The Beast is back! 27-litre Merlin-engined behemoth is up for auction again

A couple of years ago after the sad passing of its creator, John Dodd’s brilliantly bonkers ‘The Beast’ came up for auction. It fetched £72,500 at the time, which actually seems like a bit of a bargain considering this is a running, driving, one-off powered by an actual Rolls-Royce Merlin V12. Yep, that’s the 27-litre monster from the Supermarine Spitfire and Avro Lancaster.

Now though, we have good news for all those who were unsuccessful in the bidding last time out, because The Beast is back!

It’s heading up for auction again through Historics Auctioneers, and it’ll cross the block at a sale at Mercedes-Benz World on 29 November. The estimate? Somewhere between £75,000 and £100,000.

Again, that seems fairly sensible to us, especially since the current owner (who purchased it from Dodd’s family) has had the interior retrimmed “to a very good standard” and has wrapped the creation in a two-tone metallic grey. Don’t worry – the yellow paint is still underneath.

Oh, and better whisper it in case Rolls-Royce wants to get all legal again, but the current owner has also given The Beast its Pantheon grille and Spirit of Ecstasy back. Uh oh. This car was completed back in 1972 after a fire destroyed the original, but in the early 1980s Rolls-Royce took offence and took Dodd to court for trademark infringement. Dodd lost and replaced the original Silver Shadow grille with his initials.

So, what do we think The Beast will fetch at auction this time around?