When it was introduced in 1992, the McLaren F1 became the world's fastest and most innovative production car. Come 2022 and the auto industry is packed with notably quicker machines, but the F1 still shines as one of the greatest vehicles ever built. And that's why seeing no fewer than seven of them being unloaded from a truck is a big event.
With only 106 built, including prototypes and race-spec cars, the F1 is a very rare bird. Seeing six of them in the same place is an even rarer event that occurs only at high-profile car shows. The folks attending the 2022 Retromobile Paris got lucky enough to find more than a half-dozen F1s under the same roof and thanks to YouTube's "TheTFJJ" we can see them being unloaded from a truck.
And the cool thing about this F1 reunion is that it doesn't include only regular versions. Not that there's anything wrong with standard-spec F1s but this show celebrates almost every single iteration of the supercar.
The footage kicks off with one of the rarest F1s ever made, the GT. A homologation special for the F1 GTR Longtail, the GT was built in just three units, a prototype, and two customer cars. This one's the former and the only example finished in green. Ain't she a beauty?
The second F1 that shows up is also very special. Actually, it's a bit more than that, because the purple supercar is none other than the F1 Hindu Edition, a unique car owned by The Beatles guitarist George Harrison. On top of the one-off paint job, it has "Aum" written on the steering wheel and famous song lyrics on the carbon-fiber chassis. Written by hand by Gordon Murray himself.
The black F1 that you can see after that belongs to British car collector Simon Kidston, while the silver F1 is one of the five prototypes built. Dubbed XP3, it's one of only three prototypes that haven't been crashed. The white car is a regular F1, built in 1995 and delivered to a European customer.
The remaining two McLarens are both of the race-spec variety. The white-and-blue GTR is chassis #16R, one of the cars that was raced at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1996. Fielded by Italian outfit Team Bigazzi, it finished 11th. The car was also raced at Silverstone that year.
The last F1 unloaded from the truck is a 1997 GTR Longtail in the iconic Gulf livery. Chassis #25R, this car was driven at the 1997 24 Hours of Le Mans under the Gulf Team Davidoff McLaren banner. The car retired after 326 laps. It was restored by McLaren Special Operations (MSO) in 2018.
A cool display of F1 greatness, this gathering is missing only one version of the legendary supercar. I'm talking about the LM, the road-going GTR built in just five units to celebrate the company's victory at Le Mans in 1995.
Ask Ciprian about cars and he'll reveal an obsession with classics and an annoyance with modern design cues. Read his articles and you'll understand why his ideal SUV is the 1969 Chevrolet K5 Blazer. Full profile
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