Spirit of Ecstasy
From Biocrawler, the free encyclopedia.
The Spirit of Ecstasy" on the hood of a 1971 Silver Shadow
"Spirit of Ecstasy" is the name of the hood ornament on Rolls Royce cars. It is in the form of a woman leaning forwards with her arms outstretched behind and above her. Billowing cloth running from her arms to her back resembles wings.
First used in 1911, it was designed by Charles Sykes and modeled on Eleanor Velasco Thornton. Thornton was the secretary and lover of John Walter Edward Douglas-Scott-Montagu, 2nd Baron Montagu of Beaulieu, a friend of Sykes and an early motoring enthusiast who commissioned the first statuette for his own Rolls Royce.
Until 1914 the statuettes were silver-plated but currently they are made from nickel alloy.
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Reference
- rrdyers.com (http://www.rrdyers.com/spirit-of-ecstasy-rolls-royce-mascot.html)
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