The lady behind the emblem

I believe the word ecstasy means something completely different today than when I was a lad. Back then ‘The Spirit of Ecstasy’ was the official title given to the flying lady mascot seen on the front of every Rolls-Royce motorcar.

I’ve wanted to write a piece about radiator mascots for some time now. Sitting on my desk at home is a “Flying B” radiator mascot bought an autojumble some years back. It’s very plain to look at, and surely, somewhere, in South Africa, there’s a Bentley car owner wondering what ever happened to his car mascot.

While undertaking some research as to which model Bentley the mascot had actually come from I was caught up in the intriguing story of just how the Rolls-Royce “Spirit of Ecstasy” mascot came into being — surely the most famous bonnet ornament ever fitted to a motorcar.

Eleanor Valesco Thornton must have been a captivating woman. Born in London in 1880 she was bright and exceptionally beautiful who found secretarial employment on a magazine called The Car Illustrated. Her boss also happened to be the editor, his name was John Walter Edward-Scott-Montagu, who would later become Lord Montagu of Beaulieu, the founder of the biggest car museum in Europe.

Montagu’s part-time illustrator for the magazine — an awful lot of line drawings were the order of the day back then — was the celebrated sculptor Charles Sykes who was commissioned to design a bonnet mascot for Montagu’s own Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost, but he must use Thornton as the model. Meanwhile, as you might have guessed, a serious love affair was blossoming nicely between Thornton and Montagu — a tryst frowned upon by all except his closest friends — because of his social standing.

The statue that Sykes came up with for the car illustrated a young woman in a forward stance with a veil flowing behind her but her fingers pursed to her lips. Montagu was really pleased with it — as he should be —with the one-off mascot suitably installed it was nicknamed by Montagu’s closest friends as “The Whisperer”.

Montagu sat on the board of directors at Rolls-Royce cars and pushed forward the idea of a standard radiator mascot for all Rolls cars henceforward. Little enthusiasm for the idea was shown by Charles Royce, head of the company, who was more than a little alarmed to see the current craze of funny mascots such as glass cats, nickel policeman and even chrome golliwogs adorning his and other fine cars.

He had to make an instant decision — that choice was to commission a modified version of Sykes’ mascot with “Thornton” standing more upright this time around with both arms trailing behind her while holding a lightweight gown that blew in the breeze. From 1911 that was the only mascot ever allowed to be attached to a Rolls-Royce — a ruling that still stands today, apparently.

What became of Montagu and Thornton, I hear you ask.

Well, they had a lovechild that was whisked away from Thornton from day one and brought up by Montagu himself. Little was said of the matter, probably due to his influential status within London society.

During the First World War Montagu served in the Indian Army as an Inspector of Mechanical Transport, and while returning to India aboard the SS Persia — a passenger cruise ship, and accompanied by his favourite secretary — the liner was torpedoed en route by a German submarine.

In the true spirit of “Ladies and children first,” Montagu escorted Thornton and other passengers to the lifeboats — the last time he was to see her alive. Yet, amazingly he survived the tragedy but only after his obituary had already appeared in The Times!

But Eleanor Velasco Thornton remains immortal, it seems: she is remembered and acknowledged on every Rolls-Royce car ever manufactured since that fateful day. Originally silver-plated, at some time gold-plated and even redesigned slightly in 1934 to accommodate a lower bonnet line, the “Spirit of Ecstasy” continues her onward journey. Remember, that a Rolls-Royce motorcar doesn’t ever break down, it merely fails to proceed!

• Next time I see a Rolls-Royce motorcar driving serenely along I’ll point to that beautiful mascot up front and tell whoever I’m with its real name: “The Whisperer.”

In a flat spin!

Fuel cell cars, hydrogen-powered ones, electric- and hybrid variants — the poor old motorcar engine manufacturers’ of this world must be totally confused which is the right direction forwards, I reckon.

Firstly, here’s a little conundrum for you: What do Rolls-Royce, a Suzuki motorcycle, a John Deere tractor, Norton Motorcycles, Mercedes-Benz and the Mazda Car Company of Japan have in common? (You just never know when a riddle like this could be asked at your next pub quiz.) The answer is all the respective research and development departments of the aforenamed dabbled in rotary engine manufacture, with at least one, Mazda, still being a firm believer in this form of power for their current sports car range.

