Rolls-Royces represent the pinnacle of luxury and class, and ever since the first one ever was made all the way back in 1904, models from the English car manufacturer have always been some of the most desirable in the eyes of wealthy executives. Today, Rolls-Royce vehicles features some of the most comfortable driving dynamics in the entire industry, along with top-notch cabins with state-of-the-art layouts.
Aside from luxury and comfort, there’s something else that’s instantly associated with the Rolls-Royce brand, and that’s the Spirit Of Ecstasy, which serves as an emblem to the famed carmaker. The Spirit Of Ecstasy is a miniature sculpture or figurine, also known as the Silver Lady, the Flying Lady, or Eleanor, and it represents a woman leaning forward into the wind as the gust blows her fluttering robes to form what almost looks like a pair of wings.
All but the first generation Rolls-Royces feature the Spirit Of Ecstasy, and even though it has undergone several redesigns through the years, the main concept has always remained the same and is now inseparable from the Rolls-Royce brand and its cars. However, you may be wondering if it's even reasonable to stick an expensive sculpture on the hood of an even more expensive vehicle since it's basically asking to be stolen. But Rolls-Royce already thought of that, and they’ve come up with a mechanism that makes the Spirit Of Ecstasy impossible to steal.
How The Spirit Of Ecstasy Came To Be
In the early 1900s, it was common for Rolls-Royce owners to commission personalized sculptures for the hoods of their vehicles, but it became a problem when certain designs didn’t fit with the image of the brand itself. For that reason, Rolls-Royce commissioned a standard sculpture that was to be fitted to all their vehicles - the Spirit Of Ecstasy.
The design of the Spirit Of Ecstasy was inspired by a previous sculpture that was personally made for John Douglas-Scott-Montagu, the 2nd Baron Montagu of Beaulieu. He made the commission to sculptor Charles Sykes, who opted to base his design on Eleanor Thornton - the Baron’s secret lover. The sculpture - named the Whisper, represented Eleanor with silky fluttering robes as she held a single finger to her lips, and it was placed upon the Baron’s own 1909 Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost. When Rolls-Royce commissioned their own design to Charles Sykes, he simply modified the Whisper sculpture, to where it still represented Eleanor, but this time extending both arms to form wings with her fluttering robes. This sculpture would go on to be named the Spirit Of Ecstasy.
Why You Can’t Steal The Spirit Of Ecstasy
If someone were to ever try to steal the Spirit Of Ecstasy off of a modern Rolls-Royce, they would fail completely thanks to a brilliant anti-theft mechanism that lays beneath it. Upon applying any sort of pressure to the sculpture, it automatically retracts beneath the hood and out of sight, replaced instead by a body-colored lid panel.
Every Rolls-Royce from 2004 onward comes standard with this feature, and it also serves as a safety precaution to prevent injuries to pedestrians that could potentially be hit by the protruding sculpture.