McLaren F1 Up for Bid!!

yea i'm kindof surprised they put the car on ebay, you'd think they would expect a hundred 13 year olds to be placing fake bids on it

 

True, but I think Ebay requires a credit card or bank account verification to be placed on file if you bid over $15,000...

I think its $15,000, I forget the amount..

 

I dont know, it looks pretty good in Yellow I think. "Not registerable in CA" what car is registerable in CA?

 

Take a look at the current high-bidder....with it's eBay profile doesn't look legit to me. Im sure they got it on there more for "advertisement" purpose. I know I would never buy a 1m+ dollar car on eBay...

 

If someone avoids buying a $1.5M car because they don't want to spend the change to have it repainted there is a major screw loose

 

i do but i wouldnt want to screw with the auction

 

Think about what ebay would actually take for the auction successfully selling, with the end of auction fee's....

IT doesnt make sense that the seller has been a member for almost 2 years, and ZERO feedback...

Same with the buyer, 3 positive feedbacks...

 

Yeah, but what if someone told the buyer that this particular car was on Ebay. That person comes, sets up an account, and bids.

Having only 3 positive feedbacks for a buyer is in no way indicative of their willingness to follow through.

 

If they set a really high reserve that they know they were not going to get would they still have to pay anything to eBAY when the auction finished "reserve not met"?

Sounds like a really good marketing idea.

 

When a complete refit from McLaren equals upwards of $60,000, plus downtime while the work is done (perfection takes time), plus shipping costs to and from England, there can be a large benefit to getting a car that is already a color you would want. Very few owners would consider having anyone but McLaren handle such a task as to do it properly requires almost complete disassembly of the car.

Additionally, there are a limited number (roughly 2 dozen) F1s that are already approved for road use in the USA. The conversion process for federalization/importation can run an additional $120,000+ or more depending on what EPA standards the F1 must meet based on it's year of production.

It all adds up - quickly - and the values of well cared for McLarens have begun to rise considerably in the past 3 years, as there are now more buyers then cars available. Sure most buyers who can justify the purchase an F1 can also justify these additional costs, but most didn't get to where they are by throwing away their money either.

>8^)
ER

 

Right, but notice I only mentioned getting a car repainted. I never mentioned anything about shipping it to Mclaren for the full bore refit.

Good point. This means that if you want a U.S. spec car you might have to settle for one that is not currently your color of choice. So instead of having to take a Euro version you can simply repaint, right?

Let's say a repaint will cost $15k to be done correctly. That would only be 1% the cost of the car. I guess it is all relative.

 

I saw a silver one for sale in Tokyo yesterday morning (place was closed and I didn't bring my camera).

I've heard rumors from very well informed people that the real market is around $1.8MM. I would not be surprised if the reserve is somewhere around that price.

Too rich for my blood at this stage of the game...

 

I stand by this point: Very few owners would consider having anyone but McLaren handle such a task as to do it properly requires almost complete disassembly of the car.

In fact I only know of one F1 that has been repainted by any other source. Sending it through McLaren will not get you a repaint for $15,000.

= = = = = =

The first photo below is very likely the car you saw, in the showroom of Bingo Sport:

Click here for more photos/details

If you get a chance to pass by there again, and can see the car close up, please try to see what chassis number it is. We're not certain at this point, and attempts to get that info from the dealership via email contact have not produced any result.

Initially they advertised it as a 1994 F1, but the ad has since been changed to list it as a 1997. The possibilities for a '94 would be #001 (doubtful), #006, #010, & #013. I haven't taken the time yet to narrow down the possible chassis numbers if it is indeed a '97, so if you could get us that answer it would be wonderful.

If you aren't familiar, the chassis plaque is located to the right of the drivers seat on top of the right chassis spar, just ahead of the shift lever. I'll post a series of 3 photos below to make finding it quite clear. The ad says this F1 was delivered new to Japan and has only had one owner, so it would be nice to get the history file started on it.

That figure is rapidly becoming the market price for a well cared for F1. The red F1 that SVAG recently sold went for a price quite close to that figure. I know of one other F1 that was sold this past year for a similar amount. This yellow car doesn't have some of the updates that those two cars had so the value should be less. Also, as has been mentioned, there could be reason to question it's overall condition since it spent most of it's life in Brunei and supposedly sat uncared for over a period of several years. McLaren has been over the car since then, but Brunei has a harsh climate to leave a car sitting in.

