Offered by Bring a Trailer Auctions | December 2023
Photo – Bring a Trailer
Neill and Ian Briggs are brothers that founded the Briggs Automotive Company in Liverpool, England, in 2009. Since then, BAC has produced a lone product: the Mono, which is a single-seat supercar. It’s kind of like an open-wheel car for the road, but it does have fenders, of course.
The Mono went on sale in 2011, and in 2015 the company changed up the stock engine, which is a 2.5-liter inline-four rated at 305 horsepower. The whole thing weighs about 1,300 pounds. It’s quick.
An even more powerful R variant went on sale in 2019. At the time of this writing, the car is already bid over $100,000 with 10 days left. Click here for more info.
Offered by Mecum | Kissimmee, Florida | January 2024
Photo – Mecum
From a performance – and pedigree – standpoint, Ford’s second-generation GT blew the first-gen out of the water. It arrived in 2017, and production continued into 2022 (the first gen lasted just two model years). These were more powerful, faster, and more expensive. And they had racing trophies to back it up.
The GT race car, in the hands of Chip Ganassi drivers, scored class victories at Le Mans and Daytona. So it only made sense that Ford would offer some of that racing prowess to the public. The GT MK II was launched in 2019 as a track-only variant of the road-going GT. The twin-turbocharged 3.5-liter V6 was modified to produce 700 horsepower.
It gained a big rear wing and lost some niceties (and weight in the process). This car is #18 of 45 built and wears a Gulf livery. These were over $1 million new, and this one hasn’t been used. Click here to read more about it.
Offered by Bonhams | Cheserex, Switzerland | June 18, 2023
Photo – Bonhams
The Chiron is the last of its kind: the full-on factory effort for speed provided by a fossil fuel-burning monster of an engine. Production of the Chiron lasted from 2016 through 2022 across a number of sub-models and is said to be the last hurrah for Bugatti’s insane quad-turbocharged 8.0-liter W16 engine.
That engine, in the base Chiron, produced 1,479 horsepower. It could hit 60 in 2.4 second and topped out at 261 mph, which is actually governed “due to current tire technology.” That’s kind of odd, as later Chirons could hit 300 mph.
This car was spec’d at the factory by its owner in two-tone Atlantic Blue and French Racing Blue. It is one of 500 Chirons produced. Perhaps the most interesting thing here is that Bonhams chooses to claim that the car has never been driven in the rain. How do you prove that? The estimate is $2,750,000-$3,300,000. Click here for more info.
Update: Sold, but Bonhams is nefariously hiding the price.
Offered by RM Sotheby’s | Paris, France | February 1, 2023
Photo Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s
The McLaren Senna went into production in 2018 for the 2019 model year. They planned to make 500, and who knows if they actually have. The Senna is supposed to be a supercar, but it’s really a track car for the street. How many road cars come with a push-to-drink system?
Anyway, in 2020, McLaren Special Operations introduced the Senna LM, which is the “track-focused” version of the already fairly-track-focused Senna. It still has a twin-turbocharged 4.0-liter V8, but its been tweaked a bit to produce 814 horsepower. Body work is also shared with the base Senna, but with a few extra bits in carbon fiber and revised aerodynamics.
RM says that just 20 were produced and only seven in McLaren’s Papaya Orange. This is a European-market example, and it’s basically brand new with like 25 miles on it. Click here for more info.
Offered by Mecum | Monterey, California | August 18-20, 2022
Photo – Mecum
The Sabre is a car that came out of McLaren Special Operations after they asked American VIP customers what kind of car they’d want. Apparently there answer was “a Senna, but less ungainly looking.” This car is Senna based, and it was McLaren’s fastest two-seater ever when all examples were built in 2020.
Power is from a twin-turbocharged 4.0-liter V8 that was rated at 824 horsepower. No hybrid assist here. Just pure internal combustion power. Top speed is 218 mph. The cars were only supposed to be for the U.S. market, but apparently a few went overseas. And it’s unclear if they built 15 or 16 of them. This car is #11.
It only has low (100) miles, as many modern supercars do. Which is either because the owner’s have plenty of other cars to drive… or they are horrible to actually drive. Probably both. This might be the first one to come up for public sale, and the price will be into the seven figures. Click here for more info.
Offered by Bring a Trailer Auctions | December 2021
Photo – Bring a Trailer Auctions
The Senna is one of McLaren’s “Ultimate Series” cars and is the successor the the P1. It’s basically a track toy for the street, but to make sure you knew that it was intended for the street, McLaren released the track-only GTR variant in 2018 (though the production version would come two years later). Only 75 were to be made. This is car #28.
Power is from a twin-turbocharged 4.0-liter V8 rated at 814 horsepower in GTR spec. That’s 25 more than the base car. It’s got a racing gearbox, an adjustable dual-element rear wing, seating for two, and air conditioning. And there are shops that will apparently modify these into “road-legal” cars.
This auction has a few days left, but at the time of this writing, the bidding was already at $1.3 million. So the price is only going to go up. It must be that Gulf livery… Click here for more info.
Offered by Bonhams | Los Angeles, California | April 10, 2021
Photo – Bonhams
McLaren has gone on a spree of producing pretty out there cars of late. From the P1 to the Senna to the Speedtail and now this, the Elva. The name harkens back to the lightweight Elva racing cars of the 1950s and 60s. McLaren had a relationship with that company back in the day, too.
This new Elva features a carbon-fiber monocoque, a full carbon-fiber body, and no windshield. In place of the latter, the car has an air management system that directs air from the nose up and around the cockpit. It’s like a windshield made of air. It’s the sort of thing you’d expect James Dyson to produce. Lamely, U.S.-market cars will get a windshield and side windows.
The twin-turbocharged 4.0-liter V8 is rated at 804 horsepower. McLaren claims the Elva is the lightest car they’ve ever made. It’ll hit 60 in 2.8 seconds and tops out at 203 mph. McLaren was going to initially build 399 examples, and they later cut it back to 249. Bonhams claims this is car #45 of only 149 built. It carries a pre-sale estimate of $1,700,000-$2,100,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.
Offered by RM Sotheby’s | Phoenix, Arizona | January 22, 2021
Photo Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s
Ever since McLaren got back into the production car game with the 12C, people have been waiting for the “successor to the F1.” McLaren has churned out supercar after supercar but didn’t start with their “Ultimate Series” until the P1, which some consider being the F1’s successor (but not here). Deliveries of the Speedtail began in 2020, and it is considered as “more of a successor” to the F1 than the P1. But I don’t think the F1 needs a successor. Even if this car shares the F1’s three-seat, center-driver layout.
Maybe just consider this as a 21st Century take on the F1. Top speed was the target here, and although it won’t take the worldwide record for the fastest production car as the F1 did, it is still capable of 250 mph, making it McLaren’s fastest road car. The twin-turbocharged 4.0-liter V8 is combined with an electric motor for a combined output of 1,306 horsepower.
This car has over $170,000 in MSO options on it and is the 36th Speedtail constructed. They are not street legal in the U.S., so this one is likely here on a Show or Display exemption.
The fact that this car is still in production does fly in the face of our “no current production cars” rule. But, the Speedtail is supposed to be limited to 106 units, matching that of the F1. When production wraps is TBD, but it will likely be in the next year or two.
This is the first Speedtail to come up for auction, and because all Speedtail owners were selected by McLaren, this is the first chance most people will have to buy one. I doubt this will ever be a $20 million classic like the F1, but time will tell. Click here for info and here for more from this sale.
