The McLaren M1 is one of the Mclaren entries the open record knows by name and by date — in 1963, and by little else. That is not nothing: a name in the catalogue is where a car's story starts to be recoverable. Its designer of record is Tony Hilder.
How it came about
The McLaren M1A, and its derivatives, the McLaren M1B and the McLaren M1C, are a series of mid-engined Group 7 sports prototype race cars built by McLaren, between 1963 and 1968. The M1A was the team's first self-designed and developed sports car. Later versions, such as the 'M1B' and 'M1C', competed and raced in the North American Can-Am series, starting in 1966 season. The car was raced in North America and Europe in 1963 and 1964 in various Group 7 and United States Road Racing Championship series events.
24 examples of the M1A and M1B were built, and 25 examples of the M1C were manufactured. The car was powered by a few different motors, including Chevrolet small-block engine, an all-aluminum Oldsmobile V8 engine, a Chevrolet big-block engine, and even a Ford FE engine. It was constructed out of a tubular space frame chassis, and, combined with its light weight of 551 kg (1,215 lb) gave it a great power-to-weight ratio. The 4.5 L (270 cu in) Oldsmobile V8 engine developed around 310 hp (230 kW), while the 350 cu in (5.7 L) Chevrolet small-block V8 engine was capable of developing over 550 hp (410 kW), and 538 lb⋅ft (729 N⋅m) of torque. This drove the rear wheels through a Hewland L.G.500 four-speed manual transmission.
The hardware
it is rated at 310-550 hp. Kerb weight is 1215-1850 lb. Power-to-weight lands near 255 horsepower per tonne, which is genuine supercar pace. The wheelbase is 89-91 in. These are manufacturer figures carried by Wikipedia and Wikidata, not road-test measurements.
Family and rivals
On a showroom list of its day it stood against the Aston Martin DB5, the Ferrari 250 GTO, the Abarth Simca 2000. Its Mclaren stablemates include the McLaren M15 and the McLaren M16.
The money
There is no federal ownership record for the McLaren M1 — it predates the complaint database or was never sold in the United States — so MotorJury publishes no running-cost figure for it. For a car of this age the price is set by the collector market and the condition of the individual example, not by a formula.