I Missed It!

the auction of John Dodd's Beast,

photographs Car and Classic, named the Beast and it is a beast! as under the bonnet lies a 27 litre Rolls Royce Merlin V12 airplane engine, which had powered the Spitfire and Hurricane fighter aircraft during WW2’s Battle for Britain,

 the car come up for sale, and what a car! it was named the most powerful car in the world by Guinness Records in 1977, and there were rumours about it being able to reach a top speed of up to 260 mph (418 kph). Its exact performance is still unknown, John Dodd fled Britain and settled in Spain after Rolls Royce won a lawsuit against him for describing The Beast as a Rolls Royce, and he took his beloved muscle car with him. He never sold it, but Dodd passed away at the end of last year, and his family has decided to auction off The Beast. It has just over 10,000 miles (16,093 km) on the speedometer and is in perfect working condition,

and what is the beast like? “Well, we can tell you first hand that when The Beast fires into life, the earth shakes. No hyperbole, no sales talk, you can feel it shake everything around it. It is LOUD,” the Car and Classic auction house said about the unique car. “The engine is every bit the symphony of mechanical noise you would expect from a war-era engine. It’s exciting, captivating and even a little bit scary, but in a good way. Like a 183 mph rollercoaster if you will.”

and I missed it! for the fascinating story of the Beast have a look here, and what a story, including the dust up with Rolls Royce over the radiator that was once used on the Beast, and if you are wondering how much I missed the Beast by the winning bid was £72,500 at today's rate $87,678, it has to be said, you get a lot of car for your money!