The 'Dave the Plumbers' McLaren F1 - Chassis 053 - The full story

M798AGL was imported in 2017, having first been shipped to Japan, then Hong Kong, the Middle East and finally back home to Britain. In 2019 it was given the plate 53MCL and has vert occasionally been spotted around and about.

053 is another interesting car because it’s one of only two that left the factory in white. It has covered hardly any mileage, with the April 2022 MOT showing just 1,290km. This car really made me laugh, and is a great example for the power of the Internet…. I thought I’d found a white whale when I dug this one out, and here’s why…

Most websites had this car being sold to Japan, then Hong Kong, then the UK and then Switzerland. I found this car by downloading the complete list of MOT’s that took place in 2021… Yup, a zipped folder of CSV files that made up something like a million lines of spreadsheet data. After waiting forever for my computer to process the first file (300,000 lines), I told the spreadsheet to search for ‘Mclaren’ and found this white F1 was MOT’d in Blackburn this year. I nearly spat my tea out, because the Mclaren F1 is usually associated with, you know, Monaco, or Geneva, or Miami, or anywhere exotic… not Blackburn.

For those of you who don’t know, Blackburn is an ex-industrial town in the sort of North part of England where people talk funny. The thought of this car popping along to Kwik Fit in Blackburn for an MOT really made me smile. Let’s hope it’s owned by Dave, a Plumber, who’s fitted a roof rack for his ladders. So there we have it, a white whale that was sent to Japan, then Hong Kong, then the Middle East and then to Dave in Blackburn. Maybe.

This car is very original with very low mileage. Apart from Dave’s roof rack, obviously.

#McLarenF1 #Blackburn #McLaren #SuperCar #McLarenRacing #formula1

HUGE THANKS MUST GO TO:

- The main man for McLaren knowledge, Mr Peloton25
- Vehicle Smart for providing the advanced vehicle checks.

Check your vehicle with Vehicle Smart:
https://bit.ly/CheckTheCarGeoffs