McLaren F1 sells for $8.47 million at Gooding & Co's Pebble Beach Auction

A new auction world record for a McLaren F1 was set last night when chassis #66 sold for $8.47 million at Gooding & Co’s auction at Pebble Beach.

McLaren F1 chassis #66 (pictured) has sold for $8.47 million

There’s been an inexorable rise in the price of classic cars in recent years as rich men realise that certain classic cars not only have huge appeal, but appear to be going only one way in price.

Add to that – certainly in the UK – that any profits made on the sale of a classic car you’ve bought for your own enjoyment are tax free, and it’s no shock that values keep rising, and the rarer the car the more they rise.

So with only 64 road cars made, the McLaren F1 can be considered a sound investment, with values rising since it first sold in the 1990s for around £640,000 to a new world record auction price set last night of £8.47 million (around £5.42m).

The $8.47 million was for a two owner McLaren F1 – chassis #66 – finished in Magnesium Silver with its tool chest and fitted luggage still intact and a full service history – which isn’t cheap – from McLaren and just 12,000 miles on the clock, and sold by Gooding & Co at their Pebble Beach Auction.

It’s a great return on investment for the current owner, with values racing away in the last couple of years as more wealthy men realise classic cars – and particularly cars like the F1 and Ferrari 250 GTO – can be a goldmine. In fact, the price of the F1 has gone up from an average of only $2 million or so four years ago to today’s auction price of $8.47m).

This price now sets a new benchmark for the F1, and every owner – regardless of how his F1 compares to #66 – will now see their F1 as being worth at least as much.