsche 917, featured in the movie Le Mans, provides a useful contrast: chassis -024 was used in the movie but not driven by Steve McQueen, and it sold in 2017 for $14 million, while chassis -022, which was driven by the star, failed to sell a year ago to a high bid of $25 million. Some of that gap can be ascribed to inflation, but part of it is actual hands-on use by the kind of star that every car guy respects. Fred Astaire drove the 1955 Ferrari 750 Monza Spyder in On the Beach, and it sold for $2.53 million in 2011 – a substantial discount to almost every other 750 Monza Spyder sold around then or since. Clark Gable’s Gullwing sold in 2015 for $1.85 million, barely above any other Gullwing sold within a year of that time frame. We’ve all heard, too, about Janis Joplin’s Porsche 356, and the Escort RS Turbo owned by Princess Diana – these sold for big premiums. I’m going to hazard a guess that collectors recall McQueen, Joplin, and Princess Diana more readily than Astaire and Gable. Eventually, memories of the brilliance of celebrities fade. Do Gen Z’ers even know who Clark Gable was?
Whether Walter Matthau’s gift to his wife is worth a premium or not, there’s no question that the car is in wonderful condition. Under the bonnet is Rolls-Royce’s 6.75-liter V8, still fitted with twin SU carburetors. Later cars sold to California would receive fuel injection. The gearbox is GM’s venerable Turbo-Hydramatic three-speed automatic. Disc brakes, a self-leveling suspension system licensed from Citroën, and scads of power accessories delivered a luxury ride justifying the hefty price tag: more than 30,000 Silver Shadows were sold, about four times the number of its predecessor, the Silver Cloud. The seller notes that this car has always been garaged and maintained to specs; recently, “thousands of dollars” were spent on the braking system and other components.
The cabin greets us with leather/wool/wood, like many fine British cars, but executed to a higher standard than most. The original keys, factory floor mats, tool kit, an unused spare tire, and the jack are still present. A new carpet kit for the trunk will accompany the car, and it rides on fresh white-wall tires. In addition to ownership documents, the car comes with its manual and service record booklet.
The Silver Shadow was a “downsized” unibody Rolls, aimed at driver-owners. Its exterior dimensions were 3.5″ narrower and 7″ shorter than the Silver Cloud, but it provided at least as much interior space as its big brother. No part of this example has ever been restored – the seller notes the fine condition of its body panels and original paint. Similar cars are difficult to find: most are in worse condition, show higher mileage, or have acutely expensive needs. The new caretaker may appreciate the consistent maintenance this car has experienced and its originality more than the identity of its previous owners. What do you think?
I love Silver Shadows. In fact, I’ve never met (nor driven) a Rolls-Royce I didn’t like.
These are very underrated if you ask me, being both a pleasure to drive and comfortable, as well as being easy on the eyes and dressed with all the wood, leather and lamb’s-wool a British car enthusiast could ask for. People who have owned them told me they are quite reliable, at least as long as regularly serviced.
I don’t know whether Mrs. Matthau’s ownership adds to the value. Condition is what matters. She seems to have cared for it, which definitely counts, but it wouldn’t surprise me if the next owner pays the same price for it he or she would have laid out for an equivalent car owned by, say, Fred Smith.
By the way: I once drove a Ferrari raced in the Mille Miglia by one Tazio Nuvolari. Most of it, anyway; the story goes that the driver’s seat and one fender (at least) were discarded during the race. I strongly doubt my short time behind the wheel added a dime to its value….
Stay tuned, RayT, I’ve got a special feature coming up for you. Give me 3, 4 days….
This has got to be one of the nicest Silver Shadows we’ve seen in a while. I’m guessing Walters wife didn’t drive this much. While I like him very much, in fact, The Odd Couple theme is running through my head right now as I write this, I don’t know if I’d pay more. However, its a really neat fact that I’d point out at a Cars and Coffee. I always thought it a compliment to GM that Rolls Royce used their THM 400 for their cars. I hope it stays in this condition. Its been cherrished and well cared for.
