In 1966, engineer Paul Jameson created the rolling chassis of The Beast, which had a Rolls-Royce Meteor engine taken from a tank. However, he never managed to find a gearbox that could handle the power from the engine.

One person who could do this was John Dodd, who bought the whole thing from Paul for £400 in the early 70s. After a fire, the tank engine was removed and replaced with another Rolls machine – a 27-liter Merlin V12 engine that consumes 12 liters of fuel per 10 km.

This engine was used in fighter planes such as the Spitfire and P-51 Mustang. However, in those planes, it had a compressor which it does not have in the car – something that lowers the power from 1000 to 750 horsepower. The power is sent to the rear wheels via a three-speed automatic transmission. In 1975, the car set a Guinness record as the world’s fastest car when it managed to reach 290 km/h.

27 Litre Merlin V12? It’s the one, the only, John Dodd’s THE BEAST!

In December of last year, John Dodd died at the age of 90. His car will therefore be auctioned off on March 9th by the British company Car & Classic, but they have not disclosed the expected selling price. You can find the auction at the link below.

Carandclassic.com

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