1987 Rolls-Royce Corniche Convertible Mulliner Park Ward Coachwork, Maroon over White Leather Why This Car Is Special The 1987 Rolls-Royce Corniche is one of the most deliberately built automobiles of the twentieth century. While the rest of the industry was chasing volume, Rolls-Royce was hand-finishing convertibles at a rate of just a few hundred per year worldwide. The Corniche nameplate had been in continuous production since 1971, and by 1987 it had been refined through sixteen years of incremental improvement rather than wholesale redesign. That kind of development cycle produces a car with very few rough edges left. This particular 1987 Rolls-Royce Corniche carries coachwork by Mulliner Park Ward, the in-house coachbuilding division of Rolls-Royce Motors. The sill plate on this car reads 'Coachwork by Mulliner Park Ward Rolls-Royce Motors,' which is exactly what a serious buyer wants to see. Mulliner Park Ward was responsible for converting the Silver Shadow platform into the Corniche body, and each car was built largely by hand. The body panels were fitted, the convertible top mechanism was installed and adjusted, and the interior was trimmed by craftsmen in Crewe, England. It was not a fast process, and that is precisely the point. By 1987, Rolls-Royce had updated the Corniche with fuel injection on the 6.75-liter V8, replacing the earlier twin-SU carburetor setup. This was a meaningful change for reliability and drivability, particularly in warm climates. The odometer on this car shows 42,149 miles, which for a Corniche of this era is a number that suggests the car has been used and maintained, but not worn out. The white leather interior shows the kind of honest age you would expect from a car that has actually been driven rather than stored in a museum, and the structure beneath it fully independent suspension at all four corners, inboard rear disc brakes, and a well-coated undercarriage presents cleanly on the lift. The color combination is maroon over white leather, a pairing that was very much in the tradition of the era's Corniche production. The white convertible top completes the presentation. This is a car that looks correct, not modified. Features List - 6.75L Fuel-Injected V8 Engine - 3-Speed Automatic Transmission - Mulliner Park Ward Coachwork (sill plate present) - Power Convertible Top - White Convertible Top - Power Steering (rack-and-pinion) - Power Seats - Power Windows - Power Door Locks - White Leather Interior - Leather Door Panels with Pleated Pockets - Burled Walnut Dashboard and Door Cappings - MPW Floor Mats - AM/FM Cassette Stereo - Climate Control Air Conditioning - Four-Wheel Disc Brakes - Inboard Rear Disc Brakes - Four-Wheel Independent Suspension - Spirit of Ecstasy Hood Ornament - RR Whitewall Wheels - Chrome Body Pinstripe - Dual Exhaust - 42,149 Indicated Miles Mechanical The heart of the 1987 Rolls-Royce Corniche is the 6.75-liter overhead-valve V8, an engine that Rolls-Royce developed in-house and carried through decades of production with careful evolution rather than replacement. By 1987, this engine was fitted with Bosch fuel injection for North American-market cars, which resolved the altitude and temperature sensitivity that had occasionally troubled the earlier carburetor setup. Rolls-Royce famously declined to publish horsepower figures for this engine, stating only that power was 'adequate.' Based on contemporary testing, output was in the range of 230 to 240 horsepower, which was more than sufficient for a car primarily engineered around torque delivery and refinement rather than outright speed. The transmission is a 3-speed automatic sourced from General Motors, specifically the Turbo-Hydramatic unit, which Rolls-Royce had used for years in its North American-specification cars. This is not the weakness in the drivetrain that some assume it was a robust and well-proven unit, and Rolls-Royce calibrated the shift programming to suit the car'
