Most people know him as the guy in the tweed jacket who says about five words an episode and somehow still manages to wreck everything in sight. But behind the awkward mumbling of Mr Bean and his infamous Mini Cooper, Rowan Atkinson has always had a serious obsession with cars. His particular interests lead towards one of the most revolutionary cars of its time and in history.
Back in 1997, while the rest of the world was still catching up to dial-up internet, Atkinson quietly picked up one of the rarest road cars on Earth for USD $830,000, The McLaren F1. Only 64 road versions were ever made, and celebrities flocked to them with Lewis Hamilton, Elon Musk and Ralph Lauren all receiving one. Of the 64, chassis no. 61 was Atkinson’s, which was burgundy in colour.
Rowan Atkinson and his Burgundy McLaren F1.
The car was designed and manufactured by McLaren, who at the time were consistent title contenders in Formula 1. They took their race car, and merged the technology into a road worthy car so enthusiasts could get a taste for raw speed. The F1 was light, balanced and performance was front of mind.
The driver sat in the middle of the car, with two passenger seats slightly behind on each side, referring to the central driving positions in Formula 1. It had a powerful BMW V12 engine, helping it become the fastest road car in the world, reaching 386 km/h.
There were also zero driver assists like traction control or stability systems, making it a very technically difficult car to drive, much like the Porsche Carrera GT or Ferrari F40.
Unlike a lot of people who sadly let their million dollar supercars gather dust in climate-controlled garages, Atkinson actually drove his. He clocked up over 60,000 kilometers from school runs and supermarket trips to the occasional high-speed runs when no one was looking. That’s probably how it ended up in a hedge, twice.
The first crash in 1999 was fairly tame. The F1’s nose met the back of another car, with the hood getting damaged. Considering this car was the first to ever feature a carbon fibre body, it wasn’t an option to head to the nearest smash repair shop for a quick fix. An ultra rare car has equally rare parts, meaning he had it sent back to McLaren to fix.
The second time though is where things get a bit nuts. In 2011, on a damp (early supercars are known to not handle particularly well in the wet) British evening, Atkinson lost control of the car before spinning off the road, smashing his multi-million dollar McLaren into a tree and bursting into flames. This causes the care to separate into two pieces, and luckily for Atkinson, he got away with only minor injuries.
This is where the rarity of a car like this is an absolute blessing. Only 64 roadworthy McLaren F1’s were made, meaning they were extremely valuable. By 2011, 19 years after release, they were worth a staggering £6,000,000, meaning they were practically impossible to write off, even with severe damage.
Their high values coupled with McLaren’s availability of special operations for repairs that involved custom made parts, mean that the cost to rebuild the car almost entirely is always less than the F1’s pre-accident value.
Keeping this in mind, Mr Bean wasn’t going to let his beloved car go, and his little accident led to the biggest insurance payout for a car in UK history, over £900,000 (USD $1.4 million).
Every carbon fibre thread and nut and bolt was put back together by the same hands that built it in the first place, completing nearly a full restoration over 2 years.
Fast forward to 2015, and Atkinson decides to part ways with the F1, selling it for around £9 million (USD $12.2 million), an £8.2 million profit. Incredible how a supercar that was crashed twice, with the latter of those crashes nearly a full restoration, still fetches millions more than the buying price.
Atkinson never saw the car as an investment, purely buying it because he loved it, letting it live a proper life on the road. In return, it repaid its owner with a favourable outcome. Who wouldn’t want an extra £7.2 million just for driving one of the coolest and rarest cars in the world for 20 years.