Hot off the press: Rolls-Royce unveils a brand new, ten car private collection — inspired by the manufacturer’s iconic Spirit of Ecstasy figurine — at the Monterey Car Show 2024.
Rolls–Royce has unveiled one of its most personal vehicles to date, the Phantom Scintilla — inspired by the manufacturer’s iconic Spirit of Ecstasy figurine.
The winged woman, who draws parallels to The Winged Victory of Samothrace, a Greek marble masterpiece, carved in 190 BC, came about in 1910, when Rolls–Royce’s managing director, Claude Johnson, commissioned sculptor Charles Sykes to bring to life a fitting mascot for the brand.
The decision came about in part because in the early 20th century, it had become fashionable for drivers to affix personal mascots to their cars, some of which Rolls–Royce deemed inappropriate. And in a twist of fate, as well as classical sculpture, Johnson also drew inspiration from a real-life woman, Eleanor Velasco Thornton, whose lover, John Douglas-Scott-Montagu, 2nd Baron Montagu of Beaulieu asked Sykes, a year prior, to make him a radiator mascot for his own Rolls–Royce Silver Ghost.
The ensuing design, The Whisper, depicted a Thornton-like figure in fluttering robes with one forefinger against her lips to symbolise the couple’s secret love affair.
Only three to four castings of The Whisper survive and only two are known about today, so there’s something fitting about the fact that Rolls–Royce have crafted just ten of the Scintilla car. And ‘craft’ — not necessarily a word associated with car manufacture — really is the word because more than 860,000 stitches, mapped out by hand in shades of blue, anthracite and yellow, dance their way round the car’s interior in fluid lines that echo the Spirit’s sylph-like quality.
Rolls-Royce have stated that each interior took more than 40 hours to make and it’s best appreciated at night when the 1,500 cleverly-placed illuminated perforations, which light-up in a pre-programmed sequence, catch the edges of the threads and twill fabric upholstery to create a sort of very subtle shooting star shower effect.
Moreover — yes, there’s more — for the first time, the figurine has been cast in a finely-grained, white ceramic, chosen for its Parian marble-like texture, the same material that a nameless Greek sculptor once chipped away at to reveal Winged Victory.
All ten of the Phantom Scintilla private collection were snapped up before news of their knowledge became widespread. Rolls-Royce are tight-lipped about who their private collector clients are and how much they might’ve had to pay to get their hands on a limited edition car, but numbered private collections are typically offered to existing clients. The finished model we enjoyed a sneak peek of, before it was delivered to its new owner, was a left-hand drive…
The car’s exterior is presented in a two-tone finish. The upper body in Andaluscian white; the lower half in Thracian blue. It’s in homage to the colours of the sea around the island of Samothrace, but in the glare of full sun is also akin to the pristine wilderness of Antarctica and its glassy icebergs.
A modern marvel that Claude Johnson would no doubt be proud of.
Visit www.rolls-roycemotorcars.com for more information.
