Myth Buster
John Dodd’s ‘The Beast’
1 IT HAS SPITFIRE MERLIN POWER
John Dodd’s creation is legendary in its own right, with its 27-litre Merlin V12 engine supposedly from a Spitfire. The truth is along those lines, but deserves clarification. The first Beast was built in the 1960s with a Rolls-Royce Meteor engine – the tank version of the Merlin. However, John rebuilt it after the original car’s demise, this time with a genuine Merlin aircraft engine. Research has shown it to be from a 1941 Boulton Paul Balliol trainer aircraft, ‘then it went into a Spitfire/Hurricane/ Lancaster,’ believes John.
2 IT WAS DESTROYED IN A FIRE
The original was, in mid-1970s’ Sweden, when it bottomed out, split the external oil tank and ignited. The Beast MkII was the phoenix that rose from its ashes, and is the beige leviathan that still exists – and astonishes – to this day.
3 IT’S CAPABLE OF 300MPH
It might well be – we quoted a 268mph estimated top speed when we drove it in 2014. John admits to 185mph, and the tyres once disintegrated – at 150mph. So who knows? It would be a brave person who tries to find out…
4 A GERMAN BARON WANTED IT
The most famous myth is that, when The Beast bore a Rolls-Royce grille and mascot, a German baron rang Rolls-Royce to ask about its new model that had just overtaken his Porsche at about 200mph. ‘The story’s true – I was the baron,’ John told CCW. ‘I used to do it regularly to send them up; phone up and speak with an accent, and I had them every time. The unfortunate consequence of bringing it to their attention was that they took me to court…’ richard Gunn