McLaren F1 chassis 009 grabbed headlines in July when it was listed for sale by JamesEdition, which was soon followed in August by images of the supercar being loaded onto a plane to Dubai.
While there was uncertainty as to whether it was truly placed for sale – with allegations of the JamesEdition ad including photos of a different car, and with minimal details – it has now appeared for sale through reputable firm Tom Hartney Jnr.
Understood to now be located overseas, chassis 009 still holds the title of the only McLaren F1 to ever drive on Australian roads, having originally been purchased by the then CEO of Coca-Cola Amatil, Dean Willis.
It didn’t take long for the 1994-build McLaren F1 to appear in the headlines, when it was crashed by a BMW Sydney mechanic in 1997, causing it to undergo extensive repairs. This included a respray from its original Magnesium Silver paintwork to a slightly darker hue.
The new listing shows it has completed approximately 16,900km since new, and was recently serviced by McLaren Special Operations.
Chassis 009 has a special background, having participated in the 20th Anniversary of the McLaren F1 Tour in Lake Garda, Italy, in 2012. In 2024, it won the Noosa Concours d’Elegance’s People’s Choice Award as well as the Next Gen Award.
As with all McLaren F1s, its central driver’s seat is flanked by two passenger seats, a hallmark of Gordon Murray’s designs, which later inspired his GMA T.50 supercar.
Behind the driver sits BMW’s bespoke 6.1-litre V12 engine, producing 461kW and 650Nm which is fed to the rear wheels through a six-speed manual transmission.
When new, the McLaren F1’s top speed of 386km/h made it the fastest production car in the world, and it’s still the quickest car to do so with a naturally aspirated engine.
According to Tom Hartley Jnr, the F1 “complete with all its factory-delivered F1 accessories, including the very rare TAG Heuer commemorative watch, its leather-cased owner’s handbook, the original luggage set, Facom garage tool chest, original tool roll and in addition a leather-bound limited-edition copy of ‘Driving Ambition’, the McLaren F1 reference book.”
No price is listed, however the most expensive McLaren F1 sale on record was for chassis 029, which sold for US$20.47 million (A$31.57 million) at a US auction in 2021.
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