A 1994 McLaren F1 with LM-specifications — a suite of upgrades based on McLaren’s racing cars — sold for $19.8 million on Saturday at the Monterey Car Auctions with RM Sotheby’s.
Another McLaren F1 — the only other one also modified by McLaren post-production to meet LM-specifications — was also auctioned with RM Sotheby’s in 2015. It went for $13.75 million.
A 1994 McLaren F1, which was estimated to auction between $21 million to $23 million, was the highest-priced car to be auctioned this year. It ended up auctioning for $19.8 million, making it both the most expensive McLaren ever sold at an auction, according to The Drive, and the most expensive car sold this year at auction.
Alexander Weaver, a car specialist at RM Sotheby’s, said before the sale: “The McLaren F1 is the ultimate supercar and has long been regarded as the benchmark by which all others are compared.
Originally developed as a road car, speed aficionados pushed the British automaker to turn the F1 into a proper race car, which it finally did, going on to win Le Mans outright in 1995. In 1998, as production of the car came to an end, the company decided to upgrade two standard road versions to “LM-Specification,” outfitting them with an unrestricted 680-horsepower GTR racing engine and a High-Downforce Kit, which saw the nose of the car revised and the addition of front-fender vents and an enormous rear wing.
This specific model, which was delivered new to Japan in 1994 before being upgraded in two phases in 2000 and 2001, is finished in platinum silver and features a cream leather interior. With just 13,352 miles on the odometer, the car benefits from regular service and attention, according to the auction house. Acquired by its current owner in 2007, it includes a full written history and underwent a multi-point evaluation by McLaren Special Operations.
