Home » What Would You Do With This Ex-Miss-Budweiser 37-Liter Rolls Royce V12?

What Would You Do With This Ex-Miss-Budweiser 37-Liter Rolls Royce V12?

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Air, land, sea – no matter where you need pistons pumping upwards of 2,000 horsepower, this Rolls Royce Griffon 74 can do the job with incredible performance. Well, not in its current state, as it’s on a rolling display stand. Still, this 37-liter V12 is a notable piece of aeronautic and nautical history. Now, it can be yours so long as you’re willing to spend more on it than a brand-new and tricked-out Mazda Miata.

Rolls Royce originally designed the engine for aircraft in World War II, and the Griffon powered such machines as the Supermarine Spitfire Mk 24, Bristol Beaufighter, and Avro Shackleton . If you’ve heard of the famous Rolls Royce Merlin engine, consider the Griffon to be an even larger version of that. This particular example also has factory-installed fuel injection and a two-stage (you read that right) supercharger. Production ran from the early 1940s through 1955.

Vidframe Min Top
Vidframe Min Bottom

Some examples, like this one, were evidently built as spares. What does one do with a 37-liter V12 that no longer needs to defend the skies against the Axis powers? We’ve come up with some ideas, but before we get to that, you should know why this one says “Miss Budweiser” on the valve covers.

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That nomenclature dates back to the 1980s when someone prepped this engine for use in a hydroplane. Although it evidently never saw action, it’s clearly painted for the job. According to the seller over on Bring A Trailer, the Miss Budweiser hydroplane won 22 races between 1980 and 1984 with a nearly identical engine:

The Griffon is reputed to have 1000 more horsepower than the Rolls-Royce Merlin, which was the standard engine at the time in the Unlimited Class. Miss Budweiser ‘Juggernaut’ took first place in its first twenty heats of competition, erasing the former standard of fifteen consecutive heat wins.

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Here’s a quick example of what it looked and sounded like back in 1985:

In short, the Griffon now up for sale was initially meant to go to war but ended up in line to be a dominant force in hydroplane racing. By 1985, the racing team moved on and this 37-liter V12 remains unused. The current owner bought it in 2022 and hasn’t done much with it since. The real question for whoever buys it is what to do with it now.

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Our staff took turns deciding what might be best and there are some fabulous answers here. That said, nobody was as bold as Griffin Riley, who proposed that this become the basis for the most extreme racing lawnmower possible. Frankly, I think it might stretch the wheelbase a bit too much but that doesn’t mean that I don’t wanna see it.

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SWG who is very much alive and well had maybe one of the most altruistic and beautiful takes possible. “Those Budweiser valve cover gaskets are killer. I’d use it to pull a team of Clydesdales as they relax on a pulled trailer with some delicious hay.” Those horses are working hard pretty much every time we see them so why not give them a break and let Miss Budweiser do the work for a change?

Finally, our (mostly) behind-the-scenes graphics and production guy Peter Vieira might have the best fantasy application overall, as he would take this aircraft engine turned boat motor and return it somewhat closer to air duty by strapping it into a belly-tank-bodied salt-flats racer. As an example, Pete posted the gorgeous speed seeker below, a creation of the watch company Bell & Ross.

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Why not? If Jay Leno can drive a tank-car why can’t we have a Rolls Royce airplane boat car? Perhaps one could even add bespoke titanium marshmallow skewers, as startup can apparently be a bit roasty:

Here’s another great example of a Griffon firing up, complete with a few throttle blips. Note just how much air is flooding back toward the operator here, from contra-rotating props no less:

What would you do with something this large, this powerful, and this important to the history of speed both in the air and on the water? Let us know in the comments below and if you happen to have Mazda Miata money lying around, you might want to have a crack at the auction over on Bring A Trailer.

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Banana Stand Money
Banana Stand Money
15 days ago

This would be glorious in the back of a Maserati Bora.. or maybe a De Tomaso Pantera

Hey Bim!
Hey Bim!
15 days ago

I loved all of the pissed off spectators at the end of the video, hilarious!

Phuzz
Phuzz
16 days ago

The Griffon is still (kinda) in military service, as the RAF’s Memorial Flight have several Griffon engined Spitfires. So they might be interested in pickling this up as a spare.
(They were still in front-line military service in the Shackleton up until 1991)

Freelivin2713
Freelivin2713
16 days ago

Throw it in an AMC Eagle…it will fit right? Well, it’ll fit in the whole car
WE REALLY NEED AN ARTICLE OF SWG THROWING THIS THING IN THE JAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAG!

Last edited 16 days ago by Freelivin2713
Motorhead Mike
Motorhead Mike
16 days ago

Since I’m operating in a world of pure fantasy, I would construct a chassis and body to wrap around it, and go for the record around the Outer Circuit at Brooklands. Blow that underpowered Napier-Railton straight out of the water!

In something closer to reality, I would probably construct a stand, place it in my living room, and just stare and drool.

Fun fact: A (much) scaled down version of that two-stage blower was used on the BRM 1.5l v-16.

