More than 50% of Silver Clouds had been sold on the domestic market where, by the standards of much of Europe and most of North America, roads were narrow and crowded.

The standard wheelbase Silver Shadow measured 203.5 inches (5,170 mm), 4,700 lb (2,100 kg) and had a book price of £6,557[6] in the first year of production.

Left-hand-drive models were coupled to the recently introduced Turbo-Hydramatic 400 automatic gearbox sourced from General Motors (GM).

Pre-1970, right-hand-drive (RHD) models used a highly modified, aluminum-cased version of the original cast-iron 4-speed Hydra-Matic gearbox that had been built in Crewe under licence from GM since 1953.

[1] There are two different versions of the two-door saloon – the more common Mulliner Park Ward, featuring a raked C-pillar and swooping rear bumper line, and the very rare early James Young model reflecting the more formal 4-door that was only built in thirty-five Rolls-Royce examples (with another fifteen Bentleys), discontinued in 1967.

The convertible variant, by Mulliner Park Ward and similar in style to its 2-door saloon, was marketed as the Silver Shadow Drophead Coupé.

[9] In 1977, the model was renamed the Silver Shadow II in recognition of several major changes, most notably rack and pinion steering; modifications to the front suspension improved handling markedly.

[11] Rolls-Royce considered offering a more exclusive, long-wheelbase Phantom VII model based on the Silver Shadow, but production was not pursued and no prototypes were built.

[12] Instead, a pilot series of ten stretched-wheelbase "limousines" – which offered an additional 4 inches of rear seat legroom – was built in 1967 and sold, one of them to Princess Margaret.

Another coupé variant on the Shadow platform was the Camargue, with bodywork designed by the Italian firm Pininfarina, and production running from 1975 to 1986.

In 2013, the Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow featured on a "British Auto Legends" postage stamp issued by the Royal Mail.