Even with deep pockets, replacing a part on a rare supercar must be a hell of an experience. Having to track down parts, of which there probably aren’t many left or a specialist to do the work can take even more money. That’s what the owners of two McLaren F1s must be going through, as Motor1 reports that two out of the three F1s present at the 2023 Velocity Invitational had cracked windshields.
Seeing as I was actually at Velocity this year, I encountered these cars and snapped a pic of one of the F1s that had a crack, as you can see above. Before this, I had initially encountered all three of them parked together: one red, one blue and one silver. Suddenly, the next day, the blue one was gone, and now I know why – it had a huge crack in the windshield, too. A video posted to Instagram from the Velocity paddock where the F1 was parked shows the damage to the two cars, and it’s pretty bad.
A source who also happens to be familiar with F1 replacement costs told Motor1 just how stroke-inducing the cost of replacing the windshield is:
A source familiar with McLaren F1 replacement costs confirmed to Motor1 the price for the glass itself is $25,000, plus another $8,000 to cover installation fees. That means the damage in the video above equates to about $66,000 worth of damage. Just for a couple of windshield cracks.
It’s not all doom, though, as the owners will actually be able to find their windshields. Apparently, there are still some original windshields lying around the F1’s factory in Europe, so it’s just a matter of sending off for the part:
Another source familiar with F1 parts told Motor1 there are still a small handful of original replacement windshields sitting in storage at McLaren’s headquarters in the United Kingdom, so it’s not like these owners will have to shell out to have new pieces made. In fact, this source tells us McLaren Special Operations is planning to engineer and commission new windshields for the F1, so owners won’t be out of luck once the supply runs out in the future.
The source also said that McLaren Special Operation is manufacturing other parts for the F1 so owners won’t have trouble replacing aging and hard-to-find components. While having factory support for a 30-plus-year-old supercar is great, you still have to be stinking rich to afford the upkeep.