SPIRIT OF ECSTASY STILL FLYING HIGH
Rolls-Royce Motor Cars celebrated the 110th anniversary in February of the Spirit of Ecstasy, its official emblem.
The intellectual property of the design was registered on 6th February 1911, establishing a defining feature of the RollsRoyce brand and one of the most famous, iconic and desirable symbols of luxury in the world. Almost unaltered throughout her long and storied life, the Spirit of Ecstasy graces the bonnet of every RollsRoyce motor car built at the current home of the marque at Goodwood.
Her design was taken from a bronze statuette, entitled the Whisper, created by sculptor and illustrator Charles Sykes for his employer, motoring pioneer and Rolls-Royce early-adopter Lord Montagu of Beaulieu. The first Spirit of Ecstasy figurines stood a statuesque seven inches tall. Today, she is a more petite 3¾ inches, and is kept safely out of sight within a special housing in the bonnet until the engine starts, when she takes the stage smoothly and gracefully by a precisely engineered mechanism known as 'the rise.'
Said Torsten Müller- Ötvös, Chief Executive Officer of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars: 'As an emblem, the Spirit of Ecstasy represents far more than just our company and our products. To our customers, she is a potent symbol, instantly and universally recognised – of success, endeavour, achievement and standing.'
As we have mentioned before, it takes a fair amount of forward planning to keep a variety of project cars running simultaneously in the magazine, and this means that we often have to work well in advance of publication. So, for example, we have already started work on the cars that will be replacing the current Midget, BMW MINI and Acclaim projects, and are actively looking for a suitable victim to follow on from the Mini Clubman.
One of the forthcoming projects is this very rare low-mileage but cosmetically challenged Austin Montego estate (above). It will not be to all tastes of course, but we do aim for variety and if a Montego doesn't hit the spot for you, then the chances are that one of our other options will. And in all honesty, given the low values of cars such as a low-spec Montego estate and the extensive commitment required to save this one, if we didn't step up to the plate and do it then the chances are nobody would.
Besides, whether or not you think it is a thing of beauty or something best forgotten, a car like the Montego can throw up interesting challenges that some of the more established classics manage to avoid. For example, we have had to remove the side trim to tackle that very nasty rust above the rear side window, and that trim is held on by the plastic clips pictured here (right). The white clips go under the window and the black ones go on the vertical face, and though they are slightly different, it does look as though they may be interchangeable.
However, broken plastic is a bug-bear on any 1970s or 1980s project, so we want to flag this up and ask for your help. The long shot is that somebody has some NOS clips like this for sale, or knows where else they were used and where they can be found. The more likely scenario is that they are unobtainable new, but that also opens up the interesting possibility of having new ones 3D printed. So we would also like to hear from any readers who can provide this service themselves, or who can recommend a company that might be willing to take it on. As an idea it may come to nothing, but it could also be of great help to readers facing similar problems on other cars.
Finally, much as we would like to keep all our cars, the reality is that we have to move projects on when the work is done to make room for new ones. So if anybody is interested in taking on the 1983 Triumph Acclaim (£1995), 1989 Volvo 340 (£2250) or 1967 Morris Minor (£4500), then do drop the editor a line on classics.ed@kelsey.co.uk.
We should point out that all of those prices are less than we have spent on the cars! The Mini Clubman Automatic will also be finished shortly, fresh from a full respray and looking superb with just 20,000 miles recorded. We've spent over £8000 on this little beauty, so if you think it might be worth somewhere in that ball park, get in touch and by the time you read this, we should be just about finished with the work.