Few engines carry a legend quite like the Rolls-Royce Merlin. Born in 1933 as a troubled prototype plagued by coolant leaks, cracking cylinder heads, and premature camshaft wear, it was refined over the following decade into one of the most celebrated powerplants in history — a genuine war hero. The 27-liter supercharged V12 was designed for private aircraft, but World War II thrust it into the cockpits of some of the most iconic British and American machines ever built. What it was never officially fitted to was a road-going car — but, as is the way with obsessives and engineers, someone eventually fixed that. Five someones, by our count.
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