‘The Beast’ with a 27-litre World War II tank engine heads to auction

The engine from a World War II tank, a legal battle with Rolls-Royce and a world record – The Beast has a number of stories to tell, and it’s coming up for auction.

A bespoke ‘Rolls-Royce’ which once held the title of the world’s most powerful car is heading to auction in the UK – but its past accolade doesn’t tell its full story.

Listed by Car and Classic, ‘The Beast’ is a custom creation which has made headlines multiple times through its more than 50-year life so far – having been involved in a fire, a legal battle and an appearance on the world’s most famous car show.

Originally built in 1966 by British engineer Paul Jameson, The Beast’s bespoke rolling chassis incorporated suspension equipment from UK car-makers such as Jaguar and Wolesley – but its engine comes from a World War II tank.

The Beast was powered by a 27-litre V12 ‘Meteor’ engine made by Rolls-Royce – a variant of the ‘Merlin’ engine which powered World War II planes such as the Hurricane and Spitfire, though the land-based engine was not fitted with a supercharger. 

Mr Jameson soon sold the chassis to John Dodd, an automatic transmission specialist who had built the heavily modified General Motors three-speed gearbox for The Beast. Mr Dodd then commissioned Fibre Glass Repairs to build a body for the car, which was fitted with a Rolls-Royce grille as a nod to the engine’s heritage.

The London County Council approved Mr Dodd’s application for the 27-litre bespoke car to be registered as a Rolls-Royce, starting what would eventually become a legal battle between the engineer and the British brand.

In 1975, a fire destroyed everything but The Beast’s chassis, though Mr Dodd decided to use the £18,500 ($234,000 today) insurance pay-out to have a new body built as he sourced another Meteor engine.

The new body (pictured) was radically different from its predecessor but it still retained a Rolls-Royce grille, gaining international recognition after featuring in the 1977 Guinness Book of World Records as the world’s most powerful car, with its engine boasting outputs of more than 560kW and 1030Nm.

Unsurprisingly, Rolls-Royce took a dim view of Mr Dodd’s exploits and summoned the engineer to the High Court for breach of trademark.

The legal proceedings – detailed in a 2016 report by Classic Driver magazine – culminated in Mr Dodd losing the case as well as his house for Contempt of Court.

Despite this, he was able to keep The Beast, soon moving it to Spain and replacing the Rolls-Royce grille with a custom-made piece bearing his initials, ‘JD’.

In addition to a number of magazine appearances, The Beast was featured in a 1998 episode of Top Gear – uploaded on YouTube – with Mr Dodd’s son as its owner. 

According to the Car and Classic auction listing, the Dodd family retains ownership of The Beast, though John Dodd passed away in December 2022.

The online auction is due to begin on 9 March 2023 UK time.

27 Litre Merlin V12? It's the one, the only, John Dodd's THE BEAST! from Car & Classic on Vimeo.

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