You just never know what you'll find in a big self-service wrecking yard, especially one in car-crazed California. I've documented Maseratis, Jensens, JDM stuff, even a tank in such places.
Nearly a decade ago, I spotted a Rolls-Royce Silver Wraith in a Los Angeles boneyard, and I thought that would be the last discarded Roller I'd ever encounter under such circumstances. Nope! Just last week, I found today's Junkyard Treasure in a Northern California car graveyard: a 1974 Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow.
It has been picked over hard by junkyard vultures, but it's still a recognizable Rolls-Royce even so. The 6.8-liter pushrod V8 is down to the short block.
The small amount of original interior remaining should remind us that this car's MSRP was $33,500, or about $216,270 in 2023 dollars. That's enough to buy eight brand-new 1974 Chevy Impala sedans, with enough left over to spring for factory 8-track players for each one.
Naturally, I photographed it with infrared film in a late-1930s AGFA box camera, as one does.
1974 Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow in California Junkyard