Yet it’s worth recording — if only for posterity’s sake — an announcement 50 years ago of an entirely different engine configuration that really shook the motoring world to the core. If you know your cars, you’ll have already recognised the powerplant in the illustration to be an basically an NSU RO80, Mazda-style!

It was NSU’s Dr Felix Wankel who built and marketed the first rotary engine back in 1960, although it was to take another three years before the East German marque showcased their Sport Prinz model — with the rather especial engine under the bonnet — to the world at the prestige Frankfurt Motor Show.  “Piston engines currently on offer were little more than a nightmare of conflicting motions,” Dr Wankel was heard to remark on the NSU stand.

Yes, the car looked a little dated but the motor was nothing short of a revelation, it was reported in the motoring press at that time. The 1.2-litre, two-rotor under the bonnet was diminutive by comparison to a regular, four-cylinder piston engine block – but didn’t it go! It revved so freely and had such power that many customers bought the car back for an engine replacement, under warranty of course, within the first 12 months of purchase.

Teething problems of sealing the rotors was never quite conquered, as it turned out, but with the advent of the long-nosed NSU RO80 in 1967 the company were hoping all those problems were now firmly behind them, and stand back for the good times that were surely ahead.

Again, the rotary-powered car was eagerly sought-out by customers across Europe and even further afield, who had by now heard about the many virtues of owning one of the quickest saloons around. Indeed, the European motoring press gave the car the ultimate accolade they could endorse: Car of the Year for 1967.

Alas, the radical engine choice continued to give trouble, but a worse fate was to be found just around the corner for the oldest car company in the world that had been founded back 1873: NSU was technically bankrupt. And worse was to come: Dr Wankel had “forgotten” to patent all the hard work he had completed surrounding rotary engine development at the factory.

Around the same time Mercedes-Benz were dabbling in rotary engine technology with their concept C111, Rolls-Royce, it was reported at the time were believed to have had a rotary prototype running at the Crewe plant in the British Midlands, while Norton and Suzuki took a long, hard look at these compact but obviously really powerful units to power up their two-wheel machinery. I’m reliably informed American tractor company John Deere bought some loosely-termed German patents for their own advancement.

Right now, only Mazda in Japan persist with rotary technology. I’m not sure if they went through the normal channels to obtain the necessary patent rights for rotary engine manufacturer in the land of the rising sun . . . but seeing the word for “learn” and “copy” is the same word in Japanese, probably not! 

Doin’ the Segway!

PASSING through Seapoint in Cape Town this past week I was amazed to see some of our police force astride Segway machines. In case you didn't know the Segway has a motor instead of muscles; a collection of motorprocessors instead of a brain plus a set of sophisticated tilt sensors instead of the inner-ear balancing system that we possess, I believe.

A COUPLE of years ago the media PR host for Jaguar and Land Rover, hit on the idea of providing some real cool relaxation for motoring journalists who were attending the launch of the new Jaguar XK sports car in and around Cape town.

Hotel guests, motoring scribes and the general public were able to  witness the sight of half a dozen “Segway” experts demonstrate their product. Now I don’t know if you much about Segways – because I certainly didn’t. The sight of grown men (and women) balancing on what looked like one of those old-fashioned lawnmowers from the fifties where “push” power was all that was required to keep your postage-stamp size lawn in check for at least three weeks, proved rather comical, to say the least. But titter you not, because the “Segway” is one serious bit of equipment – and maybe it cuts grass as well. For all I know, anyone who intends buying the new Jaguar XK gets one thrown in for free!

This is how the Segway appears to work (by taking most of its cues from the human body, incidentally.) if you stand up tall and lean forward quite a bit the chances are you won’t fall flat on your face because the brain tells you to fight the “incline.” Your brain, nevertheless, knows you are likely to topple because fluid levels in your inner ear tells it so. The brain then instructs that you put your leg forward to stop an imminent fall to keep you upright. Instead of falling, you walk forward, a step at a time.

Like your brain the Segway knows when you are leaning forward. To maintain balance, it turns the wheels at just the right speed, so you move forward. Segway calls this behaviour “dynamic stabilisation” and patented the unique process some years ago allowing the Segway to balance on just two wheels . . . no ifs or buts.

I was once told: “If at first you don’t succeed then skydiving is not for you.” Well, somebody should have mentioned that fact to one of the advanced driving instructors who came flying off at 11 kilometres per hour! His face must have been a picture!

