“Could this McLaren F1 make £10 million at Monterey?” we asked a week ago when this one-owner example of the greatest supercar was announced as star lot at Bonhams Quail Lodge auction in the US. Well, it has just sold, and you can forget £10m. It went for an incredible £12m, making it the most expensive F1 ever.
AUG 21st 2017
Most expensive McLaren F1 ever heads Bonhams' bumper Quail sale
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It was in the right country to sell. Number 44 of the 64 road cars built, it was the first to cross the pond and is one of only a handful of F1s even today to be US street-legal.
What Bonhams billed as a “once in a lifetime opportunity to buy what for many is the ultimate road car” certainly pushed all the right buttons for one canny investor/enthusiast. They paid out US$15,620,000 for it including the premium, which translates £12,132,509 – enough to buy a fleet of 58 McLaren 720Ss!
Some of the other star cars failed to find buyers on the day – including the 1956 Maserati A6G/54 Gran Sport Spider (estimate: £2.4-2.7 million) and the 1963 Ferrari 400 Superamerica Aerodinamico, but plenty of others found new homes, including:
- 1965 Ferrari 275 GTB Alloy Long Nose (estimate: £2.1-2.3 million) sold for £2,392,325.
- 1967 Ferrari 275 GTB/4, sold for £1,956,580.
- 2003 Ferrari Enzo (estimate: £1.5-1.9 million) sold for £1,584,915
- 1955 Lancia Aurelia B24S Spider America (estimate: £910,000-1.1 million) sold for £982,562.
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