Currently reading: Unused 1997 McLaren F1 to break sales price record
Factory-fitted protective wrapping and delivery miles make this F1 a time warp back to the 1990s

A brand new McLaren F1 that has never been registered is expected to break records and become the most valuable F1 in existence.

The unused example of designer Gordon Murray’s V12-engined supercar wears the same interior covers and protective wrapping as it did when it left Woking in 1997.

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Car number 60 has covered just 239 kilometers (149 miles) – which McLaren has confirmed represents distance covered during its pre-delivery factory test – and comes with all of its original assets, including a Tag Heuer watch.

The Dandelion Yellow car’s Japanese owner hasn’t even sat in the car, so it almost certainly represents the best-preserved example of McLaren’s 627bhp model in existence.

On sale at Derbyshire dealership Tom Hartley Jnr, it is predicted by experts to become the most expensive F1 sold yet, beating a 9600-mile example that recently sold for £11.8 million at Pebble Beach.

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The F1 remains one of the world’s most sought-after supercars, with 106 units produced between 1992 and 1998. The three-seat model is powered by a 6.1-litre BMW Motorsport V12 engine. Such was the atmospheric powerplant’s performance that when Autocar tested the F1 back in 1994, it was described as “a car which, unless driven with a cool head, could land you in greater trouble than you could imagine”.

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The car’s three-seat layout has inspired a hyper-GT that will be launched in 2019. Codenamed BP23 (standing for bespoke project two, three-seater), the car is under development and will be produced in 106 units, just like the F1.

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405line 18 October 2017

Buyer "error" that's all

He bought it and either his wife said "it's the car or me" or he was too proud to admit he bought a "turkey" and tried to put his mistake out of his mind by hiding it away in one of his many garages, that is until yellow has become popular recently and now he is gonna quickly off load it to some other "lover of yellow cars".

Cobnapint 18 October 2017

Tut tut, sorry - scratches chin

Can't give you full book for it mate - not in that colour, nobody wants them.....

Boris9119 18 October 2017

Shame on Autocar

Like "Ludicrous speed" said, "beyond sad". I understand that there are many people, funds and investment groups that legitimately utilise the potential of limited numbers automobiles to appreciate. I get that, its part of life. However as a dedicated car guy, like our journalistic friends at Autocar claim to be, I can only frown upon this practice which ultimately and consistently prevents the use and enjoyment by car guys (and gals) of many of the best automobiles produced, due to them becoming either unnatainable in the first place or unaffordable on the use market.

Can any serious reader of Autocar genuinely get a warm feeling from reading this article? Yes, I accept the authors right and responsibility to report this story, but to describe it with such zest and sensationalism whilst wholeheartedly failing to highlight all that is wrong with this picture, is to do a diservice not just to himself or his employer, but also to us his audience.

And in doing so Sam reinfoces and perpetuates the difficulties regular car guys (and gals) face when trying to secure for example an allocation for Zuffenhausen's latest and greatest.

Rant over.