When we caught wind of the first U.S. street-legal McLaren F1 for sale, we said there wouldn't be enough time for all of us to collectively scrape our change together. Since the auction has concluded, that statement rings truer than we first imagined.
Why? Because this special McLaren F1 has become the most expensive example ever sold with a final price of $15.62 million. The sum hurdles the previous record of $13.75 million for a 1998 McLaren F1 that had received LM specifications. That car sold in 2015 during Monterey Car Week.
1995 McLaren F1 for sale at Bonhams auction
The sale of McLaren F1 chassis 044 is a big deal since it's only one of seven cars that were federalized and remain street-legal in the United States. A company by the name of Ameritech fitted removable bumpers and fender reflectors to make it road worthy. The previous owner removed them, but they were included with the sale, along with all the proper documentation. Additionally, this F1 houses just 9,600 miles on the odometer and is completely original. Its value is only inflated by the fact 106 F1s were produced in total, and only 64 are street-legal around the world.
$15.62 million buys some world-beating performance figures as well. To this day the F1 boasts some incredible specs from its 6.1-liter BMW V-12 engine. 627 horsepower and a top speed of 242 mph is possible with the help of the F1's naturally aspirated behemoth of an engine. The fact the car is basically Formula-One technology applied to a road car certainly helps too.