Rolls Royce Merlin: The Time They Created The 27-liter V12 Beast That Became "The World's Most Powerful Car", Then Sued The Engineer Behind It.
An MK35 airplane engine inside of a Rolls Royce?? Okay let's see how that goes 🤷🏾♂
The spirit of ecstacy, known for being on cars that represent wealth, opulence and class.
Known for being on cars that are specially designed to be absolute best, decked out with the best materials possible and with the goal of providing the most comfortable ride possible, so how did it find itself on a car with a 27-liter, V12 airplane engine that even the guys at Guiness World Records awarded it as the “the world’s most powerful car” in1977?
Let me tell you the story of two Englishmen, John Dodd and Paul Jameson.
Back in 1966, Paul Jameson, an English engineer had this crazy idea, ‘what exactly would happen if a tank engine was fitted in a street-legal custom car’ and he began to work on it creating a custom chasis for the car before handing over to transmission expert, John Dodd who eventually bought the project after Paul had put the project on hold.
Dodd got a body for the car specially crafted by a company called Fibre Glass Repairs, and its shooting brake design was based off that of a modified Ford Capri. Eventually the car caught fire was while purportedly invited to meet Carl XVI Gustaf, King of Sweden, who wished to see it. The unfortunate incident was a major setback for Dodd but with some determination, the car was later rebuilt with some major changes undertaken including a change of its body moving from its Ford Capri inspired shape to that of a 2-door estate car.
What makes the story of this car a lot more iconic is the legal battles that its creator faced.
The story goes like this;
One day a baron was driving his porsche on the Autobahn when suddenly. this monstrousity of a car overtook him. The Baron was so shocked that he later phoned Rolls-Royce to ask about their ‘new model’ but the issue is that Rolls Royce didn’t have a new model. Infact, they had no hand in the creation of this behemoth bearing their prestigious mascot, the spirit of ecstacy. Infuriated, they sued and Dodd was summoned to the High Court on the grounds of a breach of trademark.
You’d expect Dodd to act with caution after being presented this but nope, Dodd pulled up to his hearing in that car and parked right outside the court. The situation got so bad that on the morning of the final trial, his lawyer sacked himself saying that Dodd was ridiculing the highest court in the land and left him with a piece of advice which was to not take the car to the hearing that day or else, it would be confiscated.
Fortunately, Dodd took this advice but decided to continue his ridiculing by coming to trial on horseback alongside his wife and kids then in court he was tagged as having ‘animated ‘interjections’ during the proceedings. As a result of this, he was relieved of his house and numerous other possessions, including a twin-engined aeroplane, for Contempt of Court. However, he managed to keep hold of ‘The Beast’, which was soon given a replacement grille bearing his initials ‘JD.’
Towards his 90th birthday, Dodd had still hoped to hit 200mph (321km/hr) and recording a 10-second run at Santa Pod Raceway with him even fitting a new rear axle for this purpose. Unfortunately, this never materialised after his passing in December 2022 at the age of 89.
A life well spent really.
Today, Dodd’s car now has a new home after being auctioned for £72,500 and hopefully its new owner gets to use it the way Dodd intended.
V12, 27-liter, Mk35 airplaine engine, Rolls Royce, World’s most powerful car, all in the same sentence.
Wow, Crazy!
Interesting read. The world of cars is truly amazing