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2015 McLaren P1 - photo courtesy of BringATrailer

The most famous McLaren P1 in the world

I’m sure you know exactly what car I’m talking about when I mention it is the most famous McLaren P1 in the world at this time, or should that be ‘infamous’, as we are talking about a very rare hypercar that sold for a winning bid of no less than $1,577,007 on BringATrailer in August 2022 with just 305 miles on the odometer … only to become the victim of a flood in September of that same year, just one week after the buyer took delivery of it, totaling this amazing, bright yellow car, together with a white Rolls Royce from the same owner.

A few months ago we had Houston Crosta from Royalto Exotics go over just how much money it would take to bring this legendary hybrid hypercar back to life, and the total cost wasn’t for the faint-hearted, check out the video below:

But that didn’t keep Tavarish from bidding on the wreck, at the end winning the auction for a high bid of $575,000, making this the cheapest McLaren P1 in the world, but it’s also totally wrecked, apparently, water has even gone into the roof-mounted air scoop, that’s how deep the water was this car got into. And during her ‘float’ out of the garage into the surroundings, it seems this P1 hit a lot of obstacles along the way, the passenger side mirror is missing completely, and one of the wheels has a hole in it, not the tire, the actual wheel.

Check out a nervous Tavarish as he comes face to face with his nearly $600,000 purchase for the first time:

So what do some of Tavarish’s YouTube colleagues think about his ‘investment’ into the flooded McLaren P1, make no mistake, Tavarish has been rebuilding wrecked supercars for years on his YouTube channel, last year he brought a McLaren 675LT from certain death at the wrecking yard, the chassis was bent, even the carbon fiber tub had to be repaired, but he made it, and this bright blue over tobacco leather 675LT looks absolutely gorgeous today, so if anyone is able to repair this McLaren P1, and find the necessary parts, Tavarish can, he already has the network from rebuilding the 675LT, to which he fitted an extremely rare roof scoop in carbon fiber.

But let’s take a look at what Tim, better known as Shmee150 on YouTube has to say about Tavarish’s latest venture:

Even VinWiki has an interview with Tavarish posted about the insanity of rebuilding this famous McLaren P1:

Just like many YouTube stars, Tavarish also has a second channel test days, with some Behind-The-Scenes looks into his workshop and building progress, on this channel he showed his new $2,000,000 McLaren P1 to the only other person ‘dumb’ enough to buy it:

Whatever you might think about this poor McLaren P1, the fact that it will be rebuilt is something to be happy about, I’m sure it will take Tavarish a long time to get hold of all the parts to put this car back to factory original specs and fully driveable on the open road again, and while he thinks a budget of about $100,000 will do, others have quoted $250,000, even $500,000 … but that still means, in the end, even at the highest quote, Tavarish will own a completely pristine McLaren P1 for about $1,000,000 which is still half of what most of these cars are being listed for at the time of writing.