MCLAREN F1 SELLS FOR £2.5M AT LONDON AUCTION

RM auctions set a new benchmark price for values of the McLaren F1 last night, selling the former Park Lane show car for £2.3m at its “Automobiles of London” sale in Battersea Park.

The car, chassis number 65 and the last of the road cars to be sold, has an impressive story associated with it, which perhaps helps to explain the extraordinary price paid for the car. Built in 1997 as the last road going F1 ever produced, it sat for many years in the company’s Park Lane showroom and as such is probably the most famous of the road going cars.

Until its sale last night it has had only one owner and covered only 484km since leaving the factory. Despite this the car has had the usual meticulous (and, we would imagine, reassuringly costly) McLaren service, with the owner even flying a McLaren mechanic to Asia to service the car 12 months ago before a full service at Woking ahead of the sale.

The car was rumoured to have been sold to a Houston based collector and, whilst he’s £2.5m lighter this morning, he is a very, very lucky individual.