The
McLaren F1 Chase! Part 1
The McLaren F1 chase was on! My quest commenced on 10th August
2010. Mmmm… “where do I start?” rushed
over me again. Where on Earth do people advertise their McLaren F1 for sale?
Would it be a case of chasing off market cars and being messed around by
endless laptop car dealers trying it on?
Classifieds adds... that’s where I started. Ok, so they weren’t exactly your average websites
but a more trade-based affair that surprisingly brought with it some potential.
One that really stood out was a white F1 (turned out to be Marlboro white) that
had covered just over 1000miles, perfect! Worth an e mail, why not? The reply
was fast, from an American dealer who seemed to have some pedigree with high
value cars. The car in question was
based in Japan just outside Osaka and in a very short space of time I was on my
way to Japan to inspect it.
I find Japan strange but exciting, well
worth a visit. I’d already been there
many times before in my Formula One days and I felt at ease and familiar on
landing into Osaka. I was met by a local with zero English, anyhow with no idea
what he was telling me I followed him to my transport (a Maybach no less would
you believe). After a 30-minute drive we turn up at a house, nice but in no way
overstated from the outside. I was greeted by the owner and his family (wife,
kids, Dogs and one other Japanese gentleman) but no American dealer? The only one
that spoke English in the family was the 6-year-old daughter, gosh I thought
this is going to be fun. Turned out
though that other local gentleman was a long time McLaren employee that did
speak English (great and phew).
There it was in front of me, the F1 in all
its beauty, as advertised in every way. The car was stunning! The inspection
also found NO issues (mechanical or bodywork) and the paperwork history file as
it should be. It also had full McLaren
service history and all the extras where there also (the tool box + tools: for
the McLaren flying doctor to use, made to measure luggage for the side lockers,
the battery charger & the watch!
Perfect! Could the F1 chase really be this
easy? We had already briefly spoke about the expected price before I traveled
so even that seemed a formality... I was about to find out how wrong I was!!
After inspecting the F1 in a very
‘showroom’ like room with white walls and white tiled floor being kept company
by a Mercedes CLK GTR & Toyota 2000GT. I was then asked if I would like to see the “real
collection” … the REAL COLLECTION!!! I thought, what’s is this then?? I was
then led down some stairs, suddenly I started seeing red, no not anger (quite
the opposite in fact) as a Ferrari collection the likes of I had never seen was
in front me, the walls where covered in signed Ferrari F1 drivers Race suits,
more Ferrari models & memorabilia then you could ever imagine, as well as
the likes of 288GTO + The Prototype, F40, F50, Enzo etc. my eyes turned to 2
Ferrari Formula One cars, bypassing the road cars I headed straight for the F1
cars, both Schumacher championship winning cars and both runners used by the
owner stunning!!
Once home, I was straight onto the US based
dealer to finish the deal, price set all was looking good! next task the
transfer of a large sum of money and the collection of the car in a safe manner
that suited all, this is where it all started to go wrong! The US dealer
insisted that all funds where sent though his personal bank account, now we
were talking about a good few £million so who in there write mind would do that?
not us that is for sure. No less than 4 different options of safe payment where
put forward by ourselves, all rejected by the dealer (Alarm bells). Around the
same time, I had just got married (yes, the trolley dolly as stated in a
previous article) and was set for a few weeks of Honeymoon bliss, however with
the funds transfer issue, guess what I was doing on my honey moon?! much to my
new wife’s disgust! This led to a very heated phone call with my then boss (the
potential new owner) & his CEO to step up and sort it out, did they sort it
NO!! The US dealer would not move so the
deal collapsed, to this day I am sure the F1 owner does not know the truth as
to why the deal collapsed, the same car did sell around 1 year later into the
USA, so the dealer must have found someone stupid or crazy willing to transfer
huge sums of money into his account.
….The F1 Chase to be CONTINUED.
Building Classic & Supercar Collections, Where DO you Start?
My task: To build a Classic & Supercar
collection to rival the best in the World and the infrastructure to be able to
correctly manage each car.
Where to Start?... Purchasing the first car
of course!... and what better car to start with the 1st real
supercar and arguably still the most beautiful the Lamborghini Miura, in this
case the SV. Ok we now have the car to
source, not just any car but a $1m+ car to start with (in 2008). I better not get this wrong!
