The Beast is a legendary 1970s muscle car powered by a Rolls-Royce Merlin V12 airplane engine that can produce over 750hp and has a fuel consumption of around 2.35 mpg. The story of The Beast goes back to 1966, when British engineer Paul Jameson decided to find out what would happen if someone put a tank engine in a street-legal custom car. Jameson created a custom rolling chassis for the car and fitted it with a Rolls-Royce Meteor tank engine, before turning to transmission expert John Dodd to commission an automated transmission for the unique car. Dodd became intrigued by Jameson’s wacky idea, so when its original creator put the project on hiatus for a while, he ended up buying it from him and completing it himself in 1972. It was featured on television shows and at various events around Europe, but in 1974, when returning from a trip to Sweden, disaster struck. It caught fire while being transported to a car show and the damage was so extensive that Dodd had no choice but to rebuild the whole thing from scratch. The car’s exact performance is still unknown, though some claim it can reach speeds of up to 260mph. Dodd passed away at the end of 2022 and his family decided to auction off The Beast. It has just over 10,000 miles on it and is perfect condition. The auction ended Thursday, with the unusual car selling for ￡72,500 ($87,800).
