“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
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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