McLaren F1 ‘Continuation’ on the cards if Ferrari ‘revives’ the 250 GTO?

McLaren F1 ‘Continuation’ on the cards?

It looks like the Ferrari 250 GTO could arrive as a ‘continuation’ car in the next few years, but will McLaren follow suit with a continuation run of the McLaren F1.

The current vogue by car makers with a heritage is to deliver ‘continuation’ runs of historic models, just as Jaguar has done with the XKSS, the  ‘New’ Lightweight E-types and the ‘missing’ D-Types.

There’s nothing new in the idea of recreating an iconic car, but suddenly it has become both fashionable and, mode importantly, acceptable to buyers. Even if owners of the ‘real’ cars make look on with disparagement.

In fact, with Jaguar making hay from its heritage models (and Land Rover too) others have joined in the game, including Aston Martin with the DB4 GT Continuation. Of course, that’s not the first ‘continuation’ DB4 by any means, with the DB4 GT Zagato Sanction II cars playing a similar game in 1989, and even a ‘Sanction III’ a decade later.

But the world of wealthy car buyers now seems to accept these new ‘continuation’ cars as legitimate – even if they’re not road-legal – and it seems Ferrari is considering heading in the same direction with a continuation of the most coveted, and valuable, classic car – the Ferrari 250 GTO.

Speaking to Top Gear, Sergio Marchionne admitted something along the lines of a 250 GTO Continuation car is in the planning at Ferrari, and Marchionne said they’ll have something to announce in the next couple of years.

But if Ferrari are planning to cash in with a continuation take on the 30-odd 250 GTOs, is the game going to be joined by McLaren with the F1, probably the second most valuable classic car there is?

It’s an idea actually raised by Ron Dennis – then McLaren boss – back in 2012, when he said he’d considered dusting off all the original tooling for the F1 to cash in on the, then, £3 million price tag of an original F1.

But he dismissed the idea as he thought owners of the original F1 would create merry hell, although he did think knocking out another 100 F1s, to add to the original 64 road cars, would bring in a handy few bob.

But with McLaren F1 prices now breaking £10 million, and Ferrari, Aston Martin and Jaguar all playing the continuation game, will McLaren be able to resist the urge to join in with a run of ‘continuation F1s?

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