• The Segway is available at the Waterfront in Cape Town to buy/test ride/or for promotional purposes. R38,000 (the price two years ago) affords you the privilege of owning something very, very different! 

Talking jargon

A reader contacted me and asked if a recent photograph that showed my brother and I astride a Harley-Davidson had the correct caption about him being a shy and sensitive used car salesman, and if it was true . . . I delve a little deeper into the genteel art of selling secondhand cars.

FIRST things first. Yes, my brother Mike did sell cars for a living at some point in his life — and managed quite comfortably from it, I believe. He assures me he was always entirely honest with the punters, but unable to tell a lie to a lady customer!

“These days, cars are much better than ever before. It’s very, very difficult to ‘clock’ a car (turning the speedo backwards, to give the impression of a lower mileage); service history that is available with every vehicle (via the worldwide trend of VIN numbers) remains the best insurance as to the true identity of the vehicle,” reckons Mike.

He went on to say that one would be amazed as to just how little knowledge people have when selecting a car. A fair percentage of buyers that visited his forecourt reckoned a hot-hatch meant that the vehicle had been stolen, instead of it being a quick performer.

Generally people are often in the dark when it comes to car-speak. I mentioned that the Toyota Tazz over here is known as a “starter pack” in township talk. He thought that was very funny. Some of the motor jargon among fellow car salesmen in the UK bear repeating . . . others do not!

The word “Pinocchio” means a customer who is not telling the truth. A Grinder is a customer who wants more for less, while a Screamer moans about everything. When talking about cars themselves if the dealer mentions a Birthday car, it simply means it’s one that’s been in stock far too long.

If they mumble something about a Spanish gearbox it simply means the car has manual transmission (Manuel, get it?) If they whisper the word Bidet, it means a car in their stock has a rear wash and wipe (ie: has a rear wiper blade.) A Landmark car is one that just won’t sell — could be any amount of reasons for that, though — cars with white paintwork do not sell well in the UK, unlike their counterparts over here.

When a bunch of British shy and sensitive car salesmen get together for a pint (of beer) their technical jargon knowledge really comes to the fore: a Blow-over is a quick respray job on a dodgy car; Drip feed means the customer wants to pay by instalments, ie: finance; while a Duke of Kent refers to the rent, ie: the road tax.

Perhaps the snappiest retorts are to be found when talking money: a George Raft is a banker’s draft; a Bag of Sand is a grand (£1,000), a Gregory is a Gregory Peck, cheque. A Pony means £25, a Jeffrey £2,000 while a Monkey is £500.

On the strength of the above, may I suggest if a description of your dream car appears ambiguous when responding to a car advertisement in the Witness do not be afraid to ask the vendor exactly what he means. I have found in my own dealings over here that car salespeople rarely deliberately bamboozle you into signing up.

The best advice I can offer you if you are looking for a new set of wheels, is to always take a friend or family member along because they’ll offer you an impartial sounding-board — along with an entirely fresh view on questioning the salesperson — or if a private sale, the current owner.

So don’t forget, a SUV is a sports utility vehicle, not a standard urban vehicle, while a high-performance car is one that is powerful and not necessarily fuel-efficient! Happy hunting.

Transport of delight

Think of London and the large, red, double-decker bus looms large and clear as one of true sights of London. Here's to taking a closer look at these taken-for-granted icons of England.

WHENEVER I think of London — and I was there just before Christmas — is a place that always cheers me up. Not that I’m down in the dumps or anything like that.  I can’t really put a finger on why that particular euphoria should exist — perhaps it’s just good, old-fashioned nostalgia shining through.

As a matter of fact, the Fall family lived well outside of London, in a place called Hatfield in the county of Hertfordshire. That town’s claim to fame (Hatfield) would have been the De Havilland aircraft factory headquarters that spawned the likes of Gypsey and Tiger Moths, Dragon Rapides, Mosquito fighters, the Comet series of passenger airliners, and eventually Blue Streak missiles — to name just a few.

Every Sunday morning we would pile into dad’s company car, a Jowett Javelin, and 40 minutes later would be walking around Chapel street market in the Borough of Islington, North London. If my brother and I had behaved ourselves reasonably well that week, we’d all jump on a London Transport (Regent III) RT* bus and travel deep into the heart of the City to spend the afternoon feeding peanuts to every creature we could entice at Regent’s Park Zoo.

