The design of the Silver Shadow was a major departure from its predecessor, the Silver Cloud. This was the first single bow Rolls-Royce, in contrast to its predecessors' double bow designs. The cars exterior design was by Rolls-Royce's chief designer, John Polwhele Blatchley. Aside from a more modern appearance, the Silver Shadow introduced many new features such as disc rather than drum brakes, monocoque construction, and independent rear suspension, rather than the outdated live axle design of previous cars.

The Shadow featured a 172 hp (128 kW) 6.2 L V8 from 1965 to 1969, and a 189 hp (141 kW) 6.75 L V8 from 1970 to 1980. Both powerplants were coupled to a General Motors-sourced Turbo Hydramatic 400 transmission, except on pre-1970 right-hand-drive models, which used the same 4-speed automatic gearbox as the Silver Cloud (also sourced from GM).

The car's most innovative feature was a high-pressure hydraulic system licensed from Citroën, with dual-circuit braking and hydraulic self-levelling suspension. At first, both the front and rear of the car were controlled by the leveling system; the front levelling was deleted in 1969 as it had been determined that the rear levelling did almost all the work. Rolls-Royce achieved a high degree of ride quality with this arrangement.