A time capsule with 243 miles on the odometer, a 1995 McLaren F1 sold for more than $20 million.
Anyone who wants to feel nostalgic for the 1990s or truly appreciates groundbreaking supercars should check out this McLaren F1. It has only 243 miles on the odometer, making it as close to a fresh factory F1 as possible, but there is another F1 with even lower mileage.
This F1 (chassis number 029) was sold over the weekend at a Gooding & Co auction in conjunction with 2021 Monterey Car Week in California. The car ended up selling for $20.465 million, $5 million above its estimate.
This is a record price for an F1 car sold at auction. Most recently, a 2019 example rebuilt by the MSO department to LM specifications sold for $19.8 million.
Nearly 30 years after its introduction, the F1 is still an icon thanks to innovative design elements such as its central driving position, carbon fiber bodywork (a novelty at the time), and gold-plated engine bay. It also has a great counterpart in the form of BMW's high revving 6.1-liter V12 engine mated to a six-speed manual transmission.
These elements made the F1 the fastest production car of its time, reaching a top speed of 240 mph, and helped win the 1995 24 Hours of Le Mans. Not a bad career.
The car spent most of its life in Japanese collections before being sold to an American owner.
Between 1992 and 1998, 106 McLaren F1s were produced, and it is the 25th of 64 road-going F1s. In addition to production road cars, McLaren also built F1 GTR race cars, examples of which are sometimes auctioned.
More information about Monterey Car Week can be found on a specialized website.
