Just 106 examples of the legendary McLaren F1 were ever made, with only 64 of those being road-legal examples and one solitary car among them ever making its way Down Under.
Now, though, you could have the chance to own what is believed to be Australia’s only F1 as it’s up for sale, although the price might just be a bit of a stumbling block for most of us.
Listed on JamesEdition by ELITA, a Melbourne-based concierge and boutique service specialising in second-hand ultra-luxury collectibles, the McLaren in question is chassis ‘009’ built in 1994, although it’s listed on the site as a 1992 model.
Bought new by former Coca-Cola Amatil boss and noted car enthusiast Dean Wills who regularly exercised it at his private circuit in Sydney known as ‘The Farm’, the car initially remained in his ownership for over a decade.
Like many F1s including high-profile examples owned by the likes of Rowan Atkinson and Elon Musk, this car does have accident history. As reported by Wheels, an unknown senior member of the technical department at BMW Sydney crashed it in 1997 while the car had been in for maintenance.
The repairs required cost just under A$1 million at the time, with the car sent back to McLaren HQ in Woking, where the colour was also switched from its original Magnesium Silver to a darker shade of grey.
The car then changed hands in 2005 and 2006, first to Tony Rafits and then Barry Fitzgerald, who himself added some more accident history with minor damage during 2016’s Epic New Zealand Road Tour.
If you were worried about the state of the car now, fret not, as in 2024 it took home the People’s Choice and Next Gen Awards at the Noosa Concours d’Elegance.
The accident history hardly seems to have affected the price tag, either. While the JamesEdition listing currently reads “Price On Request”, older screenshots circulating on Reddit reveal a price tag of – brace yourself – €21 million, which converts to A$37,630,191.
To date, the most expensive McLaren F1 sold was chassis ‘029’, with the 390km mint-condition example finding US$20,465,000 (A$30,954,300) at Gooding & Company’s 2021 Pebble Beach Auction.
As a point of reference for an F1 with accident history, however, Rowan Atkinson’s twice-crashed car sold for £8 million (approximately A$15 million) back in 2015.
Featuring a 6.1-litre naturally-aspirated BMW V12 churning out 461kW, the three-seat F1 was once the fastest production car in the world.
It claimed the record with a 356km/h official top speed in standard form, along with a 386.4km/h run in 1998 with an example featuring a modified rev limiter, that wasn’t officially bested until the Bugatti Veyron’s 408.47km/h dropping of the gauntlet in 2005.
You can read more about the history of the F1 in our in-depth feature on McLaren’s ‘1’ car lineage.
