Tavarish’s latest video has gone viral, reaching the Top 20 on YouTube trending. In it, the Car Trek star talks about a lot of personal issues in his marriage, family life, and struggles with making entertaining content. However, right at the end of the 17-minute-long clip, he shows something we’ve suspected for a while: he has the flooded McLaren P1.
Hurricane Ian affected a number of exotic cars last year, and maybe the biggest headline of them all was a yellow McLaren P1. This very rare British-made supercar had been pulled out from its garage by flood waters and was filmed floating at the mercy of mother nature, finally resting on top of a toilet in a sorry state. But now Tavarish seems to have it.
At the time of the P1’s Florida flooding, we speculated that this was a huge opportunity for YouTubers. Not only was this now the most famous McLaren in the world but saving it would be worth a heck of a lot of browny points. In addition, the P1 is expensive, and for many YouTubers, this damaged example was their one and only chance to ever afford one.
This has already been teased once. On December 25, 2022, Tavarish posted the flooded P1 on Instagram, saying that “If this post gets 40,000 likes, I will spend every cent I have (and borrow) to buy this McLaren P1 from Copart and restore it down to the last bolt for YouTube’s biggest car project ever.”
The post actually got close to 180,000 likes, so on January 5, 2023 he revealed that he’d bid on the car on Copart and it seems that it’s now in his possession. Fans of his content are suggesting all sorts of wacky ideas, from swapping in a Tesla powertrain to LS-swapping the supercar and calling it a day. Of course, this would be entertaining, but it’s not exactly Tavarish’s style.
His channel is all about difficult challenges, about finding hidden gems at auctions and fixing them for way cheaper than dealerships are quoting. What’s puzzling here is that the very flooded P1 (VIN SBM12ABA6FW000348) actually sold much earlier in December. Our records indicate that it went to somebody in Illinois for just $400,000. That’s only a fraction of the car’s true cost of around $2 million. Tavarish, of course, lives in Central Florida after he moved from New Jersey. This could just be a collaboration with one of Freddy’s many car friends.
So what’s wrong with the flooded McLaren P1
We actually don’t know the extent of the damage. But the P1 was one of the most advanced supercars/hypercars on the planet back about 10 years ago. McLarens in general are known to be delicate, especially when it comes to electronics.
Previously, Ed Bolian of VinWiki suggested that de-flooding the P1 would cost anywhere between $700,000 and $1M. In his words, getting rid of the complicated hybrid powertrain and replacing it with a normal one from a cheaper McLaren would be the easiest.
From a distance, the yellow P1 looks to be in excellent condition. But, of course, you can’t have a car moved around by dirty water without generating at least some damage. And the McLaren construction is very intricate and special. A lot of the trim is titanium, the glass is ultra-thin, and some of the carbon fiber wasn’t clear-coated to save weight.
What if the brakes are corroded? Well, McLaren Formula 1 partner Akebono developed a unique braking system for the P1, featuring a ceramic carbon disc never used on a road car before. The 390mm discs feature a surface layer of silicon carbide usually employed by the Ariane Space Rocket.
Of course, the real nightmare could be in the electronics and powertrain department. If any dirty water got into the V8 it will need an expensive rebuild, and if the wiring harness or computer control models are broken, they will have to be custom-ordered. Let’s keep our fingers crossed for this one.
