This is the Beast, a custom car built by legendary British engineer John Dodd, and powered by a 27 liter Merlin V12 said to produce almost 1,000 bhp in the right state of tune.
There are few custom cars from Britain, or from anywhere for that matter, that have a history quite as rich and fascinating as the Beast. It’s now due to roll across the auction block with Historics Auctioneers, and the price guide starts at $98,000+ USD.
Fast Facts: The Merlin V12 “Beast” By John Dodd
- John Dodd’s Beast began life in the early 1970s when engineer Paul Jameson built a chassis for a Rolls-Royce Meteor V12 tank engine. Dodd, a transmission specialist, acquired it and adapted a GM Turbo-Hydramatic 400 gearbox with a custom step-up drive to handle the engine’s torque. The first version debuted in 1972 with a fiberglass body and a Rolls-Royce grille up front.
- After the original car was destroyed in a fire, Dodd rebuilt it with a 27 liter Rolls-Royce Merlin V12 aero engine, better known for powering WWII-era Spitfire fighters. The chassis went to Fibre Glass Repairs in Kent, where Roy Phelps’ team created the distinctive 19 foot shooting-brake-style body. The engine produced between 750 and 950 bhp, with torque around 760 lb ft, and rode on independent suspension with four-wheel disc brakes.
- Rolls-Royce sued Dodd in 1981 for trademark infringement over his use of its grille and emblem. After losing the case, Dodd removed the branding, replaced it with a “JD” badge, and relocated to Spain to continue driving the Beast. Despite its massive size and power, the car was surprisingly manageable at low speeds, though high-speed stability was questionable.
- The Beast gained fame through television appearances in the 1970s and 1990s and was auctioned in 2023 for £72,500 following Dodd’s death in 2022. It remains road-legal and powered by the same Merlin V12. Now wrapped in metallic grey over its original yellow, with a refreshed Alcantara interior, the car is again up for auction with Historics Auctioneers for an estimated $98,000+ USD.
History Speedrun: John Dodd’s Merlin V12-Powered “Beast”
John Dodd’s “Beast” began with a problem few custom car builders face – how do you send the prodigious torque of a 27 liter V12 engine to the rear wheels without shredding, twisting, and bending every part of the drivetrain behind the flywheel? The story of the Beast starts around 1970 with engineer Paul Jameson, who built a custom car around a Rolls-Royce Meteor V12 tank engine but who hadn’t finished the body.
Above Video: This is the original Top Gear segment on the Beast, as you can see, the host was quite taken with the car.
Dodd, an automatic-transmission specialist with a fascinating life story, supplied a solution, a step-up drive coupled to a GM Turbo-Hydramatic 400 gearbox, and then he acquired the project outright to finish it and make it his own. By 1972, the first road-going version of the Beast appeared with a fiberglass body, a Rolls-Royce grille, and the Meteor V12 under that remarkably lengthy hood.
The Mark I car didn’t last long. After a well-publicized European tour, it caught fire on the return from a Swedish show, destroying the body but sparing the chassis. Insurance money and Dodd’s persistence brought about the resurrection – but for the rebuild he went even further, replacing the Meteor with a non-supercharged Rolls-Royce Merlin, an aero engine better known for powering Spitfires during WWII.
The chassis returned to Fibre Glass Repairs in Kent, where Roy Phelps’ team produced the now-familiar long-nose shooting-brake shell, nearly 19 feet stem-to-stern. The silhouette looked part dragster, part estate car, and entirely unlike anything else on the road.
The Merlin’s low rev ceiling demanded that custom step-up gearbox before torque ever reached the GM TH400. A heavy-duty rear end handled the grunt, later updated to a modified Ford 9 inch to suit Dodd’s plans for more power. Up front, conventional steering and suspension kept things just about manageable at legal speeds.
Power figures were always contested because few dynos could accommodate the car. Contemporary testing and Dodd’s own claims settled around 750 to 950 bhp and roughly 760 lb ft of torque, depending on the state of tune. The car was built with independent suspension front and back, with disc brakes on all four wheels – an essential feature given the mass of the car and the speeds it’s capable of.
