McLaren F1 #044 - the first F1 in the USA - up for sale and could hit £10M

McLaren F1 chassis #044 – the first F1 in the USA – up for sale and could hit £10M

The first Mclaren F1 road car to enter the USA is going up for auction at Bonham’s Quail sale in August and could hit £10,000,000.

McLaren F1 road cars are as rare as hens teeth, with just 64 road legal cars originally built (although some F1 GTRs have subsequently been made road-legal) plus just five F1 LMs).

So when a McLaren F1 comes up for sale it is something of an occasion, and this 1995 McLaren F1 – up for auction at Bonham’s Quail sale in August – is a bit special.

Chassis #044 – the 37th F1 built – is the first F1 to legally arrive in the USA, where it was made US legal by Ameritech before heading for its home on the East Coast.

It’s been owned ever since by the same guy, who has managed to put just 9,600 miles on it in the last 22 years. And when you consider he undertook a mammoth tour round Europe in the F1 before it was shipped to the US – covering about half the total miles on the clock – it’s hardly been used.

But despite the lack of use, this F1 has been faithfully serviced by BMW and McLaren – including replacing the pricey fuel cells – and is in totally original condition.

Unlike many other F1s, chassis #044 hasn’t been modified by McLaren, still has its original paint job and interior, comes with the Falcom toolkit and the original dial-up modem for remote diagnostics (although no mention of the F1 Tag Heuer watch).

What will McLaren F1 #044 fetch? It wouldn’t be a shock if its hits £10,000,000.