Ask Anyone To Think Of A Mascot On Cars,

and I am pretty sure this one will spring to mind, 

the Rolls Royce Sprit of Ecstasy, on the radiators of their cars, I took this photograph way back in February 2015 whilst we were living in Thailand, but I have only today read that the image was in fact based on a real lady, the mascot was modelled after Eleanor Thornton and Andrew Ball, Head of Corporate Relations and Heritage at Rolls-Royce said this about her: “Secrets, sacrifices and the ever-present risk of scandal dominated her tragically short but intense and colourful life, She was a strong, intelligent, self‑assured and highly influential woman in an automotive world that was then almost entirely male-dominated.” she started working at an automotive magazine called The Car Illustrated, where she worked as an office manager under John Walter Edward Douglas-Scott-Montagu, who she embarked upon what Rolls-Royce described as a, ‘lengthy, clandestine’ affair with, according to Rolls-Royce: “Montagu could handle the writing, editing and publishing himself; but for images, he needed a professional illustrator, Sykes produced a mascot for the Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost, called ‘The Whisper’ which was a small aluminium statuette of a young woman in fluttering robes with a forefinger to her lips, Rolls-Royce said: “It has been confirmed that Eleanor was the model: whether the mascot was a token of appreciation from Sykes to his friend and employer, or made at Eleanor’s instigation as a gift for her lover, remains a mystery, for the full fascinating story of the Spirt of Ecstasy have a look here.