A YouTuber has shared his experience buying a million-dollar McLaren P1 that had been damaged last year by Hurricane Ian.
Posting the carnage on Instagram last October, previous owner Ernie documented what happened after Hurricane Ian swept through Florida, causing widespread damage to Naples as well as his 2015 McLaren P1 and 2022 Rolls-Royce Phantom.
In the fortnight leading up to the natural disaster, Ernie was seen posting photos of the McLaren which he had just bought.
A mere two weeks later, the hurricane left the vehicle with such substantial damage that it had to be taken to a salvage yard.
The original purchase price for the 2015 McLaren P1 when new was around US$1.3 million (AU$1.94 million) with resellers claiming secondhand P1 hypercars could sell for for over US$2 million (AU$2.9million) today.
There are only 375 examples globally of the McLaren P1 which were produced from 2013-2015.
A series of posts shows the aftermath of the disaster, including a distressing video of the million-dollar car being towed from the debris.
Fast forward a few months to January this year and the car has ended up for sale online with a list price of US$575,000 (AU$851,807).
Included in the listing is the mention of ‘water/flood’ and ‘mechanical’ damage.
YouTuber Tavarish, who is best known for flipping supercars, won the bid for the McLaren.
It’s unclear at this stage how much Tavarish spent on the vehicle but this latest restoration YouTube series has gone live documenting the restoration, amassing over two million views in just four days.
The first episode documents the YouTuber picking up the car from a warehouse and examining its damage.
This includes water and glass in the engine bay, mould inside the vehicle, and extensive damage to almost all the glass around the vehicle.
The P1 seems to have most of its body intact however there is considerable damage to the paintwork, and the rear of the vehicle including missing tail lights.
Approaching the vehicle, viewers begin to get a taste for the condition of the car which includes flat tyres and damaged wheels.
The car appears to be fixed in a lowered suspension mode which forced the team to use a jack and small trolleys to get it onto the back of a trailer for transportation.
As the video continues the car is put onto the back of a trailer and taken back to Tavarish’s restoration warehouse where he takes viewers through the damage in detail including the brake pads, wheels and tyres.
The original owner’s 2022 Rolls-Royce Phantom is also up for auction and appears to have an equal if not worse amount of damage on the car.