The engine itself is classic Merlin architecture – a 60º aluminum V12 with single overhead camshafts per bank, four valves per cylinder, and aircraft-grade internals. For road use the car ran carburetion suited to the job feeding 27,000 cc of displacement with a bore and stroke listed at 137.2 mm by 152.4 mm. Whatever the exact number, the character of the car never changed. Peak power came early, torque was tidal, and the TH400 just did its best.
Above Video: This is a BBC segment from 1974, showing the Beast in its first form (before the fire), and it includes an interview with John Dodd himself.
The Beast always attracted headlines, but also seemed to attract the lawyers. Dodd’s use of a Rolls-Royce grille, Spirit of Ecstasy, and even a registration description that nodded to the British luxury automaker brought a hard stop. In Dodd’s defense, the car was powered by an authentic Rolls-Royce engine, however the lawyers weren’t quite so understanding.
After a much-covered court case in 1981, Rolls-Royce won a trademark judgement. The famous grille came off of the Beast, replaced by a “JD” unit, and Dodd decamped to Spain with the car to keep using it on the road without further legal drama. The Beast didn’t stop being famous. It just shed the silver lady and the official Rolls-Royce name.
The car’s theoretical top speed depends on gearing and on the nerve of the driver. Claims in period circle around 183 to 190 mph, and while independent verification is scarce, the shape of the thing didn’t lend itself to smooth high-speed aerodynamic performance or stability.
That said, the car is apparently a surprisingly tractable grand tourer once rolling, with the sort of mid-range shove you feel deep in your spine. It wasn’t a track car by any stretch, but it wasn’t half bad as a GT car for touring the Continent – so long as your wallet could handle the fuel bills.
Public appearances kept the legend alive – the Beast turned up on TV through the 1970s, later resurfaced on Top Gear in the late 1990s, and gathered fresh attention after Dodd’s death in December 2022. In March 2023 the car crossed the block on a no-reserve auction, hammering at £72,500.
This is the Beast, a custom car built by legendary British engineer John Dodd, and powered by a 27 liter Merlin V12 said to produce almost 1,000 bhp in the right state of tune.
In some respects the figure mattered less than the proof of life – after five decades, it remained road-registrable, running, and capable of the party trick everyone wanted – idling like a tugboat, then moving off with asphalt-crumpling ease.
John Dodd’s Beast: Now For Sale
The Beast is now for sale once again, now wearing a tasteful two-tone metallic grey wrap over the original yellow paintwork, however the original paint is still underneath should the new owner wish to return it to its original look.
The interior, previously showing its age, has now been given a re-trim in Alcantara and black upholstery with white stitching. The tachometer goes up to 4,000 rpm but this is what you would expect as the Merlin V12 typically operates in the 2,000 – 2,500 rpm range.
The speedometer goes all the way up to 240 mph but no one actually knows how fast the car can go, as things apparently get a little frightening when you approach 200 mph. The car has two bucket seats up front with ample side bolsters and a large rear luggage compartment.
Power figures were always contested because few dynos could accommodate the car. Contemporary testing and Dodd’s own claims settled around 750 to 950 bhp and roughly 760 lb ft of torque, depending on the state of tune.
Interestingly, the Beast is now once again wearing a Rolls-Royce grille topped with the Spirit of Ecstasy emblem. The listing doesn’t note anything about this, however it might be worth ensuring that the Rolls-Royce lawyers aren’t going to come knocking before placing any bids.
It’s due to roll across the auction block with Historics Auctioneers at the end of November with a price guide of £75,000 – £100,000, which works out to approximately $98,000 – $131,000 USD. If you’d like to read more about it or register to bid you can visit the listing here.
Images courtesy of Historics Auctioneers
Articles that Ben Branch has written have been covered on CNN, Popular Mechanics, Smithsonian Magazine, Road & Track Magazine, the official Pinterest blog, the official eBay Motors blog, BuzzFeed, Autoweek Magazine, Wired Magazine, Autoblog, Gear Patrol, Jalopnik, The Verge, and many more.
Silodrome was founded by Ben back in 2010, in the years since the site has grown to become a world leader in the alternative and vintage motoring sector, with well over a million monthly readers from around the world and many hundreds of thousands of followers on social media.
