Aussie Invader III up for grabs

It's around the price of a top-end AMG Mercedes-Benz S-Class, a well-funded leadfoot could go much, much faster.

The Aussie Invader III is up for sale for around $350,000 and comes with accessories, including a display trailer, but the headline act is the 36,000 horsepower/18,000 pounds thrust from the jet engine from a Mirage fighter-bomber military aircraft.

Current Australian land speed record holder Rosco McGlashan is looking for a buyer with a sense of history, patriotism and charity.

"We're trying to sell number 3, this car set the Australian land speed record, what we're hoping to do is sell it to a company or an individual, put their name on it and then onto a museum as part of the Cultural Gift Scheme to get the tax write-off.

McGlashan says at 60 he is running out of time to get his next project, Aussie Invader 5R, up and running, hence the sale. "I've got to get a wriggle on as I'm getting a bit long in the tooth, I'm 60 now, we need the funds to get further down the road with a new one," he says.

The Australian Land Speed record of 802km/h held by this car was set in 1994 - the body is made of kevlar and uses fuel at an astonishing 10 litres per second.

The rocket car sits on hand-forged solid aluminium wheels designed to spin at 8000rpm and has a potential top speed somewhere around 1300km/h - the Aussie Invader Team has seen as high as 1028km/h at Lake Gairdner but didn't manage a second run to make it official.

McGlashan has been on the land speed record chase since aged 12 and is keen to finish the job. "I quit school and been on the land speed job ever since, the big goal is 1000mph and that's what we're trying to achieve," he says.

Collectable Classic Cars Ben Finniss has been charged with finding a new home for Rosco McGlashan's former car, as the speedfreak and his team prepare for a world land speed record with Aussie Invader 5R.

"You've got find someone with a spare $350,000 who wants a rocket-car in their living room, it's the ultimate toy. Who knows where it will go, it would make a good museum piece," he says.

Finniss says the car would cost well over a million dollars to another build and it represents a unique opportunity. "It's not every day you get asked to sell a $350,000 rocket, so I said we'd have a crack at that," he says.