Your McLaren can be painted in Muriwai
McLaren Special Operations (MSO), the bespoke division of McLaren Automotive, has created a new colour that pays homage to the former UK home of founder and Kiwi motor-racing icon Bruce McLaren: Muriwai.
Muriwai was the name the McLaren family gave to the home they built in Surrey, England in the late-1960s.
Muriwai, west of Auckland, was where McLaren won his first hillclimb, aged 15, at the wheel of an Ulster Austin; the car is still in McLaren’s heritage collection.
Bruce and wife Patty settled in Surrey after he won a racing scholarship which took him from New Zealand to Great Britain in 1958.
After Bruce McLaren Racing was established, daughter Amanda was born. Following modest rental accommodation in nearby Surbiton and Weybridge, the family built their dream home in Walton-on-Thames. It was finished in 1967.
MSO’s Muriwai White colour contains blue flecks – an homage to the whitewashed walls, deep blue doors and shutters of the Muriwai house. It is being showcased on the 570S Spider, but will be extended to other models.
The colour was developed by MSO and paint specialist AkzoNobel, in consultation with Amanda McLaren.
‘‘My mother Patty had been at a dinner party with a palm reader, who told her she’d live in a big white house with blue doors and shutters,’’ recalls Amanda.
‘‘Whether by destiny or design, that is what transpired and Muriwai was a place of pride for Bruce and comfort to Patty years after my father’s premature death in 1970 at the age of 32.
‘‘Muriwai was always special to my father; the exotic name as much as the house.’’
MSO can create virtually any colour a client wants. As well as personalised paintwork, MSO offers other enhancement options and takes bespoke commissions for ultra-limited or one-off models.
Many MSO customers like to order ‘‘off the menu’’, but in this instance Muriwai White is available as an option on any McLaren road car, with personalisation beyond the signature paintwork according to individual request.
The McLaren family’s former home in Walton-on-Thames is currently on the market, priced at £2.1 million (NZ$4.1m).