New McLaren Dealer in Auckland, New Zealand

[Paulthagerous]

Was an amazing day. Always good to meet a fellow fanatic.

Will post a few pics tonight once I get home and the rest tomorrow. All up spent about an hour there over 2 goes. Still buzzing

[Sauc3]

Here goes the 049 image dump! All pictures are clickable for a larger view.








And finally, as a bonus, this is a 12,559px X 8702px image, it suffered a few issues in the stitching process but what the hell. It's big.

[carbuilder2002]

I must have been dreaming, but am sure I have seen a picture somewhere of an F1 fitted with an external high mounted brake light on the rear deck as a retrofit because I recall thinking it looked particularly aftermarket and totally out of keeping.

[Paulthagerous]

A couple pics for the night. Will upload the rest tomorrow and give a bit more story with a few (maybe) interesting tidbits,

[lswf1]

Paulthagerous, did you get any further clarification if the cars were indeed leaving Wednesday morning?
I'm trying to get around work commitments to jump on a plane up there too!

[Paulthagerous]

Originally Posted by lswf1

Paulthagerous, did you get any further clarification if the cars were indeed leaving Wednesday morning?
I'm trying to get around work commitments to jump on a plane up there too!

3 different staff said they were leaving 'early Wednesday morning' (one Lexus guy, one Mclaren guy, a Giltrap receptionist). Quite when no one knew but I wouldn't like your chances tomorrow sorry

[Peloton25]

Another set of photos from today here on Flickr by split356:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/2178533...h/11183570543/

Composition on this one is probably my favorite:



>8^)
ER

[Paulthagerous]

So below I have a link to 170ish photos – though around 20 of them are of various other supercars. They may be of interest to others.

So my brother sent me a photo of a pair of F1's around 6pm Monday night. I was in shock. I was aware that the launch was coming, but didn’t think for a second that they would have 049 there. I was thinking that 018 might be there, but not sure. So I was amazed that they both were. My brother is not a big F1 guy (Astons are more his thing), but he knows the F1 and all the models I have of it, so he knew how special they were.

Once he sent the photos I got in touch with him. Decided at that point to fly up on Wednesday and have a look. However, when he said he was told the cars were leaving sometime on Wednesday that made Tuesday the day. Only got 3 hours sleep as I was so excited!

I had never actually seen one before. I think one of my colleagues once posted that I had under my account (thinking he was funny but I don't get it. Not like fraping someone, but that's his sense of humor...). But 2 at a time for the first time would be great lol! Given our little country has 2 of them (a good effort for a tiny place, we have double what Australia does with 1/6th the people, but still no Brunei...) they are quite different. If we still had XP4 it would be a very diverse group indeed

When I got there I was speechless. They were gorgeous. I was like a little kid on Christmas day. We went in and had a look, and took a few photos on our phones (my brother has the better camera). The thing that really struck me were not only how ridiculously tidy and clean they were, as you would expect that, but how beautiful and modern they were. They simply look exquisite. There was even one guy who came in asking if they were the two P1’s on display. For those that have not had the pleasure of seeing one in the flesh, the design really is that amazing that people mistake a 20 year old design for a brand new car. About the only thing that makes 049 look a little more dated is the relatively high profile tyres by today's standards.

After that, we went away and looked at the other supercar dealerships (as I still like others, but the F1’s were the purpose of the trip) and had lunch.

After lunch we headed back and Sauc3 was there. I wasn’t surprised to see him as I knew roughly when he would be there, hence why I decided to do two trips. There was also another guy there who truly appreciated the cars. Was great to chat with both of them and enjoy the experience. I mentioned to the guy who seemed to be in charge that 018 is not an LM, and he assured me it was. I mentioned they made 5, where the 5 were and the distinctive chassis numbers, but he still insisted it was one of the 5 ....
He did also say that if I gave him 12 (million) I could have 018. Not sure if just showing off the value or it is genuinely for sale. I suspect the former. Still, that would work out to $9.9 million USD which for a special car like 018 sounds about right.

They then decided to cover up all the cars, which was the end of the viewing opportunities. But it was so worth it. Spent about an hour all up with the F1’s. What a day!

Anyway, below is a link to the gallery of photos (would blow the forum out if I put thumbnails in for all of them). And a couple videos for good measure. The quality of the videos as uploaded to Youtube was actually terrible for some reason (it rescaled to 144p, source footage was in 1080p. Can’t figure out why). Therefore I will provide download links to the original files instead. Will try again later to get the videos uploaded properly.

Gallery of photos:
Photo Gallery

Videos (downlod links):
Video Part A
Video Part B

[Sami Aaltonen]

Okey, Paul
Fantastic story. I really really would like to experience same thing than you did, perhaps some day?
Anyway; fantastic you saw those cars, really I can imagine your thoughts and I can believe your every single word about F1's after seen it. To seeing it close and see all the details. Really really good you wroted this.

I still remember the very FIRST time to hear that V12 in Helsinki GT1 race weekend. Some reason the feeling, the sound, the feeling on my back is still there, felt it from the seat...... So I think you will remember this long long time.

Thanks for the story and the images.

[PatrickT82]

Nice! 018 is still my favourite F1. I saw it in germany in 2005 where i was able to pull the wraps off And after the pictures put the wraps back on

[hurstg01]

I appreciate the time spent in both getting to the dealer, taking the pictures, and uploading them

Even more so since I've downloaded them ALL and now my hands are tired from all the right-clicking

[Paulthagerous]

Originally Posted by Sami Aaltonen

Okey, Paul
Fantastic story. I really really would like to experience same thing than you did, perhaps some day?
Anyway; fantastic you saw those cars, really I can imagine your thoughts and I can believe your every single word about F1's after seen it. To seeing it close and see all the details. Really really good you wroted this.

I still remember the very FIRST time to hear that V12 in Helsinki GT1 race weekend. Some reason the feeling, the sound, the feeling on my back is still there, felt it from the seat...... So I think you will remember this long long time.

Thanks for the story and the images.

You have heard one at full revs and seen it move, I have not yet. That is the next thing to try and do, can only imagine the sound in real life!

[Paulthagerous]

Thanks for all the positive feedback guys! I don't pretend to be a good photographer, but hopefully some of the photos turned out all right. Pretty happy with them for a cellphone camera

Anyway, here are youtube links for the videos, they uploaded alright this time:

http://youtu.be/8hGCT8IMhoA
http://youtu.be/RqLT-LCOhAQ

[Speedbird996]

Here's another video, (that's you guys at the start)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A2ppZs-ZrC4

I went back Wednesday lunchtime to see the MP4/4, and #049 had gone, but they did take the barriers away, so I could get a close look at #018.

[Paulthagerous]

Originally Posted by Speedbird996

Here's another video, (that's you guys at the start)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A2ppZs-ZrC4

I went back Wednesday lunchtime to see the MP4/4, and #049 had gone, but they did take the barriers away, so I could get a close look at #018.

I'm not too surprised that 018 stayed put, though I was told both were going.

Glad to see you found our little forum, always room for another F1 fan