A very rare McLaren F1 has became the most expensive British car after it was sold as part of a record-breaking £43 million fleet. The 1998 McLaren F1, part of the Pinnacle Collection featuring 25 super-important models from the past 50 years, sold for £8.8 million – nearly $14 million USD.
This made the super-rare hypercar, built in Woking, Surrey, the most expensive British car to ever sell publicly. The McLaren, capable of more than 240mph, is one of only two road-spec F1s upgraded by the British firm to LM specification.
The last ever Ferrari Enzo made, originally gifted to Pope John Paul II in 2005, also proved to be record breaker and sold for a staggering £3.87 million. A Ferrari 250 LM sold for £11.2 million, a world record for the model, and the most expensive car of the sale. The 1964 road-going race car was originally owned by a Bristol man. Ron Fry, from the famous chocolate family, would race the Ferrari at venues around the UK including Longleat, Castle Combe and Yeovilton.
Other models which went under the hammer included the first and last Bugatti Veyrons, which sold for £1.17 and £1.48 million respectively. There were 12 cars which sold for more than £1 million at the auction, which took place in the very early hours of Friday morning. The cars had been assembled with “surgical precision” by a private American ahead of the RM Sotheby’s sale in Monterey, USA.
In total £43 million worth of cars were sold – with 88 per cent of the models offered finding new homes. This is also a record for a private car collection sold during a single-day auction.
Post-sale negotiations were taking place for the three non-sellers, which were a Mercedes 300 SL Alloy Gullwing, a Ferrari 250 LWB California Spider and Ferrari 250 GT SWB Competizione.
If RM Sotheby’s strikes a deal on these cars, the total is expected to exceed £70 million ($110 million USD).
