1995 McLaren F1 sold for a record USD20.465 million at Gooding & Company’s auction

This 1995 McLaren F1 is the most expensive example of the legendary supercar ever to be auctioned, setting a record USD20.465 million (around RM86.8 million) at Gooding & Company’s Pebble Beach Auction last Friday.

The amount eclipses the amount set by another 1995 F1 in 2017, which sold for USD15.62 million (around RM66.3 million), while beating a 1994 F1 LM-Specification unit that traded for USD19.805 million (around RM84 million) just two years ago. So, what is it about this record-setting F1 that makes it worth more than the USD15 million that Gooding & Company expected it to be worth?

For starters, chassis 029 is the only one to receive a Creighton Brown paint finish, which isn’t shared with any other F1. There is some history to the colour, as it honours the name of McLaren Cars’ commercial director then, who, together with Gordon Murray, Ron Dennis and Mansour Ojjeh, was part of the famous 1988 Linate airport meeting in Milan that served as the foundation for the F1 road car project.

According to the official auction listing, chassis 029 was the 25th F1 built at McLaren’s factory in Woking, and the final example built in 1994, having been completed on December 23. Upon completion, the car was delivered in 1995 to its first owner, who is a private collector in Japan that kept it in static museum display for 17 years.

The car would be later be sold by Art Sports to Shinji Takei in 2012, before being sold to an American owner in 2013. In all the time up until last Friday’s auction, the car only has 387 km recorded on its odometer, making it a very low-mileage F1, and it was never publicly exhibited.

As a result, this time capsule of a car is in exceptional original condition, with the factory-applied paint, identification plates, labels and even the Goodyear Eagle F1 tyres remaining intact. The same can be said of the interior that is upholstered in light tan leather and Alcantara, with contrasting Brazilian Brown leather accents and brown carpeting.

Adding to the value are all the original accessories and items that came with the car, including its service book, a FACOM tool chest, a titanium and gold-plated tool kit, the owner’s manual, a bespoke luggage set, Tag Heuer 6000 Chronometer wristwatch, mechanics gloves, emergency and first aid kits, fuses and even a deluxe edition of Driving Ambition: The Official Inside Story of the McLaren F1 book.

Also included are the car’s original catalytic converters and heat shields that were removed during the federalisation process done by JK Technologies to make sure it was compliant with United States regulations when it was brought into the country.

The combination of pristine condition, low mileage, rare specification a full set of accessories and a complete vehicle history help contribute to this F1’s crazy price tag. However, there’s also the fact that McLaren built just 106 units of the F1 when produced ended in 1998, with only 64 of them in original road car specification. The remaining cars were either prototypes, tuned LM versions, longtail versions and race cars.

The road cars featured a mid-mounted 6.1 litre naturally-aspirated V12 engine producing 627 PS (618 hp) and 650 Nm of torque. The mill was developed under BMW Motorsport’s Paul Rosche exclusively for McLaren, with power sent to the rear wheels through a six-speed manual gearbox.

At the time, it was the world’s fastest production car, only beaten by the Bugatti Veyron that arrived on the scene several years after the model was discontinued. Even so, the F1 remains the fastest naturally-aspirated road car in the world, capable of hitting 386.4 km/h (240.14 mph), a record set way back in 1998.