Oscar Madison would have had cigar burns in the leather and food wrappers, dirty clothes and old newspapers in the car. I think Judge Smails was the original owner.
Do you know what gophers can do to a golf course?!!
Celebrity ownership is hardly rare in a Rolls-Royce. What matters is the degree of celebrity. Walter Matthau probably won’t add any value, but Elvis or Elizabeth Taylor might.
Now, THIS Rolls Royce motor car is what the word ORIGINAL really describes! Fortunately the brakes have recently had “thousands” of dollars spent on them as I am led to believe that they were the only “not up to scratch” item on the Shadow 1 and their problems were overcome for the Shadow 2. This car is absolutely what a Rolls Royce motor car should be, beautiful. I have just realised that I live within 30 minutes of the Goodwood circuit which is adjacent to the Rolls Royce manufacturing plant having driven past it just yesterday!
Circa 1980, I was about 10 years old, and we were on vacation in LA. A relative of ours was a hairdresser with a celebrity clientele. She was doing my sister’s hair as a treat, so I was waiting outside, just walking around, and who should drive up to pick up his girlfriend/wife? ERIK ESTRADA! And he had a beautiful RR Corniche, Goldish/Brownish, with a light tan/creme interior, IIRC. And a Dog! How cool was that?
Carol Matthau was quite a broad. Wrote a good book, Among The Porcupines.
Nice clean Rolls here. Noticed California and South Carolina plates on it.
SC is a one plate state so they probably left the original CA one on.
I think that celebrity provenance with cars is of little value, unless the car itself was in a major movie or show with a huge star. Then all bets are off.
In the guitar world, celebrity musician provenance has become outrageous. A David Gilmore played guitar from the Pink Floyd Dark Side of the Moon days recently sold for $14 MILLION.
A Jerry Garcia “go to” guitar sold for $11.5 Million.
These were in Jim Irsay’s (Indiana Colts owner, deceased) huge guitar collection, and are now owned by other prominent uber-rich collectors.
However, as with cars, this “top tier” pricing explosion has no effect on the rest of the inventory for sale in the guitar world. Even ones played by semi-famous musicians. Nobody cares about most of it.
Like old cars, old guitars, in general are rapidly decreasing in value as baby boomers (they were the “collector generation”) ages out and their huge inventories come to market, either willingly or via estate sales.
As with cars, the very top tier stuff exists on it’s own multi-millionaire/billionaire planet. But there’s hard cut-off line, and everything below that is tanking for lack of buyers.
Younger generations are generally not motivated by baubles and shiny objects and the need for space and constant care. It was a unique baby-boomer thing, when “having stuff” was a source of self-validation.
While I would fear much of the mechanics on these cars, the SU carbs can not be much more complicated than those on either the recent TR3 or the 120S Volvo. Less parts and easy to sync.
Beautiful machine. Celebrity ownership doesn’t mean anything to me. Condition is the important part and this car seems to have that in spades. I would love to own this one.
I once rode in a taxi that Al Pacino once hailed. At least that’s what Abu, the driver, told me. I was not impressed…
Good one. I bought an 87 Cutlass Supreme in 88 ~ a “program car” that was driven by a Chicago Bears player but I never found out which one. That didn’t impress me either but the condition and price did. It was a really nice car.
Sold for $22,300. A steal if you ask me, based on condition alone.
Hard to find any celebrity premium in that price.
Okay, I placed a bid on this one a few days before the auction closed and was immediately outbid. Now the seller e-mails me. The car sold but there is a problem with the high bidder, so he is willing to sell me the car for my highest bid ~ which is $8,700 under the winning bid plus he is willing to pay for enclosed shipping at that price. I am seeing some red flags here, the first being that he is a used car dealer and I do not trust any used car dealer. I’m gonna take a pass on this one.
That sounds like a very good idea Joe! Go with your gut feeling.