Bus conductors back then must have been exceptionally fit. We’d watch him in amazement helter-skelter upstairs and downstairs collecting fares and issuing tickets in a whirr of hand movements, how he knew who had just jumped on and where they were seated, I often used to marvel. Dad always knew where to find me, though: stood behind the glassed-off driver’s compartment watching his every move as he wrestled with the biggest steering wheel I’d ever seen before or since — while deftly shifting gears.

What a skilful and responsible driver he was. He “chauffeured” 56-seated passengers — 30 upstairs and 26 down below — another eight (overflow) were allowed to stand at the back of the bus on an “exposed-to-the-elements” platform. All of them, rather alarmingly I thought, clutching on for dear life to the vertical pole fixed to the floor and ceiling, as it lurched and swayed it’s way across London town.

Was the driver aware he had a mighty 9.6-litre diesel engine coupled to an ultra-smooth Wilson pre-select-type gearbox under the engine cover? He would certainly have needed to remember, though, his bus was extraordinarily long at 38-feet, as he deftly manoeuvred the RT along Marylebone Road, past Madame Tussaud’s on the corner of Baker Street — just so we could give the animals their lunch.

The RT proved something of a global celebrity in the early sixties thanks to the British pop star Cliff Richard and his bunch friends, who used one in a film called Summer Holiday. If you saw the film (and who hasn’t) thought that film-star bus might have been a ubiquitous Routemaster — now you know differently!

There might well be red letter boxes to be found on street corners, red phone boxes spotted everywhere (and mustn’t forget the Chelsea Pensioners in their red and gold uniforms, or the Beefeaters protecting the Queen’s property at the Tower of London) but nothing for me quite captures the sights and sounds of the iconic red London bus — no matter what series it is.

*The London Transport RT bus is still used around the City on very special occasions, while 2009 was the 70^th anniversary of the RT (Regency III), first used in London in 1939. Nearly 7,000 of them were manufactured by AEC. Surprisingly, a round-the-clock fleet of 150 were in use for the duration of the Second World War. Well, Winston Churchill and his war cabinet, along with advice from Jan Smuts, had to get to Whitehall to make those necessary plans somehow!

Blast from the past

I was contacted a few months ago about a "big, old" Standard Vanguard car that had been spotted in Queenstown in the Eastern Cape in the mid-50s. The person felt sure it was diesel powered — could that have been the case?

THERE is not a mainstream carmaker today – with the exception of Japanese manufacturer Subaru without a diesel model in its current line-up, but, in the early 1950s, that simply was not the case. Just about the only one you could buy was a Mercedes – and even then it was only available almost exclusively in Germany.

The Standard Motor Company launched one of its most famous and successful post-war models in 1947, the Vanguard. The Vanguard was a completely new design, its exterior styling being reminiscent of many contemporary U.S. saloons. The bold four-door body featured a distinctive, sloping rear boot lid and an attractive "wrap-around" grille.

The Vanguard was a four-door, body-on-frame design, which was soon joined by a station wagon. Styling was contemporary and pleasant, although the car's quick fastback treatment did appear a little stubby to some eyes. It had a horizontal bar grille, and an envelope body with fully integrated fenders. The rear wheels were exposed, but would soon be enclosed by removable "wheel spats" that gave the car more flowing lines.

Although the Vanguard still had a separate chassis the mechanical specifications was thoroughly modern and included all-synchromesh gears, front coil suspension and hydraulic brakes. Beneath the Vanguards bonnet sat an all-new four-cylinder petrol engine of 2088cc complete with overhead valves. A bench-type front seat with folding centre armrest would carry three people comfortably. The relatively short 2,388 mm wheelbase necessitated a between-the-wheels rear seat that could, in a squeeze, accommodate three passengers, although two were more comfortable. 

Britain’s first diesel car was born into this era, a ponderous, oil-burning version of the Standard Vanguard. Fitted to about 30,000 Ferguson* tractors, the two-litre lump of an engine necessitated a much stiffer chassis, while the four-speed gearbox got electric overdrive on second and top gears to help punt the car along.

Apart from being horribly noisy, the diesel Vanguard was tortoise-like – the wind would have to be in the right direction for the adventurous driver to beat 105km/h (65mph). Downhill! The clattering, smelly promise of 18km/litre (50mpg) persuaded the Port Talbot Steel Works in Wales to run a large fleet of them in and around South Wales, but the car only lasted for two years (1954-55) and was not replaced.

