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Recently, the term 'material changes' has been used frequently in the war of words between political parties in Singapore. In this blog post, 'material changes' is taken quite literally as Rolls-Royce offers a choice of three new materials for the flying lady hood ornament. The flying lady - also known as the Spirit of Ecstasy - was designed by English sculptor Charles Robinson Sykes (1875 - 1950). According to wikipedia, the story behind it is apparently a secret love between John Walter Edward Douglas-Scott-Montagu, (second Lord Montagu of Beaulieu and editor of The Car Illustrated magazine from 1902) and his secretary and model for the emblem - Eleanor Velasco Thornton. The most interesting choice among the three choices is the illuminated polycarbonate flying lady. It looks identical to the one seen on the 101EX-concept, a prototype that was presented at the 2006 Geneva Motor Show. The other two choices are the gold-plated flying lady and a solid sterling silver version. Polycarbonate is a durable material with high impact-resistance and low scratch-resistance. Hence, a hard coating is applied to polycarbonate exterior automotive components. Unlike most thermoplastics, polycarbonate can undergo large plastic deformations without cracking or breaking. If a buyer does not see the need to cough out extra money for these special ornaments, they can always stick to the original stainless steel version.