Rolls-Royce’s older models are simply classic luxury, just like the Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow II. But the quirky Hoonigan team wants to transform a 1978 example into the Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow II drift-capable party car. They are still in the midst of the build, but nonetheless reached a new milestone by firing up for the first time its 700-hp crate engine also found in Dodge Hellcats.
Rebuilding A Failed Silver Shadow II Project
This Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow II actually was one of the project cars in the TV show Cars Savior on the Discovery Channel. Show host and Hoonigan crew member Brian Scotto chanced upon this Rolls-Royce and shoehorned a 6.4-liter Hemi crate engine and Borg-Warner T-56 transmission. But since everything south of the engine bay is Rolls-Royce, the wilder personality led to a broken drive shaft.
When the show ended, Discovery Channel let Brian keep the car. But since the project was an utter failure, he just stored the Silver Shadow II in Hoonigan’s Rack of Shame. The Hoonigan crew re-discovered the car and decided to create something crazy out of it – a Silver Shadow II with a powerful V8 mill and ample room for four partying occupants.
A Drift Party Car In A Rolls-Royce Body
Learning painful lessons from the previous Cars Savior build, the Hoonigan crew drafted a careful yet crazy plan for the new Party Shredder. They will only retain the body of the Rolls-Royce, while customizing or fabricating everything else. So, they chopped off the body of the Silver Shadow II, fitted a new roll cage and dropped them on a complete racing chassis from Art Morrison.
The crew has also been fabricating various elements. They have to dig into their creative minds, while ensuring everything goes as planned. They built a new drivetrain and installed a new power steering rack. Then, they fixed the Hellcrate engine and the transmission. The crew also did the plumbing, hooked the fuel lines and installed the Sparco QRT-R seats.
700-HP Hellcat Crate Engine Comes To Life
Hoonigan displayed the still unfinished creation at the 2021 SEMA Show in Las Vegas, as glowed up with some simple aesthetics such as new headlights and a fresh grill. Once the SEMA Show was over, the Hoonigan crew was back to rebuilding business.
After adding three radiators for the Hellcrate engine and installing a cooling system for the supercharger, the crew finally fired up the V8 power plant. Brian was so impressed that he clapped several times in celebration of this new milestone!
Source: Hoonigan on YouTube