TIL - Rolls Royce Adultery

"HammerheadFistpunch" (hammerheadfistpunch) 05/21/2018 at 14:45 • Filed to: None

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So I didn’t know this and I’m ashamed to admit pawn stars taught me but did you know the history of The Spirit of Ecstasy hood ornament?  

Turns out that originally, Rolls Royce only had their logo on the car, it was only when a baron who was a big fan of cars commissioned his sculptor friend to made an ornament for his Rolls that this icon came into being. Only it didn’t look like this and it wasn’t called what is is today.

This is the original - The Whisper. It was a sculpture of an actress he was having an affair with in some light flowing robes with her finger to her lips to suggest it was all a big secret. He put this on his car...The nuts on that guy. So anyway people liked it so much that people were asking Rolls to produce it, they weren’t about to get in on that business so instead they created what we know now as the Spirit of Ecstasy which I guess is kind of blended mess of an admission of their clients “I’ve got money to do as I please” attitudes with the stately reputation of Rolls.

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ranwhenparked > HammerheadFistpunch 05/21/2018 at 18:57

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A major consideration was that Rolls-Royce really hated the idea of a guy going around with a statue of his mistress on the hood of his Rolls and figured that if they put a nice mascot sculpture on there themselves, most owners would be satisfied with that and wouldn’t replace it with their own.

Putting a custom mascot on your car was really a popular thing back then. I think the Queen is pretty much one of the few people that still do it. Her Land Rovers typically have a Labrador Retriever with a bird in its mouth; while her Rolls-Royces and Bentleys typically have either a lion or St. George slaying the dragon in place of their usual hood ornaments.

BaconSandwich is tasty. > HammerheadFistpunch 05/21/2018 at 22:04

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I guess this is more proof that money can’t buy class - even back then.