Remember the McLaren P1 that got pulled out of its garage and flooded by Hurricane Ian in late September? After the insurance company collected the ruined hypercar without giving the owner the possibility to keep it, the vehicle landed on Copart last month, and it is now preparing for what will undoubtedly be an uber-popular auction.
Just to be clear, Copart hasn’t listed a sale date for Lot #62074952 yet. However, this is clearly P1 VIN SBM12ABA6FW000348, which got at least partially submerged in salty water by the category 4 storm, one of the worst to have ever hit America. For the record, Hurricane Ian brought winds of up to 150 mph while the storm surge reached a maximum of 12 feet. This is why even vehicles that were up on platforms inside their garages, such as this 1970 Plymouth Superbird and this 1969 Dodge Charger Daytona, were pulled out and damaged—have you seen the spectacular “flipping the Bird” rescue?
Sure, with a Carfax estimate showing that no less than 358,000 vehicles were potentially flooded or damaged by the storm, Copart’s offer of such machines included over 5,000 units at the time of press. And, this is not the only online platform offering such vehicles (more on this below).
However, in this case we’re looking at a 1-of-375 hybrid hypercar worth $1.7M these days—this is an average price and quite a bump from the initial U.S. MSRP of $1,150,000. And if we also factor in the viral status of the machine, which had been with its former owner Ernie (aka lambo9286) for about one week before the disaster, it seems obvious that this auction is going to set some audience records at the very least.
What is the condition of the P1?
Copart has given the British machine an exterior and interior detailing, with the main aim being to “extract water and to attempt to prevent mold, fungus and odors”.
And while that might’ve changed the vehicle’s appearance (check out the Copart Instagram video below), this remains a mighty complex hybrid that once made 903 hp. Battery and electronics aside, there’s the possible damage the salt water (extra corrosive potential there) did to the engine and dual-clutch transmission, the body issues, interior problems and others.
All in all, Ed Bolian of VIN Wiki, who has experience in rebuilding ruined supercars, estimates that it could take between $700,000 and over $1M to restore this velocity tool to its former glory.
Asuming somebody steers clear of buying this to turn into some form of art or to part it out, the bits and pieces needed to rebuild the flooded P1 would obviously require McLaren’s involvement.
And that’s the sort of thing certain collectors like to document on YouTube (we’ll get back to this). So we may not need to think exclusively in financial terms limited to the value of the car vs. that of a mint-condition P1 here. Still, have you seen this P1 validation prototype with its exposed carbon panels? It’s currently up for grabs and we’ll return with a dedicated story later today. Dubbed P1 VP4 (validation prototype #4), the car, which has been rebuilt for road use, is for sale together with the “spare” test vehicle hybrid powertrain and many other components. Who knows? Perhaps somebody could use those bits to rebuild the flooded P1 into a track car…
Interestingly, at the time this article was published the Mclaren P1 didn’t have any specific sort of title listed (i.e., salvage or non-repairable), with the listing simply stating FL, the initials of the state. By the way, the P1 is located at Copar’s Punta Gorda South facility over in Florida.
Multiple sources talk about a flooded Bugatti Veyron and Koenigsegg Regera that are also set to be auctioned off
Shortly after Hurricane Ian hit Florida, we covered a Koenigsegg Regera, one of the just 80 customer cars, that had a similar fate to that of the P1.
In addition, Ed Bollian spoke of a “Bugatti”, with other sources claiming this is a Veyron. And while those sources (e.g., broker TK’s Garage on YouTube) claim that the Bugatti and the Koenigsegg are also set to be auctioned off on Copart and IAA, we’ve found no such listings yet.
However, if you’re looking for a story that could fuel one’s optimism regarding these hypercars returning to the road, entrepreneur and collector Houston Crosta has shared the details of rebuilding the 2009 salt water lake-flooded Bugatti Veyron, financial side included.
Update (November 02, 2022): The flooded McLaren P1 got sold on Copart for what one may call serious money. And while it comes with a certificate of destruction, there are still chances for a rebuild.
