McLaren’s racing history dates back three years before the debut of the M2B, the team’s first Formula 1 race car at the 1966 Monaco Grand Prix. During this time, the team competed with cars from other constructors. Recently, a car believed to be McLaren’s first race car was sold for 911,000 British pounds (about $1.03 million) at a Bonhams auction held during the 2022 Goodwood Revival in the UK. The car, which was discovered in storage in South America, had a rusted chassis, a few body panels, and its last running engine, an Oldsmobile 3.9-liter V-8.
Originally a Cooper T35P F1 car powered by a Climax engine, it was modified six times before reaching its current form. The Bruce McLaren Motor Racing Team acquired the car in 1964 when it had already been modified twice. In 1964, founder Bruce McLaren drove the car at various events, winning at the Aintree and Silverstone circuits.
Even without McLaren’s connection, the car’s pedigree is special. In its first F1 season in 1961, fielded as a Cooper, it was crashed by Walt Hansgen at the United States Grand Prix, held at Watkins Glen.
It was sold to Roger Penske the following year who had it rebuilt with a more powerful engine, at which point the car became known as the Zerex Special. Penske took it to wins at Riverside and Laguna Seca in the U.S. and at Brands Hatch in the U.K. It was then sold to McLaren in the early part of 1964.
McLaren would continue to modify the car and score wins until the team sold the car in 1965 to Texan amateur racer Dave Morgan. He then sold it to a Venezuelan amateur racer in 1967, at which point it went off the radar. Given the amount spent on the car by its current owner, we suspect a full restoration, likely to the condition the car was in when raced by McLaren, will soon be in order.