Overall the Vanguard was quite successful and sold well at home and abroad in the all important export markets. Production of the initial Phase I Vanguard ceased in 1952 after 184,799 units had been sold.

Whether any of the nearly 2,000 diesel versions manufactured made it over here and found its way to the Eastern Cape is impossible to say but I know of one that certainly made it through to New Zealand!

*Ferguson had arranged with Sir John Black, owner of the Standard Motor Co, to produce a tractor to his design. As the Standard Co. owned a factory at Banner Lane Coventry, which had been a shadow factory during the war, it was turned to tractor production in 1946, and the TE (Tractor England) was born. These were initially powered by a Continental petrol engine, until the engine that was being designed and made for the Standard Vanguard was in full production.

On your Marques . . .

(Left to right) Johann Rupert — the man who made it all happen at L’Ormarins near Franschhoek for the inaugural Concours and Time Trial event at the weekend. At centre is Serge Damseaux, multiple SA rally champion, and right: Wayne Harley, the curator of the motor museum.

The inaugural and exciting Concours and Time Trial motoring event that took place at the L’Ormarins wine farm/motor museum at Franschhoek over the weekend proved a massive hit, I reckon.

I did say that only diesel-type articles would appear on this site but please cut me a little slack!

Good heavens, didn't you know that a diesel powered car has won Le Mans for the fourth- or fifth time of late . . . thank you Audi and Peugeot! . . . But I must place on record that Cape Town now has a motoring time trial circuit venue (with a motor museum thrown in for good measure) to be proud of — destination Franschhoek — or more precisely the beautiful L’Ormarins wine farm that hosted the FMM Concours and Time Trial last weekend.

Based on the celebrated Goodwood Festival of Speed, our very own 3,2km (1,6km each way) track proved challenging to all competitors with its tight bends, short straights and daunting chicanes — with the glorious sounds of just about every machine you could think of including Porsches, Maseratis, Bugattis, Aston Martins, Jaguars, Le Mans-type cars and many more.

With more than 50 entries for the time trial and about 25 superlative motors vying for honours in the Concours d’Elegance competition, the heat was on —and I’m not just talking about the soaring temperatures that reached well into the 30s — and failed to deter spectators and competitors alike from enjoying themselves at surely one of the most beautiful backdrops to be found anywhere in the world.

When did you last hear the sight and sounds of a March 78B ( Ian Scheckter), or perhaps a Jaguar D-Type (Sarel van der Merwe) or perhaps a Maserati 250F (Chris Routledge) in full song? Jostling their way to the start line could also be found diminutive by comparison Lotus 7s, MGAs, Alfa Romeos and many more, to delight spectators, such as South Africa’s very own GSM Dart 2000 — that managed to finish in the top 10 by stopping the clocks at an incredible 2:06.01 sec.

In the pit section it was good to see that the public were allowed to mingle among some very expensive machinery while watching drivers frantically signalling last-minute instructions to mechanics eager to please. The sight of a row of sparkplugs being frantically changed in the Jaguar D-Type in record time while the driver waited casually under the shade of a nearby tree was truly memorable!

• During the lunch break Johann Rupert, the benefactor behind the event announced plans of a South African-style Mille Miglia event to take place in October. This three/four-day race would take place in and around the Western Cape and will surely be the biggest motoring event for us in many a year.

Selected results: 1. Toby Venter (Porsche 911) 1:57.46; 2. Peter Lindenberg (Ford Capri Perana) 1:58.28; 3. Ross Lazarus (Ford GT40) 1:59.64; 4. Sean Summer (Ferrari) 2:01.51; 5. Francis Cusens (Lotus 7) 2:01.81; 6. Johann Rupert (Mercedes DTM) 2:05.07; 7. Sarel van der Merwe (Chevelle) 2:06.50; 8. Anthony Corin (Ford Capri Perana 2:05.99; 9. Andrew Sickler (GSM Dart) 2:06.01; 10. Sarel van der Merwe (Jaguar D-Type) 2:07.15.

People’s Award: Lord Laidlaw (Aston Martin); Ladies choice: Porsche 356; Crystal bowl: 1. Dawie Theron (Ferrari 365); 2. Nigel Sedgwick (MG SA); 3. Dave Lyons (Chev Camaro 350SS).