Is john Dodds 'The Beast' still going?

[fred]

Looking at an old copy of custom car
and I found myself reading about John Dodds 'The Beast'
a 27 litre Merlin engine monster,

Remember it when I was a kid

Is it still going?








Found an old you tube vid about it by Top Gear



I think from memory Rolls Royce had a argy bargy about him using the grille and figure

Be nice to know its still going

[composimmonite]

AFAIK it's now in Spain. I remember reading about it a couple of years ago in connection to the Merlin fitted to the SD1

Paul H

[stealthstylz]

Yeah its still in Spain and John still owns it.

[fred]

Oh so glad its still going
Read so much about it,
good stuff!!

[Deleted]

Probably get plenty of info if you were to ask on Rods n Sods

[dbizzle]

I seem to remember reading that he drives it back to the UK for its MOT every year. (Although that article was a few years ago, and I can't remember where it was. PPC, maybe?)

[p1RATE]

My dad saw this in Spain quite a few years ago and told me all about it, good to hear that its still going.

[spaximus]

I remember this car and the guy who built it. He had a long legal case with RR who did not want him to use the grill after a rich Arab called then requesting one of the new rollers.
He lost the case as I recall. He was a real character he was driving down to Spain and had a blow out approaching the top speed, he said once he got down to 100mph he knew he would live!!!
The only thing at the time it could not pass was a petrol station.

[dbizzle]

Feb 5, 2013 17:13:08 GMT spaximus said:

The only thing at the time it could not pass was a petrol station.

Ha! ;D

[Sinky]

It passed me last summer in benalmadena costa del sol. MENTAL!!!!!!!!!!

[paulrudd]

Feb 5, 2013 17:13:08 GMT spaximus said:

I remember this car and the guy who built it. He had a long legal case with RR who did not want him to use the grill after a rich Arab called then requesting one of the new rollers.

John Dodd didn't exactly build The Beast. The chassis was built by Paul Jameson and, the story is, they needed a gearbox. Dodd owned a gearbox refurbishment company at the time, became interested and bought the car when it was complete. It had a different body on it originally I think, or that may have been one of the other things, I can't really remember now.

Jameson built a few different Rolls Royce aero engined cars. His brother still owns a few complete engines, that he will not part with, at least he did when my father worked for him.

[The Doctor]

Jameson and rolls royce rings a bell, I think I saw one of his cars in a (now closed down) Dutch car museum:



If my memory serves me right this is the Jameson Concorde, but google doesn't give me a picture to compare

[sheffieldcortinacentre]

original body was i think loosely based on a mk1 capri but was destroyed in a fire.

[mk14dr]

I do believe he drives it back to near Manchester for its MOT, Jon 'Wat' of this very forum happened across it a couple of years ago around the Sale area.

Feb 5, 2013 23:47:42 GMT sheffieldcortinacentre said:

original body was I think loosely based on a mk1 capri but was destroyed in a fire.

TruFact.

[dugong]

Weirdly, it appeared at an MOT station a few doors down from where I was working at the time in Stockport a couple of years ago.

There was an evo article about it and AFAIK, it's still on the Costa Del Sol as John runs a gearbox company out there.

[DavidB]

Good thread here with a few updates from John Dodd's daughter:

www.migweb.co.uk/forums/car-talk/167947-john-dodds-beast-any-info-5.html

(including a strange red herring bullsh*tter (with truly the worst spelling I've ever seen on the net), which adds to the entertainment)

[fred]

Feb 6, 2013 18:21:28 GMT DavidB said:

Good thread here with a few updates from John Dodd's daughter:

(including a strange red herring bullsh*tter (with truly the worst spelling I've ever seen on the net), which adds to the entertainment)

Indeed a great thread there,
especially the red herring bull pooer ;D

[fred]

Spent a while looking up The beast and found a few vids
this is a ad for John Dodds company a fair few years ago

[Mystery Machine]

This is the video I remember most - it's slow going to start with, doesn't get much better throughout the whole 8 mins, but it's well worth a watch regardless.

[fred]

@mystery Machine
Brilliant in its modesty
I was killing myself with laughter, just by the simple fact a little guy was just doing his normal days
duty, kicking up his motor
not bothering with the fact it was a 27 litre legend
Love our British eccentrics