Lowest-mileage McLaren F1in the world is for sale
Say you’re in the market for a McLaren F1. You’ve always wanted one, but you just didn’t get to buy one back in 1992–1998 when they were originally produced. But now you want one. Good news: The lowest-mileage F1 in the world is currently for sale. And it is assuredly the most original, untouched example of the car you’ll ever find.
Feast your eyes on McLaren F1 #060, listed for sale at Tom Hartley Jnr of England. This Dandelion Yellow example with a dark gray interior shows just 239 kilometers (148.5 miles) on the odometer — all of them predelivery test miles conducted by McLaren technicians, according to the seller.
It is exceedingly original. The car still wears the protective interior foam wrapping applied at the factory back in 1997. Never driven — never even registered — it comes complete with the factory Facom tool chest, a removable steering wheel, custom-fit McLaren luggage, and an LM-style upgraded exhaust system, all original and all still in their factory packaging.
What leads someone to buy a brand-new McLaren F1 — the fastest, quickest, and most expensive car in the world at the time — and never drive it? It’s a mystery. The owner’s manual, a gorgeous, hand-illustrated masterpiece in itself, indicates that the car was delivered to Japan. The commemorative Tag Heuer wristwatch, engraved with the car’s chassis number, has never even been worn.
But the original owner’s loss is your gain. The F1 is infinitely rebuildable, and to this day, McLaren employs a world-class team of specialists ready to deploy anywhere in the world at a moment’s notice to maintain or repair your F1. While the first owner never drove it, the second owner will potentially have thousands of miles of joy ahead.
Then again, the first owner may have had the right idea all along: We don’t know the asking price on the car today, but we’re certain it represents a huge profit over the original $800,000-plus selling price. (To date, the most expensive F1 to sell at auction had about 9600 miles on its odometer and hammered for $15.6 million in August.)
We’ve reached out to the dealership, and to McLaren, to see if we can learn more about this exceedingly original F1. We will update this post with what we find out. In the meantime, if you’d like to see it in your garage, peruse the listing at Tom Hartley Jnr.
This story originally appeared on Road & Track.