Billionaire Cyrus Poonawalla’s Rolls Royce Silver Spur Limousine Is True ‘Old School Luxury’ [Video]
The Indian billionaire family of Poonawallas is known for their taste in cars. They rank among the largest collectors of Rolls-Royce cars in the country. Several Rolls Royce and other expensive cars have found places in the Poonawalla garage. Cyrus Poonawalla, the head of the family and the Managing Director of Serum Institute of India, also happens to be a die-hard Rolls Royce fan. He owns several examples one of which is a Rolls Royce Silver Spur Limousine that looks stately.
The Serum Institute MD has been spotted multiple times with the car, on public roads. A video shared online by Manav Shah shows the luxury limousine being driven on public roads. The video starts by showing the spotter following the Flying Spur Limo. It was being driven inside a gated community somewhere in Maharashtra.
The sedan soon turns its right indicator on and pulls towards the owner’s mansion, to the right of the road. It then turns left and reverses into the main gate. A security guard is also seen keeping a watch on the vehicle and the road for incoming traffic.
The Rolls Royce Silver Spur Limo: More About It
Cyrus Poonawalla’s Silver Spur is no regular car. It is instead, an extended version of the standard Silver Spur- a coachbuilt limo based on the Silver Spur. The Poonawalla family had commissioned it 39 years ago- the car was first registered in 1986. The sedan now wears a reddish-brown paint and the roof is finished in Black. The iconic Rolls Royce logos can be found on the boot and on the front grille.
The Silver Spur also comes with chrome-plated wheel caps with body-coloured accents and has Rolls Royce logos at the centre. Despite being a limo, there are only four doors to this vehicle.
One should be a hardcore Rolls Royce fan if he/she decides to stretch a Silver Spur. The regular Silver Spur itself is a long-wheelbase car. It is in fact the LWB version of the Rolls Royce Silver Spirit. The Poonawallas essentially stretched an LWB car into an even longer limousine! And it looks stately by all means.
As of today, the Poonawallas seem to have parted ways with the Silver Spur limousine. When we look up the details of this sedan now, it seems to be with its second owner.
So what is under the hood of this Rolls Royce limousine? Well, the regular Silver Spur had a 6.75-liter V8 petrol engine as its core, back in its day. It was mated to a 4-speed automatic transmission. It remains unknown if the Poonawalla limo is powered by the same engine or if the Indian billionaire has tweaked the engine as well.
Rolls Royce had the Silver Spur in production from 1980-2000. It was produced in Crewe, England, and was the first Rolls Royce to feature a retractable Spirit of Ecstasy. The mascot had a spring-loaded design that would make it sink into the radiator shell if someone tried to pull it out.
Other Poonawalla Rolls-Royces
Cyrus Poonawalla’s son also owns a Rolls-Royce Phantom VIII. This is obviously a new-age Rolls Royce and comes with a 6.75-liter V12 engine, that makes 563 hp and 900 Nm. This powerhouse might seem large and hefty, but is so well-engineered that it is regarded as one of the most silent engines in the world. It has been designed, engineered and fine-tuned to provide buttery ride and performance.