Found this on another forum

[ZR1427]

I know there is a few Aircraft Buffs amongst us who will appreciate the roar of a Merlin.

Turn you speakers right up



www.polarisuk.com/video/Films/Flypast.wmv

[L81]

Good link. I haven't got speakers connected so I turned my headphones up to max. OUCH!! What did the guy say right at the very end?

[malc350]

Speaking of which does anyone remember a car that was fitted with a Merlin engine? Someone mentioned it to me the other day and I vaguely remember seeing it when I was a kid in a magazine where the guy who built it laughed about how it "destroys Corvettes on the autobahn!"

I think the car was Rolls Royce based, with the RR grille. Could be wrong as I remember it being a bit of a huge nondescript looking lump.

Might be worth re-posting this undre "general gassing" or something?

[Gixer]

I'm sure someone built a bike around one as well once. Straightline use only I guess !

[Ruby Rag Top]

The 'Rolls Merlin' was built by a guy from Epsom called Mike (last name escapes me) It was based on a tank engine, Chieftan I think, and did sport a Rolls grille as it had a Rolls engine. It was however not an endorsed Rolls product and he was threatened on more than one occasion with legal action by Rolls Royce. I believe that I am right in saying that the car was made of fibreglass and was destroyed by fire on one of the autobahns that he liked to boast about. Pooetic Justice or revenge?

[L81]

Yup, one of my friends knows him (or his son?). The car was called The Beast as I remember & it was up the Guildford cruise 2 or 3 years ago.
There is a guy that built a bike by "sawing" 2 cylinders off of a Merlin engine & constructing the engine around them.

[malc350]

So it may be around (or not) If it was around a couple of years ago it's been around for a long time.

Probably be interesting to see in reality (if it didn't go up in flames!) Probably makes a Hemi 'Cuda look like an economy car by comparison!!!

[anonymous-user]

Yes, it was The Beast and he most certainly did get sued by Rolls Royce for sticking their radiator grille and flying lady mascot on it. My recollection is that the owner turned up at court in the car in the Strand.

So far as I know Lady Penelope was never sued by Rolls in connection with her pink six-wheeler.

[mark387mw]

This is the car www.theminifarm.com/john_dodd.htm

Mark

[malc350]

Cheers for that Mark. Thank god I didn't just dream it up!

Body looks a bit like it's based on a Bristol(?) Certainly looks like it fell out of the ugly tree and hit all the barnches on the way down!

[VetteG]

The way I heard it was that he overtook a German businessman in his Ferrari, said German immediately phoned Rolls Royce to place an order and that started the investigation and subsequent court case.

G

[blackzr]

I remember an interview with John Dodd's son a few years ago on Top Gear (pre Clarkson days) where they ran the estate car version of the "Rolls" at Bruntingthorpe airfield. I think John Dodd had an auto transmission repair business in the South East somewhere possibly Kent??

It looked from the pictures on the web site that the car still exsists somewhere in the UK.

[L81]

Unless something has happened to it in the recent past then, yes, it's still around. If anybody is interested I can ask my mate about it but, for obvious reasons, I won't post any names/details on the Internet!

[downdee]

Hey, I know the owner of the "Beast" with the Merlin engine. Anybody interested in buying it? It is soon to be on www.ebay.de! I will post the ebay number, if it does not conflict with any rules for this forum...

[Camaro SS]

The son (Paul) is a very good friend of ours as well as being El Presidente of Surrey Muscle!

[franv8]

Hey guys - you need to check out this new magazine, oh crikey, what's it called? Anyway, it replaced Cars and Car Conversions, has a lot of the old CCC staff and actually has an article about a bloke who's dropping a tank based Merlin into a Rover SD1 - obviously someone else trying to avoid the expense of tuning the old ally V8....

[L81]

Better hope it's a RR engine & not the BL variant as they were diabolical.

[Guy Humpage]

franv8 said:

you need to check out this new magazine, oh crikey, what's it called? Anyway, it replaced Cars and Car Conversions, has a lot of the old CCC staff

It's Practical Performance Cars. Not be confused with Road and Track Cars which has a logo very similar to the old CCC one.

[franv8]

Thanks Guy - need to get my brain fixed. Seems to leak important info like magazine names...

[downdee]

Camaro SS said:

The son (Paul) is a very good friend of ours as well as being El Presidente of Surrey Muscle!

I know his daughter. Haven't had any contact with the son, but I bet he's good with cars, too!