The Pebble Beach Automotive Week, also known as the Concours d’Elegance, is an event chalk-full of highbrow theatrics, classic cars, and lots and lots of money. In 2012, Gooding & Company, the official action house of the event, sold $113.7 million worth of automobiles in just two days.
For performance enthusiasts, however, the biggest attractions are often those that aren’t for sale.
McLaren Special Operations (MSO) is returning to Pebble Beach this year with two custom supercars, a one-off MSO 650S Spider and bespoke P1. Sorry, Forbes listers, these two beauties are already spoken for.
The MSO 650S Spider debuted at the Goodwood Festival of Speed earlier this year, and a collaboration between McLaren Newport Beach and McLaren Automotive Design Director Frank Stephenson have taken an already-rare supercar gem and made it even more unique.
It wears a special Cerulean Blue paint job and mute, eggshell-finished carbon fiber accents around the exterior. Ten spoke alloys give the twin-turbo, 3.8-liter V8’s 641 ponies a route to the pavement, and sparkly exhaust piping adorns the cars rear.
- 1. McLaren 650S Spider
- 2. McLaren P1
Top-shelf materials have made their way inside the Spider’s cabin as well, with color-matched blue stitching highlighting black leather. Satin carbon fiber is everywhere inside MSO’s 650S, with dedication plaques, inserts, and sill paneling all featuring the rigid material.
The bespoke P1 was commissioned by an unnamed American customer who has a flair for the dramatic. The engine bay is wrapped in a 24-carat gold (actually a reference to McLaren’s racing past), and bright orange paint has been slathered on the brake calipers, signal lights, emblems, and spoiler risers.
Inside, satin nickel air vents keep the driver cool, and carbon fiber racing seats (with accompanying four-point harnesses) keep the occupants from losing it.
Mechanically, these cars are largely unchanged, but why mess with perfection. These aren’t exactly Honda Civics we’re talking about here.
McLaren’s MSO division debuted at the Pebble Beach Automotive Week in 2011.
(Images courtesy of McLaren)
