have you ever driven along thinking 'I could use a bigger engine?'
when trying to overtake the car in front of you, well this could be the answer to your prayers, engineer Bob Petersen spent three-years creating the incredible Bentley Meteor, basically he took a chassis from a 1930 Rolls-Royce Phantom II to use as the running gear, then dropped a Rolls-Royce Meteor tank engine (which was derived from the legendary Merlin), all 27 litres of it in to the chassis, yes you read that correctly 27,000 cc or 1,650 cu in if you prefer,
the Merlin engine is the same as the ones used in Spitfire and Lancaster bombers, a water cooled V12, the Meteor was a tank engine designed to run on lower octane petrol rather than high octane aviation fuel,
He then meticulously designed and built the coachwork to give it the unmistakable feel and look of a vintage Bentley, the car is fitted with power steering and modern powerful disc brakes which provide awesome stopping power along with modern petrol injection and electronic ignition technology giving the cat a top speed of around 160 mph, I should also mention that the car has a a 400-litre fuel tank, and of course is fully road-legal, with current MoT and original 1930 registration number GJ 400,
Dan Zuckerman, a salesman at Coys where it is to be auctioned, commented, 'it is absolutely unique, a spectacular example of British engineering, I’ve not had a chance to really drive it but, to steal a phrase from Rolls-Royce, the performance is 'adequate','
apart from the fact that to fill it up will cost at todays prices £550 to fill it up, well it only does 2 or 3 miles to the gallon I would love it, did I mention it is expected to go for in excess of £500,000? but here is another thought, make one yourself, you can buy a Rolls Royce Meteor engine here, for just £7,500.00 (Excluding VAT at 20%) then all you need is a chassis and three years of hard work!
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