someone was telling me a story of an eccentric fellow that once modified a spitfire engine to fit in his road car ( i think they said it was a Rolls Royce car ?? )

i cannot find any reference to this on my web seaches.

does anyone know if this is true or just some urban myth??

There are various videos around.. this first one looks as though its on a chassis of some kind..

Here is a merlin powered rover SD1

and here is a chevy hot rod with a merlin v12

I think that car was known as the Pink Panther or something similar. RR made the guy remove the RR grill and spirit of ecstasy as he was saying he owned a RR

I’ve done a search and can’t find any pictures of it. His name was John Dodds and he built 2 of them. The first one caught fire.

I did a bit more research and found a chap who had seen the car. These are his thoughts on the matter….

I was hugely impressed as a kid reading about Dodds' "Merlin" engined car until I saw it at Epsom racecourse sometime in the early '70s. Close up it was scruffy, badly made, badly fitting fibreglass bodywork with cheap door handles and controls, not quite Morris Marina parts but not far off. The interior trim was incredibly badly done with peeling leatherette and visible evostick everywhere. Even then as a kid I was highly sceptical about the claims for the engine which was the messiest installation imaginable, cables and pipes wandering everywhere tied up with tape and looking thoroughly amateur and unloved. When he drove it the thing smoked abominably and he was clearly pussyfooting it hugely and my impression was that it was on its last legs - it souded like a bag of nails and I felt he didn't dare take it much over idle lest it blew up. I knew nothing about engines then beyond .19 glo-plugs but the impression I got of that car is still vividly with me.

Dodds was subsequently shown to be a total charlatan, the engine was, as related above, a (Merlin based) Rover derivative from a tank (600BHP as new) but this one had been bought timexed from a scrapper with a cracked block anyway. Dodds' claims of 200mph were shown to be pure bullshine, it was probably capable of no more than 90 and anyway self destructed by fire shortly thereafter. The tyres were rated at 130mph max - Avon Turbospeeds (crossply?) if memory serves and utterly unsuitable for the speeds claimed, and the automatic gearbox (Borg Warner?)was good for a max of 300BHP The only RR bit on it was the radiator grille which The Company quite naturally tried to get removed as they had no wish for their good name to be associated with this heap of dross. Whether they succeeded or not I do not know.

Currently there is a 27 litre V12 merlin engined Rover SD1 featured most months in Practical Performance Car magazine.

pistonheads thread

2050BHP!

i seem to remember there was an article in EVO mag some time ago about the car

Dodd's Meteor (Centurion Tank) engined car was the one that sprang to my mind too.

I seem to remember Jeremy Clarkson doing something on this too

Jay Leno owns a hot rod with a patton tank engine in the front.

YouTube - Jay Leno Tank Car

I remember 3 of these Merlin engined cars, one with 6 wheels and 2 gearboxes but no body work, one with fake roller bits, and another which might be the first one with bodywork. I seem to remember that one of them was clocked at over 300mph on the autobahn and then burnt down, but that might be an urban myth. I saw the six wheel one run on tv but its supercharger was not running so only around 1000horses!

The 6 wheeler wasn't a "Chinese 6" by any chance?

If so, I'd suspect it was actually the full-size version of "FAB 1" from Thunderbirds, and actually a Bedford VAL coach chassis.

I remember 3 of these Merlin engined cars, one with 6 wheels and 2 gearboxes but no body work, one with fake roller bits, and another which might be the first one with bodywork. I seem to remember that one of them was clocked at over 300mph on the autobahn and then burnt down, but that might be an urban myth. I saw the six wheel one run on tv but its supercharger was not running so only around 1000horses!

I remember seeing a picture of it when I was younger and am pretty sure it had 6 wheels. But I am also pretty certain it didn’t do 300mph. Funnily enough, the posting/quote I made above pretty much confirmed what I remember about this guy and his car.

The one I remember looked like a Ford Capri 1, but stretched out end to end. Hmmmmmm; maybe the 300mph is wrong, and it was actually 30_000 miles per second?

Lots of links on the subject in Wikipedia

Phil

Lots of links on the subject in Wikipedia

Phil

I have done a lot of searches to find a picture of Dodd’s car but can’t find anything so far. All the appropriate web pages have been removed. I suspect that RR threatened him and he has had to clear them all up.

Aye, rat'z ra motur Big Man! The dark brown one that is!

Cheerz neebur

Did he not get into a big legal case with Rolls Royce for using their grill or something ?

I'm sure i remember a documentry on it a good few years back.

I seem to remember Jeremy Clarkson doing something on this too

Yup, I think it was either Top Gear, or Clarkson's Motorworld. I seem to remember it being filmed at Duxford? Anyway, I'm sure he'd shoe-horned it into a 'normal' Roller.

Ah ha, I think that is the one. Now it makes sense why I had a feeling it was also known as the Pink Panther. It all becomes clear now:thumbup:

That second picture must have been the 2nd car as it has the RR grill removed and what looks like John Dodd’s initials plastered on the front.

Truly hideous.

That second picture must have been the 2nd car as it has the RR grill removed and what looks like John Dodd’s initials plastered on the front.

Truly hideous.

Er, check the registration canny lass! It's the same car re-bodied!