Rover SD1 with Spitfire engine

[Chas]

I've had two SD1's but without a Spitfire engine unfortunately.

http://addictedtoauto.co.uk/latest-video/project-insane-rover-sd1-with-merlin-spitfire-plane-engine/

 

[Towpack]

John Dodd this back in the early 70's with a very stretched Capri type body shell. I remember it being in Speed and Power magazine at the time. Not keen on the styling of the last version though. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OxMxFE37Sxw

 

[Mblinko]

I had a long love affair with SD1 Vitesses, single and twin plenum, but only ever managed a 4.6 conversion. This is about two of the cylinders on this. What a motor

 

[frank rabbets]

The spitfire had the Merlin engine. The tank had the Meteor engine. Both were V12 Rolls Royce but shared virtually no common parts. The Merlin engines are difficult to get hold of as the Air Ministry scrapped nearly all of them in the 1960's and the contract with the scrapyards did not allow resale. They were made under licence in North America by Packard who churned hundreds out in mass production whereas in this country they were more hand machined.

I have some genuine Merlin parts which I smuggled out of the breakers yard in 1961. A bit dodgy as I had to drive the car in and out they were so big. Naughty boy back then.

 

[Rodger]

There are quite a few references and photos of The Beast in my book (please excuse the plug www:streetrodandcustomshowtime.net) and John's Merlin actually uses some parts from the tank engine. The bodies have all been built by FGR in Shortlands (FGR are also the people who started Santa Pod Raceway 50 years ago) and the first was damaged in a fire in Sweden and the second, which is very similar to the current body carried the RR grille. John still has it and came to the Malaga Motor Museum event in it last summer. It uses Austin Westminster front suspension and a MK10 Jaguar back axle.
Never the prettiest of vehicles but it did bring a fantastic amount of media interest to an embryonic custom scene back in 1972 when it was first shown. Why? John was an automatic gearbox builder and created a box for it. What better way of advertising your business than building a gearbox that could handle 850 bhp in 1972 remember - a time when most production cars had less than 100 bhp available.

Most of the Merlin engines that were built in the UK were built by Ford, under contract, at their Manchester plant.

Cheers