When regular engines won't cut it, there are cars with jet engines

Designed by mechanical engineer Ron Patrick, this street-legal Volkswagen Beetle has two engines: A stock one in the front, and a 1,350-horsepower helicopter turboshaft engine (General Electric Model T58-8F) that he converted into a jet.

Here, you can see Ron Patrick's jet engine in action. Due to the damaging heat generated (exceeding 1,200 degrees Fahrenheit will, you know, 'cause problems), he's limited to three starts in a hour.

Designed by Gerd Habermann, this "School Bus Jet" is built with a 25,000-horsepower Westinghouse J34 turbine.

How do you improve on a Volkswagen Bus? Try adding a 1986 Rolls-Royce Viper 535 jet engine, pulled from a decommissioned Strikemaster jet.

The Flash Fire Jet Truck seen here, powered by a 1,200- horsepower Pratt and Whitney engine, goes from 0 to 60 mph in a single second.

Designed by John Ackroyd and driven by Richard Noble, the Thrust2 jet car held the title of Fastest Car In The World from 1983 to 1997. 

Built by ToyJunkies, this Toyota MR2 is powered by two GE T58 turbine engines. It has reached speeds of 187 mph, "with a lot more room to go," ToyJunkies explained.

The T58 engines used on this Toyota were designed for powering helicopters. Learn more about this incredible car and its specs at Roadkillcustoms.com.

The Insanity, a custom car by Ryan McQueen, uses two Rolls-Royce jet engines to pour on the power.

Not all jet cars are homebrews: This photo from 1954 shows off General Motors' experimental XP-21 Firebird, a gas turbine-powered car.

Driven by Colin Fallows, the Vampire afterburner jet car once held the British Landspeed Record of 300.3 mph (average). It famously crashed during a 2006 shooting of the show Top Gear, where it hit (unverified) speeds of 314 mph.

Bob Motz's "Semi Jet Truck" gives an epic flame-throwing live demo at a show in Detroit.

Nicknamed "Firestorm," this Ford Mustang funny car was built with a 10,000-horsepower General Electric J85-5 turbo jet pulled from a Northrop F5 Strike Fighter.

Driven by Martin Hill, the Fireforce 2 is a 10,000-horsepower, jet-propelled car that tops out at 270 mph.

No list of jet-powered cars would be complete without this, the Bloodhound SSC. The supersonic car, a private venture with in-kind support from the UK government, has been designed to break the land speed record of 760 mph.

Powered by a Rolls-Royce EJ200 jet engine and a Falcon Hybrid Rocket Motor, the Bloodhound SSC is aiming for a speed of 1,000 mph when it races across a South African track lake bed track in October 2018.

CNET was trackside for the Bloodhound rocket car's first speed run.

Bill Fredericks poses with his own jet car, the Valkyrie, in 1962.

Wonder what it looks like when a jet-powered racer starts up its jet engine? YouTuber DTRockstar recorded a video of Black Ice, a jet-powered dragster, as it reaches 246 mph.

You can watch that video here.