Icon Derelict 1958 Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud With 550 HP Is the Sled Santa Deserves

If you wish to have the best of both worlds by retaining vintage car patina while still packing high-performance chassis and powertrain components underneath, you'll probably fancy Icon's Derelict series, the rusty classics restomodded into the price range of a 2021 Rolls-Royce Phantom. 

Jonathan Ward's first step into this specific genre was with his personal 1952 DeSoto Station Wagon, while this later 1958 Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud Series I was an Australian commission finished back in 2018. Showing a few cracks in its original two-tone paint job, this wonderful creation is built on an Art Morrison chassis featuring independent suspension all around, massive Brembo brakes, rack-and-pinion steering, and of course a Chevrolet LS7 V8 tuned to produce around 550 horsepower. What hasn't changed much, however, is the look and feel of that rich 1950s Rolls-Royce interior, a mixture of walnut and leather cured by the best in the business.

Before landing at Icon's workshop in California, this early Silver Cloud was parked for ages due to electrical issues, yet its earlier history includes being the company car of an American cosmetics company, and then the retirement gift of its former CEO. Between 1955 and 1958, Rolls-Royce only produced 2,238 of these, while Bentley got on with its 3,538 S1 siblings. Thanks to Icon's updates, this unmistakable 1958 cruiser should now be ready for another seven decades, as well as all the burnouts its original 155-horsepower six-cylinder engine couldn't support.

Tiff Needle of Lovecars argues that this V8 sleeper would be the perfect car for Santa Claus, an older gentlemen who's mostly on holiday throughout the year, yet still needs a sizeable trunk from time to time.

Frankly, if we continue with that thought, it's not hard to imagine this six-seater Rolls from 1958 riding on studded tires, with the rear axle handling all the might of that LS7 through the winter wonderland.

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