1978fiatspyderfan
1978fiatspyderfan
16 days ago

Build a WWII RETRO plane.

notoriousDUG
notoriousDUG
16 days ago

I would install it midengine in a Wiendermobile and then take it to the slat flats and probably die.

Tim Cougar
Tim Cougar
16 days ago

Take one Lincoln Continental Mark V, eject the smog-choked boat anchor under the hood, insert this, and fabricate some Mark XII badges.

Knowonelse
Knowonelse
16 days ago

A few years ago at our local Air Fest, someone had a 12 cylinder WWII aircraft engine on a stand. Yeesh, it was loud!

Knerd Rider
Knerd Rider
16 days ago

It’s a trope, but it’s also the truth. Miata Is Always The Answer.

Last edited 16 days ago by Knerd Rider
Crank Shaft
Crank Shaft
16 days ago

Margarita Mixer!

Knerd Rider
Knerd Rider
16 days ago
Reply to  Crank Shaft

I’ve seen a Harley-Davidson used as one, so why not?

Max Headbolts
Max Headbolts
16 days ago

I’d go with a slightly older boat, a 61-69 Continental, it might even fit under the hood give how long it is. I imagine 5% throttle is all it would need to fling that thing down the road.

Andy Individual
Andy Individual
16 days ago

It says “Budweiser” on the valve cover, so the first thing anybody who buys this should do is change the fluids.

67 Oldsmobile
67 Oldsmobile
16 days ago

I would imagine the horses would be scared pretty shitless trying to relax on a float pulled by a 37 liter v12. I would put it in one of those swamp boats going down the Everglades I imagine,that would be fun.

Manwich Sandwich
Manwich Sandwich
16 days ago

Put it in a replica of a GM Futureliner.

4jim
4jim
16 days ago

Would this motor fit into the Weinermobile?

Maymar
Maymar
16 days ago

Find a janky Silver Shadow, figure out how to make it fit. Rolls-Royce might’ve been able to go after John Dodd (of The Beast fame), but that’d probably be untouchable.

Fuller Name
Fuller Name
16 days ago

I rode in the Miss Budweiser…on a trailer in a parade. My dad was an Anheuser-Busch distributor in a small town.

ADDvanced
ADDvanced
16 days ago

This dates me, but as a kid my dad took me to the detroit hydro races, and by then, all of the main teams had switched to gas turbines….except for one team lone team, still soldiering on with a piston based engine, pretty much this engine. It was raced by Jerry Hopp, who was a great guy, the whole team was cool, I think I was 8 years old or so, have pics of sitting in the cockpit. Definitely a core memory, and a few years ago I got curious, and man, this is the best website ever dedicated to restoring Hopp’s old boat, check it out:

https://79squireshop.weebly.com/obtaining-the-squire-shop.html

Be sure to check it out in detail, there are so many cool stories here, like when they hired scuba divers to retrieve the cowl that flew off teh boat and sank to the bottom of the river and stayed there FOR DECADES. Found it though, and restored it!

https://79squireshop.weebly.com/part-i.html

Just incredible people, incredible story.

NewBalanceExtraWide
NewBalanceExtraWide
16 days ago
Reply to  ADDvanced

In Seattle, we had Miss Rock… a local radio station sponsored it, and it was also the last piston engined hydroplane.

Dave's_Not_Here
Dave's_Not_Here
15 days ago
Reply to  ADDvanced

The G03 piston boat is for sale: https://www.facebook.com/share/p/Zysgb87DDWBdwdJW/
Buy that and get this for a spare.

Collegiate Autodidact
Collegiate Autodidact
16 days ago

Until a suitable (or, rather, not so suitable) vehicle is found, keep the engine on its static display stand and run it while connected to a series of reduction gears with the final gear encased in concrete. Arthur Ganson, a kinetic sculptor, has done at least two such assemblies but with electric motors: https://www.arthurganson.com/concrete-1
From Ganson’s post:
“Each worm/worm gear pair reduces the speed of the motor by 1/50th. Since there are 12 pairs of gears, the final speed reduction is (1/50) to the 12th power! The implications are interesting. With the motor turning at around 200 revolutions per minute, it will take well over two trillion years before the final gear can make but one turn. Consequently, it is possible to do anything at all with the final gear… even embed it in concrete… and the machine will run just fine.
This machine was followed up by a related work- Beholding the Big Bang which has a more modest gear reduction- 13.7 billion years- the estimated age of the universe since the big bang.”

Last edited 16 days ago by Collegiate Autodidact
Col Lingus
Col Lingus
17 days ago

I would so put this in my battery powered boat.

Because it’s sinking and those sharks look pretty hungry.

LarriveeC05
LarriveeC05
17 days ago

Or do something absolutely batshit like this: https://youtu.be/73s5sPyBMoE?si=zogCFzsMpKAMMxWW

Spikedlemon
Spikedlemon
17 days ago

Is it longer than a Ford Festiva (Kia Pride) is wide?

If no, new Festiva SHOgun.

Rapgomi
Rapgomi
17 days ago

Locost 37.

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