This article is rated Start-class on Wikipedia's
content assessment scale. It is of interest to the following WikiProjects: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
It is requested that a photograph be
included in this article to
improve its quality.
The external tool WordPress Openverse may be able to locate suitable images on Flickr and other web sites. |
|
|
This page has archives. Sections older than 28 days may be automatically archived by Lowercase sigmabot III when more than 3 sections are present. |
I can remember (very vaguely) an article in Bike Magazine, in the mid 70's which described a motor bike built by an Australian guy, who had used two cylinders cut from the Merlin from a wrecked Spitfire. Anyone else know anything about this -- Yendor1958 ( talk) 11:33, 21 August 2008 (UTC)
I have seen one of these in use as a generator in the basement of an office building. 151.170.240.200 ( talk) 14:42, 22 April 2015 (UTC)
I have removed the following from the article:
In the 1960s, Paul Jameson put a Rolls-Royce Meteor (often mistakenly described as a Merlin) engine into a chassis he built himself. [1] He did not get around to building a body, and sold the car to Epsom automatic transmission specialist John Dodd, who had supplied the automatic gearbox. Fibre Glass Repairs in Bromley, Kent, fitted a fibreglass body and the car was named The Beast (mk1) [2] The Beast (mk1) was sponsored by British Petroleum and was extremely popular at car shows all over Europe. The engine is claimed to be a Merlin from a Boulton Paul Balliol training aircraft, [3] and drives a General Motors TH400 automatic transmission. It was once listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the world's most powerful road car. [4] Unfortunately the first Beast (mk1) caught fire on the way back from a car show in Stockholm after meeting the King, John Dodd tried frantically to extinguish the fire but failed and The Beast was reduced to a burnt wreck. The Beast has used two different fibreglass bodies during its life; the first (mk1) a saloon shape in dark red and the second current existing Beast (mk2) a 2-door estate car in beige. In both incarnations the car used Rolls-Royce grilles, badges, and hood ornaments, none of which were authorized by the company.
The Beast was brought to the attention of Rolls-Royce, who took Dodd to court after he refused to remove their radiator grille, badges, and Spirit of Ecstasy mascot. Dodd lost the court battle and the Rolls-Royce trademarked features were removed and the grille was replaced with one bearing Dodd's "JD" initials. [5] [6] Dodd now lives in Spain and still owns the car, occasionally driving it to automotive shows. [5] [3]
In the 1970s, Jameson built his first Merlin-engined car, this being a mid-engined six-wheeler. [7] The engine of this vehicle was two-stage supercharged and was, in 1988, reportedly in a museum in The Netherlands. [8] His second was fitted in a 1920s Rolls Royce Phantom, now owned by TV presenter Jay Leno in California.
given the claim that the engine was a Meteor, and "often mistakenly described as a Merlin". Andy Mabbett (Pigsonthewing); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 22:44, 27 October 2018 (UTC)
References