The car was designed and manufactured on personal request, a dream project of similar nature is underway; McLaren wanted to let its potential buyers know that they can also ask for project of their own on no objection cost basis.
It took Mclaren two and half years to fulfill the desire of a buyer who was a
friend of company chief Ron Dennis. Even with a friends and family discount, the cost of building such a car between the design, engineering and manufacturing stage easily runs to the millions of dollars, if not well beyond. It is McLaren X-1’s first and only public appearance at The Quail classic car show in California today before it is handed over to its mysterious owner and it's the first time the X-1, a vehicle custom-built by McLaren over two and a half years for a wealthy customer's specifications, has ever been seen in public.
According to McLaren, the company was approached by one of its customers
before the launch of the MP4-12C asking if it would create a bespoke car with a "timeless elegance," one that drew more from vehicles of the '50s and '60s than modern supercars. Over 18 months, McLaren designer Frank Stephenson oversaw dozens of sketches, a full-size foam model, contests among designers and even a "mood book" -- a collection of inspirational images ranging from the Guggenheim Bilbao museum to a black-and-white picture of Audrey Hepburn. Also in the mood book: an eggplant, picked because Mr. or Mrs. X-1 liked the shiny finish.
Actually building the design required another year of work, since every piece of the car had to be tooled from scratch, including headlights, tail lights, exhausts and doors. The silver lines and pop-up spoiler are single pieces of milled aluminum plated with nickel; even the piano-black paint over the carbon-fiber body panels is unique to the car. Another touch specified by the client, and inspired by the Citroën SM -- set on hinges that lift them out of the way for tire changes.
McLaren says it wanted to use the car today to let potential customers know they could order a cost-no-object custom body.
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