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.
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.
