12C longer term values

[Bispal]

MDL111 said:

I still think the 12C is a classically good looking car, not overdesigned etc. Even at launch I thought it looked prettier than the 458 with the fussy front light clusters. It is also the first modern road car model of the brand. So my prediction is they will do quite well in terms of holding value. I would want to get one of the very first cars if values are a consideration (is it the first 100 chassis numbers or sth like that?).

Mine was chassis 80. It was a fantastic car.

So I agree the first 100 cars will be the most sought after in the future. These cars were built by proper McLaren engineers in the MTC and not the MPC. These are the cars to go for if one comes up. I believe up to 25 of the first 100 were possibly development cars and may have been destroyed. So there may only around 75 of them and possibly only around 10 in the UK. In early cars buyers (to a certain extent) could chose a chassis number, some to match their F1 or in the case of Richard Branson's cousin and co-founder of Virgin Records, Simon Draper, he choose chassis number 000007 (or so I have been told). Which a mate of mine bought, unknowingly, at a great price. I had a deposit on 000006 a few years ago (was on sale with Scott Hardy) but decided to try a 718 Spyder instead (big mistake).

[12pack]

I think McLaren are too late in the provenance game for any such appreciation. This collector mentality applies to the relatively small section of my boomer age group that are less interested in driving than collecting. That small section is more interested in the long-storied history of the European marques, even if the cars are not great to drive. By the time McLaren’s provenance starting with the F1 trickles down to lesser cars, we will be out of the market and our progeny will have increasingly less interest.

Buy the car you’d like to drive and can afford (including depreciation) - and enjoy it while you can.

[cgt2]

Interesting re the early v late cars. Paul at V Engineering gave me quite a comprehensive understanding of how they continually developed the cars and later ones were much better than early examples. Obviously he was there at the time so is in a position to know!

[ChrisW.]

There was something very nice about the "swipe" door opening ... very cool.

[ffmygale]

MDL111 said:

I still think the 12C is a classically good looking car, not overdesigned etc. Even at launch I thought it looked prettier than the 458 with the fussy front light clusters. It is also the first modern road car model of the brand. So my prediction is they will do quite well in terms of holding value. I would want to get one of the very first cars if values are a consideration (is it the first 100 chassis numbers or sth like that?).

It's not 100 exactly - it's slightly higher than that. I looked in to this with contacts at the factory when I bought mine and from memory I think it is probably between 130-150 were made in MTC

[RGambo]

ChrisW. said:

There was something very nice about the "swipe" door opening ... very cool.

As the owner of a fully functioning swipe door car, I can confirm it is very cool. However, if its wet, they can be a challenge. I've often said that I could easily leave the car unlocked in a car park and nobody would ever get in.

[ChrisW.]

It took me a while to realise that I could also open the car with the button on the key fob ...

[RGambo]

ChrisW. said:

It took me a while to realise that I could also open the car with the button on the key fob ...

Yes, that was a very useful discovery. TBH that's the way I open the door the majority of the time these days.