Mine too, but I wouldn't hesitate to become an F1 owner if I had the funds.

>8^)
ER
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Nice pics! Chassis 007 eh? Did James Bond sign it as well?

 

Ok, if you were to simply guess the price of a repaint by Mclaren where would you put it?

 

Check the buyers profile and his items that he bough before, ugly used stuff and even one bad feedback...not the kind of eBay profile of someone who can afford anything that's even over 100k.

 

For just a repaint - about double the figure you have mentioned based on things I have been told.

It's obvious the current high bidder isn't a real buyer, but no one bidding so far is a buyer until that reserve is met. I still think they have the reserve set at an astronomical figure far beyond the car's real or perceived value so that no one's real bid would ever reach it. They don't want to sell this car through Ebay - it's my opinion that they just want the advertising exposure that an auction like this can provide.

>8^)
ER

 

I like your way of thinking !

 

I remember 007 as black being offered for sale at auction and selling for 500K
a number of years ago. Search SCM.

 

You are correct. I think it was a Coys or Bonhams auction and why it sold for such a small amount has never really been made clear to me. Someone definitely got a deal on that car unless it was in terrible shape. Chassis #007 now resides in Massachusetts, owned by Frank Selldorff, who also owned chassis #068 and LM3 within the past year, but has since sold them both.

In case it wasn't clear, the chassis plaque photos I posted were just the best visual representation I have of where to find it, and no relation at all to the silver F1 that judge4re spotted in Japan. I should note too, that if the car isn't open, it is possible to read the chassis number through the windshield and side window glass.

>8^)
ER

 

Erik - have you been keeping a registry of these cars. If so, is that something you can share with us.

 

Several of us work to keep track of as many F1s as possible, and organize our thoughts and info in this message forum dedicated to the F1:

Automotive Forums .com Car Chat > McLaren > F1

At this point we've got a handle on about half the F1s in the world - some full info on location/chassis number/owner, others just bits of those details, and on some cars there are only a small number of photos.

I don't have an updated 'hard copy' list to share as I keep most of the info in my head, and organized in folders on my hard drive with photos of the cars. I also use the past threads in that forum as a resource quite a bit. I concentrate most of my efforts on keeping track of the F1s here in the USA, as it's often hard to learn much about the cars in other parts of the world. Another member of the forum recently put together a great thread organizing all that we know about the F1s that are or have been in Japan:

Recap of Japanese F1 fleet

I talked with another member recently about putting a stickied thread at the top of that forum which we can use to keep an updated list/registry and I will probably get that rolling soon. We have an old thread which was started to do just that, but the member who started it doesn't frequent the forum as much anymore and so it hasn't seen regular updates. Quite a bit of the info on that list has changed, so it's not even worth sharing at this point. There's also a separate website being created by another member on that forum which hopes to catalog all of this data we've collected as well. Once it's completed it will be a great resource.

>8^)
ER

 

No small $. But might seem a steal, at some point, should the F1 be viewed as the Bugatti Royale/250 GTO-type icon of its era.

 

I don't know for sure about comparing it with the Royale since they were each very unique cars, but the 250 GTO does seem to be a fair comparison. The main difference being that to my knowledge most 250 GTOs have some race history in their blood, whereas most F1s were designed specifically for the road. Of course if you want an F1 with credible racing history, various F1 GTRs are usually available as well.

After more than a decade since it's introduction, the F1's prestige doesn't seem to have been diminished much by the newer contenders to the supercar throne. Sure, some cars are better in some respects, or one person might prefer the direction Ferrari and Porsche have gone with their supercars by making them more track friendly/focused than the standard F1 was. However, I think most people will still herald the F1 as one of the greats for a long time to come, which will continue to ensure future value.

>8^)
ER

 

I think it would be a great idea. FChat member "Garretto" has done exactly that to great success with the Enzo's.

http://70.85.40.84/~ferrari/forum/showthread.php?t=1639 (registry referenced in this link)