Styling, like all inventive issues, is subjective. As such, it takes cojones to bestow the title “World’s Ugliest Car” when there’s many others to select from. If you might have difficulty with this, would “World’s Ugliest Shooting Brake” suffice? Nah, John Dodd’s The Beast, it could actually take the Victoria Sponge Cake as one thing that may elicit, “My, what within the Lord’s identify is that, pricey Sir?”
It all began with a gentleman named Paul Jameson, an automotive technocrat of the British persuasion who wished to construct one thing using that British marvel of engineering, the 27-liter Rolls-Royce Meteor V12 (the up to date model of Rolls’ Merlin V12 typically present in tanks). Jameson constructed a body using components from British automobiles with names like Jaguar, Wolseley, Jensen, Lotus and Reliant. Jameson met a chap named John Dodd, whom he commissioned to construct an computerized transmission for the chassis.
Soon, Jameson supplied Dodd the automobile in body-less kind. Dodd subsequently despatched the chassis to Fibre Glass Repairs (whose house owners additionally owned Santa Pod Raceway) to create a physique for the chassis. “It was then that it gained a Rolls-Royce grille and mascot, in a nod to the engine’s provenance,” says Car & Classic, the UK-based on-line public sale.
After a visit to Sweden resulted in fireplace harm, Dodd had the automobile rebodied within the kind you see right here; additionally new was a 750-horsepower Merlin V12 plus a Rolls-Royce grille and mascot sourced from a Silver Shadow. The firm from Manchester made difficulty of the trademark infringement and sued when Dodd wouldn’t take away the gadgets. Dodd misplaced, then misplaced an attraction, refused to pay the high-quality after which emigrated to Spain to keep away from the warrant for his arrest. Of course, The Beast went with him, although now sporting “JD” on a traditional grille.
The preliminary physique featured some Ford Capri affect, whereas the second was extra of a beige capturing brake with some options that may make Clark Griswold proud. An official 183-mph prime velocity was achieved in 1973, which isn’t unhealthy for a two-ton, 19-foot one thing. In 1977, The Beast made The Guinness Book of Records as probably the most highly effective automobile on the highway, although no point out was product of its 2-mpg urge for food for gasoline.
In its present kind, The Beast options “a customized inside features a financial institution of crimson switches that are used to provoke the beginning sequence for the Merlin engine. The entrance suspension makes use of Austin parts while the rear is derived from a Jaguar XJ12 and sports activities a heavy-duty Currie axle.”
“This is a real as soon as in a lifetime alternative and I hope the fortunate new purchaser continues to use and benefit from the automobile the way in which John did,” says Tom Wood, CEO of Car & Classic. If you may get previous the automobile’s styling, then it’s best to know that the public sale begins on March 9, 2023 and lasts for seven days.
