Rare Rolls-Royce two-door by Hooper heads to auction

Coachbuilt Silver Spirit from 1988 makes for a stealthy gentleman's express

British coachbuilder Hooper & Co. has a long and proud history dating back to 1805 even if their cars (and carriages) are rarely seen on this side of the pond, a history that stretches all the way into what we consider to be the modern era. Hooper has produced thousands of car bodies over its decades in business, even if it's the cars from the first half of the century that get the most airplay now at auctions and concours events.
Hooper stayed busy through the 1980s after turning into a sales organization, continuing to build bespoke bodies for Rolls-Royce and Bentley sedans. The coachbuilder's cars have often been described as an acquired taste, akin to late Bristol designs, but a relatively recent example that's going up for auction appears almost pedestrian: Later this month, Silverstone Auctions will offer this 1988 Rolls-Royce Silver Spirit 2 Door Saloon by Hooper at their annual NEC Classic Motor Show Sale, an example that should invite plenty of attention from fans of the marque as well as British car enthusiasts.
This particular example started out life as a Silver Spirit, and is one of the more straightforward Hooper conversions. A two-door sedan rather than a coupe, this Silver Spirit is based on the short-wheelbase version of the car. And rather than simply receiving a new body panel instead of the rear doors, Hooper's Silver Spirit received new, longer front doors and a reworked B-pillar, resulting in a more complex conversion than it seems. The C-pillar has also been redesigned, featuring a smaller rear window designed to offer more privacy while leaving just enough acreage for the driver to be able to use the rear view mirror. Hooper's conversion also features new bumpers front and back and redesigned lower sills, which offer a bit more chrome than on the standard version of the Silver Spirit.

The front doors were actually lengthened and the shape of the rear window was altered as a part of this conversion. Photo by Silverstone Auctions

This particular example is said to have just 45,000 miles on the clock, slightly below average for Silver Spirits and Mulsannes of this vintage, in addition to recent maintenance bills totaling £8,000. Finished in Gloss Black, this Silver Spirit reportedly features straight body work and excellent panel gaps, with the interior woodwork and tan leather interior said to be in good order as well.
Powered by 6.75-liter V8s, the Silver Spirits are plush interstate cruisers when everything is in working order, and they are said to be less complex cars to work on than the later Arnage and Silver Seraph cars of the late 1990s. The Silver Spirits and their offshoots (totalling more than two dozen) overcame most of their teething problems by the 1980s, and spare parts are in relative abundance as there are plenty of cannibalized examples out there. Service bills for these gentle giants can still be crushing despite their antique innards, with the hydropneumatic suspensions and braking systems being the worst of it. Abused examples are dime a dozen but the best ones, like the Mulliner Park Ward personal limousines from the 1990s, can still command serious money.

This example shows around 45,000 miles on the clock. Photo by Silverstone Auctions

This conversion by Hooper is actually one of the more low-key efforts by the coachbuilder. Before Hooper folded, they took advantage of the luxury car boom of the late 1980s, producing some interesting coachbuilt Rolls-Royce and Bentley bodies. This 1988 coupe must have cost an eye-watering amount of money at the time, and despite its seeming simplicity this is actually a pretty involved engineering effort, even if the conversion results in a net loss of versatility. It's nicely proportioned and very stealthy today, even in areas used to seeing the old Silver Spirits and Mulsannes milling about.
Silverstone Auctions estimates that this example will bring between £23-26,000 on auction day, which translates into approximately $36-42,000. When these were new, a 50 percent premium over the cost of the base car was about par for the course for the cost of the conversion, while today's auction house estimate merely puts them on equal footing with the best stock examples of the model.