"Oh, I wouldn’t want to win that much money on the lottery,” I’ve heard it said. “I wouldn’t know what to do with it all.”
Really? Really? What’s the top win these days: £30 million? Fifty? Are you aware a McLaren F1, chassis number 069, having covered 2800 miles since it was built in 1998, has gone on sale for a price approaching £10m?
Honestly, £10m, £20m, £30m is a sum I could spend in about three phone calls. Not that I ever will, obviously; not with all this thinking that I’m too clever to gamble on winning loads of money, yet actually being far too stupid to earn it.
But this particular McLaren F1’s availability reminds me of an occasional muse of mine: money no object, which three cars – but only three cars – would you pick to keep for ever?
You need something practical, obviously: I usually think of a Mercedes-Benz G55 AMG, but with less need to tow heavy things these days, a Holden Special Vehicles W427 might replace it. A Ferrari 250 SWB usually occupies one other slot.
Which leaves the difficult third choice. Because it could be an Ariel Atom V8, a Porsche 917, a Bugatti Type 35 or a Rolls-Royce Phantom Drophead. Today, it’s a certain grey F1.
Maybe if I spent less time daydreaming about all this, mind, my actual VW Baja Bug and 1985 Honda CG125 scrambler project might have a third companion by now.
