Thread: Why dosen't Mclaren sell their used Formula One cars?

Sp, apparently no Mclaren Formula One car has been sold since 1981.
While Ferraris and others can be bought, Mclaren keep all their old racing cars.

Why?
While the red F1 from Ferrari is awesome, I can't help to think that owning a chrome Mclaren Formula One car would be pretty awesome...

Unit 2 - where McLaren's racing cars go to retire

Coming into the 80's McLaren started pulling ahead on technology culminating in the early 90's cars that got all the goodies banned. If I were to guess it would be that they were afraid of their technology getting stolen and it turned into a tradition of not selling any cars that has continued until today.

Factories used to destroy race cars after use to keep setups private.

I presume mclaren is doing this to help preserve the "mystique" of their brand.

Because Race Car?

I think its good that they keep their cars. They can preserve their own history.

There was a video posted a while back of Lewis Hamilton in the shop where they keep their old cars.



Some of those cars have to be very valuable. A car raced by Senna has to be up there.

I know of at least 1 person who has bought some Mclaren Formula 1 cars - he has a nice collection of other cars too - Aaron Hsu.

McLaren is a special company, with a golden heritage and some kind of unique myth around it that no other brand has. Its one of the most passionate, if not the most passionate car brand on earth. McLaren is a pure enthusiasts car company, their cars evoke feelings and make any true enthusiasts heart to beat faster. A car brand like that does not fall for money.

I don't think its to keep things secret... Even Ferrari only sells cars that are a few years old - I don't think you can buy a 2011 car today... Also keep in mind that a program like what Ferrari runs (corse clienti) takes significant teams for upkeep, repairs, and trackside operations - not like you could just tow it behind a f150 and go to next weekends track day...