Mclaren F1 car crash,whats the go

interesting, there is only 1 photo on wrecked exotics, seems the photos could have been taken a while ago, simply because there is no description on what happend or even a date, which is odd as most newer cars featured have at least a date and the city where it happend.

On another note on the sisters site exotic spotter it has the car where it was displayed at the GP in June the comment below the photos reads 'quote Spotted leaving the Melbourne F1 GP. If you check the wreckedexotics.com site you'll notice that this car was also featured on there and the repair for this car is believed to be one of the most expensive auto repair jobs in Australia's history'

I suspect the incident could have occured before the car was displayed at the GP, hope the driver is a-okay as the car seems a little beaten up in the photo.

 

where? gimme a link. wasn't it seen driving around just two weeks ago?

 

http://www.wreckedexotics.com/mclaren/mclaren_20030226_002.shtml

 

Notice that the numberplate on the wrecked F1 is the older style personalised plate MCLF-1, but on the recent photos at the GP, the plate is modern slimline sticker/decal, and MCL-F1. Is it me, or does the F1 look silver in the wrecked exotics pic, and dark metallic grey in the recent pics? Are they the same car??? I'm beginning to think not. NB both plates are Victorian.

 

At one stage, there was an F1 in Victoria (I think, or at the very least registered in Victoria, 'MCLF-1') which was owned by an extremely secretive individual. I won't mention his name. I get the feeling this is the car that was crashed and featured on wreckedexotics. I *think* this car was displayed at the Melbourne Motor Show during the mid 90s. I have pics actually, and from memory, it had that plate displayed on the rear.

I suspect that 'MCL-F1', the dark grey car seen at the GP is not the same car, so therefore, there are at least two F1s in Oz. The plot thickens because I think the silver one has since been sold by the secretive fellow. BTW, didn't 360C hint that there's more than one F1 in Australia in another thread?


EDIT: I just found the pics, and there are no plates displayed on the car. FWIW, I think it was shown at the last motorshow held at The Royal Exhibition Building. Moreover, it was on the same stand as Lamborghini and Lotus and TVR, as this was the Monarch Motors/imports stand.

But I definitely have seen a pic of the silver F1, with old style VIC plates 'MCLF-1' in the same garage with orange bricks, in 'uncrashed' condition. I saw the crash pic only a few weeks ago, and was shocked!

 

I don't know of any "secretive" owners.

I think there's only one registered in Aus. It was owned by the coke guy in sydney. I knew it'd had a bingle, but I'd heard that it wasn't very bad....the one in that photo...THAT looks bad. We'll find out soon enough.

Since then, Tony Raftis bought it from the Coke guy...and now he's sold it to someone else. (Raftis is in the car trade...it's what he does!)

 

That's the guy. Joe Kenwright referred to him as secretive, but quite a few people obviously know he has one, or had one. According to Kenwright, he wouldn't let the car be photographed (or driven) by journos. Can't blame him after what I read about what R&T did to Beal's F1!

 

Then it IS the same one... there goes my theory! One car, slightly different plates and paint job post crash.

 

The car was originally owned by Dean Wills, who was a director for Coca-Cola or something along those lines. Now owned by Tony Raftis, as per PP.

The car was apparently for sale in Melbourne earlier this year. From the picture provided in the link below, it must be Duttons, however I cannot confirm it was there.

http://speed.*************/PitLane?viewThread=y&gID=0&fID=2&tID=27251

Check this thread for more info:

http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=367291&highlight=melbourne+mclaren

All I can guess is that the car has been repaired or the plates sold to Tony Raftis.

 

Taken from the third page of the ************* post:

http://speed.*************/PitLane?viewThread=y&gID=0&fID=2&tID=27251&bottom=20

Sadly, the third picture is the Dean Wills car, taken after it was wrecked very badly by a mechanic giving it a go, but even with all that visible damage the car was supposedly repaired. Notice how they both seem to have the same plate holder in the front.

Therefore RMV is correct, it was the car at the motor show and has been repaired at some stage.

 

I didn't realise the original owner's name was plastered all over the internet! Kenwright wouldn't even mention his name in an artice he wrote on the F1 on the grounds of privacy!

 

This is correct. It happened years ago when Dean Wills owned it and a mechanic was driving it at the time.
The car was displayed at the Melbourne Motorshow at least once in the 90's.

 

wouldn't you love to be the guy who had to call him and give him the news....

 

Ever met Dean Wills? I would have left the country if it were me........

 

Ouch...well that's hardly a "slight" bit of damage. I hope, now that it's out in the open, that the guy Raftis sold it to knows otherwise it might come as quite a shock! Personally, I'm not going to tell him. In fact, I don't think I'll mention it again!

 

I am sure he would have been told. In any case it went back to the factory for repair.

 

Ouch.
My car is ex Dean Wills as well, is there anything I should know?

 

No I haven't....can't say I'd blame him for getting mad though.

Do you know what actually happened with this mechanic (i.e was he fired)?

 

I'm guessing since the accident, his voice is a number of octaves higher!

 

That wrecked photo is quite an old one, as the car was crashed by a BMW mechanic during an engine test/service (for those of you who may not know, the McLaren F1 has a BMW engine). A similar thing occurred with Ralph Lauren's F1 LM last year when during a BMW engine service, a mechanic crashed it into a wall. The Australian F1 was sent back to the McLaren factory for repair (was put back into production to repair the front end, in approx the mid 90s). I know that Wills has a private racetrack (a friend of mine has been to his place and shown me photos) and apparently he has an Enzo now (and obviously not the F1 anymore). So maybe the crash occurred there.

Also in Wills' ownership the F1 had its wheels painted the same as the body colour but now with the new owner, it had been re-painted the "original" colour. Some of you may have noticed here: (pg 9, 5 posts down)
http://www.*************/PitLane?viewThread=y&gID=2&fID=0&tID=37894&bottom=80
Those photos were taken before Raftis got the wheels repainted.
(compare those in the link to some of the 2005 Melbourne GP photos)

If you're all wondering why my profile is not filled out, I have been meaning to join fchat for a while and only managed to do it now to reply to this thread; I will fill it in later.

 

Can't wait. Are you someone famous?

 

Raftis is a car salesman. You have to expect the worst if you buy a car from a car salesman. (although my dealings with Tony have been quite good). The current owner, I believe, is Barry Fitzgerald from Melbourne. Barry's a nice guy, (I bought my F40 from Barry), and I wonder if he knows all this stuff.
Probably NOT.

 

There's a lot of high profile cars around with hidden histories, but so long as the repair is good, does it really matter?

In many cases with hand built cars, the repairs can actually mean the car ends up being better than when built.

I've had a good look over the Mc, and it's in great shape. Allan has driven it and says he'd have it over an Enzo any day. The factory repaired it.

If you wanted one, it's as good as any.

I'd be more worried about buying damaged low end/everyday cars, yet people do it all the time.
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