The Spirit of Ecstasy turns 100
| By TimelessTransport.com | Category: News & Features
Because we have a Rolls Royce service and will find any reason to celebrate… Happy Birthday “Flying Lady”
For all you trivia buffs out there.. the model for Spirit of Ecstasy was modeled after Eleanor Thornton, the secret lover (or not so secret) of Lord Montagu of Beaulieu. Their love could never be public as Eleanor was of less social and economic status.
Originally Rolls Royce did not have a mascot, but when owners started creating their own, not so appropriate hood ornaments, the managing director of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, commissioned a young artist, Charles Sykes to create ”the spirit of the Rolls-Royce, namely, speed with silence, absence of vibration, the mysterious harnessing of great energy and a beautiful living organism of superb grace…”
the Spirt of Ecstasy began adorning Rolls Royce motor car February 6, 1911
