{"id":1962,"date":"2011-02-19T14:40:02","date_gmt":"2011-02-19T21:40:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.westerndriver.com\/?p=1962"},"modified":"2011-02-19T14:44:58","modified_gmt":"2011-02-19T21:44:58","slug":"celebrated-hood-ornaments-clandestine-past-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.westerndriver.com\/?p=1962","title":{"rendered":"Celebrated hood ornament&#8217;s clandestine past"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.westerndriver.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/FEB-Rolls-Royce-Celebrates-Pix-1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-1943\" title=\"P90070697\" src=\"http:\/\/www.westerndriver.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/FEB-Rolls-Royce-Celebrates-Pix-1-300x172.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"172\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.westerndriver.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/FEB-Rolls-Royce-Celebrates-Pix-1-300x172.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.westerndriver.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/FEB-Rolls-Royce-Celebrates-Pix-1.jpg 900w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a>VANCOUVER \u2013 February 18, 2011 &#8212;Rolls-Royce Motor Cars has launched a   special limited-edition  collection of Phantom cars to celebrate 100   years of The Spirit of  Ecstasy, the most iconic of automotive hood   ornaments, and its original  designer Charles Robinson Sykes.In the early 1900s, Lord John Scott Montagu commissioned his friend,   Sykes, to sculpt a personal mascot for the bonnet of Montagu\u2019s   Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost. Sykes chose Eleanor Velasco Thornton, who was   involved in a secret 15-year love affair with Lord Montagu, as his   model. Sykes crafted a figurine of Thornton in fluttering robes,   pressing a finger against her lips to symbolize the secret of their   love. This figurine was consequently named The Whisper.<\/p>\n<p>Thornton died tragically in 1915, when the <em>SS Persia<\/em>, on which   she was travelling on her way to accompany Lord Montagu on a trip to   India, was torpedoed by a German U-boat in the Mediterranean.<\/p>\n<p>When Rolls later commissioned Sykes to produce a mascot that would   adorn all future Rolls-Royce cars and become generic to the marque,   Sykes chose to modify The Whisper into a version similar to today&#8217;s The   Spirit of Ecstasy. He presented the mascot to the company in February   1911.<\/p>\n<p>A parade in London this month inaugurated a series of global events   to celebrate the Centenary Collection Rolls-Royce and to honour Charles   Sykes.<\/p>\n<p>The Rolls-Royce Spirit of Ecstasy Centenary Collection will be   limited to 100 vehicles worldwide, each featuring details such as solid   silver Spirit of Ecstasy, black Rolls-Royce badges and custom interior   and exterior features.<\/p>\n<p>Rolls-Royce of Van<a href=\"http:\/\/www.westerndriver.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/FEB-Car-Talk-Rolls-Royce-Celebrates-Pix-2.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1942 alignleft\" title=\"FEB Car Talk Rolls Royce Celebrates Pix 2\" src=\"http:\/\/www.westerndriver.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/FEB-Car-Talk-Rolls-Royce-Celebrates-Pix-2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"144\" height=\"117\" \/><\/a>couver is now taking orders for vehicle delivery in early summer 2011. For more information, visit <a href=\"http:\/\/www.rolls-roycemotorcars-dealer.com\/Vancouver\">http:\/\/www.rolls-roycemotorcars-dealer.com\/Vancouver<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>VANCOUVER \u2013 February 18, 2011 &#8212;Rolls-Royce Motor Cars has launched a special limited-edition collection of Phantom cars to celebrate 100 years of The Spirit of Ecstasy, the most iconic of automotive hood ornaments, and its original designer Charles Robinson Sykes.In the early 1900s, Lord John Scott Montagu commissioned his friend, Sykes, to sculpt a personal<a class=\"excerpt-read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.westerndriver.com\/?p=1962\">Read Full Story<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1962","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-rolls-royce"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.westerndriver.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1962","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.westerndriver.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.westerndriver.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.westerndriver.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.westerndriver.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1962"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.westerndriver.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1962\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1967,"href":"https:\/\/www.westerndriver.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1962\/revisions\/1967"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.westerndriver.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1962"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.westerndriver.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1962"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.westerndriver.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1962"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}