Examples of McLaren's original hypercar do not go on sale every day, and when they do, they command truly silly money. Examples? Well, Rowan Atkinson's car, a well-used specimen and not unknown to the restorers, famously went on-sale in 20XX for £8m - or, to put it another way, £7m more than he paid for it.
It is this kind of staggering premium which has the forums gently quivering about the car which has just recently gone up for sale with Tom Hartley Jnr. Not only has the car never been registered, it has only covered the miles consistent with McLaren's pre-delivery factory tests i.e. 149 miles of gentle shakedown use.
Having done that and been sheathed in protective wrapping, the Dandelion yellow model - chassis no. 060 - was stored away by its Japanese owner (who has apparently never in sat in it), complete with leather-cased handbook, Facom tool chest, its gold-plated titanium tools, the full set of matching luggage and the commerative TAG Heuer watch which has the chassis number engraved on its face.
Now, much like a Woking-made Holy Grail, the car has been ushered out of storage and into the cold light of a POA asking price. How much is this likely to be? Well, one with 9600 miles on the clock recently fetched £11.8m at Pebble Beach. You'd expect its Derbyshire-based dealer to want to beat that by some margin.
We're with the other PHers though who see some sadness in the spectacle of an exceptional car never destined to see another mile of road. Who wouldn't bet against the next owner spiriting the car away into a drive-in bank vault for another 20 years worth of appreciation? You don't need us to tell you that is definitely not what it was meant for. Truthfully, we'd prefer Blackadder's car, warts and all.
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