How to source such a car? With no contacts
or idea! A connection to my F1 past came to light. The collection owner had built the first F1
circuit in the Middle East (Bahrain international circuit) and was in the
process of building Yas Marina in Abu Dhabi. In doing so had dealings with a
British F1 World Champion from the 1960’s & 70’s who was working as a
consultant to the circuit owners. From
this connection we were put in touch with an swiss based but British classic
car dealer who had been sourcing cars for the rich and famous around the world
for many years, A Muira expert (supposedly) ….Perfect! Said dealer just so happened to know of a
Miura SV that had just been restored in the US (more on the US restoration
later). This was not just any Miura SV,
this was 1st owned by the Shah of Iran, giving the car excellent
provenance. History tells that the Shar
& his wife personally visited the factory to Spec the car (as normal it was
the wife that actually chose the colors). Once we had looked at the history a price was
quickly agreed for the car subject to inspection, the dealer claimed to have
inspected the car with a nice invoice & good report coming back to prove it,
contracts where duly signed, and the car paid for. Within 2 weeks the Miura SV was looking
amazing in the collection if not lonely at this point, however!
Problems!! With the Muira sitting in the
newly built collection building on a nice shiny tiled floor it was easy to spot
fluid that had found its way out of car (normal for an old car some would say),
within less then a day we had a nice pool of oil under the engine, Great!!! After you had just paid a large bill from the dealer
for the pleasure of them to inspect the car - Lesson number 1: NEVER have a
dealer inspect a car or take their world that a car is mechanically sound, very
few dealers have any mechanical knowledge at all!! From that day forward part
of my job was traveling wherever in the World to inspect and report on any cars
of interest, we therefore never had this issue again. I now offer inspection services though CLASSIC
HANGAR, piece of mind before you buy! The Muira with its V12 engine basically has
the same engine gearbox layout as a classic Mini with the gearbox under the
engine and with this shares the same issues with oil leaking from where the
gear selector shaft goes into the gearbox. With no Lamborghini specialist in
the Middle East and a dealer with no clue at all and little in the way of
facilities at the time it, I replaced the rouge seal that to this day is still
good, welcome to the world of classic Supercars!
Back to the US Restoration. A few years after we purchased the car, the
Lamborgini legend Valentino Balboni paid a visit to the collection, paying particular
attention to the Muira of course. Without
me saying a word he turned to me not looking very happy and said” Americans!!,
they cannot restore Lamborghinis” then proceeded by spending the next five
minutes pointing out all the incorrect bits on the car. Over the next weeks / months I then non
Americanised the car bringing it back to how it would have left the factory (just
one extra was left however, the built in fire system for very good reasons)! As
Muira history shows they like to catch fire due to the fuel line running above
the exhaust manifold.
Valentino saw the car again last year, this
time I am happy to say, he was very happy… and so was I!
The Job!...... So how do you get a job
building a classic & supercar collection you may ask? Back in 2007 and my last year in Formula 1,
we were coming down from the highs of the 2005 & 2006 Double would
championships. Also, after 10 years of
economy class round the world trips, more than a sprinkling of 18 to 24 hour
working days plus not forgetting the partying off course! I was tired, very
Tired! Before the 2007 season had got underway I decide it was going to be my
last. During that final year in between
races I was flying to Bahrain (my new destination of choice) to organize and
set the stage for my smooth transition and new career away from Formula 1. My transition was in place as I had set up a job
working for a German Porsche tuning company that was setting up a Middle Base,
all was good, the job and visa sorted, living in the sun sorted, fast cars
sorted, a Royal Flight trolley dolly girlfriend (Now wife) sorted, what could
go wrong?... The Germans and the locals fell out just as the company opened, it
shut down straight away and that was that, no Job! (not sorted). I managed to keep busy as a part time
instructor at the Bahrain circuit. The
summer months were looming which meant that the circuit would close due to the
excessive heat until autumn, I had no idea what I was going to do next? Out of
the blue and in the nick of time I received a message from a friend that
someone was going call me about a job, I had no idea what job? Within a minute of the message my phone was
ringing, with an English guy on the other end asking if I could pass by a
Building site for an interview now! Still
no idea what this was about, what did I have to lose? Off I went to the
building site which was a huge, half-built shopping mail construction
project. Once there within 10 minutes I
was told that they had a few cars already (Arab Spec) and they were looking to
purchase a good few more. “We require
someone to manage this, do you fancy it? ………. Well of course, YES!!
The Brief:
To build a collection of iconic supercars from pretty much zero, budget was
never mentioned, I had no contacts network, I had just spent 10 years traveling
the world in Formula 1 so why would I know who you trust? At the end of the day
a used car dealer is a used car dealer, whether it’s a back-street dealer
selling you a £500 heap or a flash supercar dealer with purchase costs running
in the millions, the risks are high, Arthur daily springs to mind! It was now one of my many tasks to network
the ‘right’ people / companies to trust! Not easy! in upcoming articles I will
write further on the importance of building Relationships and Trust with
dealers & Auction Houses + why I would never trust Middle East supercar
dealers.
