We see all kinds of crazy rods and customs in our line of work. Just like you though, when we think we’ve seen it all, something new or different seems to crawl out of the woodwork from nowhere and smack us right in the face.

That would be the case with this particular street rod. Owned by John Andersen, this custom is powered by a Merlin Meteor V-12 tank engine. Yes, that’s right a tank engine. This is similar to the same engines that powered planes like the Spitfire or some P51 Mustangs, however this version of the Merlin is not supercharged.

Built around Rolls Royce architecture, these engines produce massive amounts of torque. How much torque you’re probably wondering, how about 1.600 lbs/ft of torque at a low 1550 RPM. All that heavy rotating mass also means that this engine has a redline of just 2500 RPM. It didn’t need much though since WWII tanks weren’t exactly highway cruisers.

Much time has been spent working and re-engineering parts of this engine to make it compatible for a car. The carburetors were replaced with Holleys. The original ignition system was magneto, but Andersen swapped it for direct fire. It takes two radiators to cool the beast, one ’32 Ford type radiator in the front and another large radiator is located at the back of the car, with dual fans. It’s also had parts polished, dressed up and custom-built to make it appear more like a road going engine. With such low available RPM the engine is backed by a computer controlled six-speed automatic transmission. Andersen attempted to contact Rolls Royce for more technical information on the engine but never received a reply.

The build was inspired by Andersen’s fascination with the Merlin engine which he spotted at the RAF museum during his college years. There are several videos posted of the car driving, and of it in paint although the project is not yet complete. We’ll be looking for this one on the cruise night and car show circuit once it’s completed. What do you think?