Rolls-Royce was considered the ultimate luxury vehicle in the world, and the launch of the MkIV of the Silver Spirit range in 1994 brought a new marketing strategy.

Only 760 units of the first Rolls-Royce to bear the Silver Dawn name were built between 1949 and 1955, albeit the car shared most of its oily bits and chassis with the slightly more mainstream Bentley Mark VI until 1952 and then with the Bentley R Type until 1955. This means that all cars were fitted with a 4.2-liter straight-six until 1951, when the engine was enlarged to 4.6-liter.