Michael Wilcock bought a 27-litre Rolls-Royce Merlin XXV from a scrapyard for £50. He fitted it in a chassis made of two Daimler Dingo Scout chassis welded together. The name Swandean came from his Garage near Worthing.

Michael had previously owned a Spitfire aircraft which was displayed next to his garage and started up once a year on Battle of Britain Sunday. Around 1965 he swapped it for an eight-litre Bentley that had previously been owned by his father. The Spitfire was later to be sold in the USA waere it has been restored and flown.

First used in 1953 at the Brighton Speed Trials it reached 150 mph in third gear, the top gear speed was never measured. Wilcock used the car around eight times before selling to James Duffy of St. Louis, Missouri in 1956. The car passed to SL "Casey" Lambert (a friend of Charles Lindbergh) who rebuilt it as the Lambert Engineering Special. The engine was used to power a boat in 1960 and the car went to a boat museum and was later reunited with its engine. When, some years later, the museum roof collapsed, the car was sold to a leading American collector, Stephen Brauer, who has got the car running again and intends to enter it a the 2008 Pebble Beach event.

E-Mail: history@britishmm.co.uk