Notably, he once parked this million-dollar car on the street for 3 weeks.

Before becoming CEO of Tesla, the world’s most valuable automaker, Elon Musk was a software developer who successfully sold his first company, Zip2, to tech giant Compaq for more than $300 million in February 1999.

This deal helped Elon Musk earn $ 22 million. In particular, he immediately used $ 1 million to buy the first supercar – McLaren F1. The decision of the young entrepreneur was quite famous at that time.

Do not hesitate to spend $ 1 million to buy a supercar

“19 years ago, when my first company was acquired, I had to decide between buying a house in Palo Alto or a McLaren F1 (the best car ever). I bought F1 and a small apartment much cheaper than a car,” Elon Musk wrote on his personal page in 2018.

In early 2021, CNN news agency published a short video showing Elon Musk excitedly receiving the car and testing the car. In the video, the businessman born in 1971 calls it a “million-dollar supercar.”

He also emphasized that there are only 62 such McLarens in the world and he is the owner of one of the rare supercars.

Image of billionaire Elon Musk in 1999 receiving a call to prepare to receive a McLaren F1 supercar. Photo: CNN.

McLaren F1 production began in 1992 and ended in 1998. In fact, a total of 106 cars were produced, with several variations in design.

Of the 100 cars, 64 were F1 road cars, 5 were F1 LM versions built to commemorate victory at Le Mans in 1995. 3 are F1 GT road versions of the 1997 long-tailed F1 GTR race car. The remaining 28 are F1 GTR race cars built for private customers competing in the FIA GT and 24 Heures du Mans series.

The supercar is equipped with a naturally aspirated V12 engine, producing 618 horsepower. The McLaren F1 can accelerate from 0-100 km/h in just 3.2 seconds and remains one of the fastest production cars ever produced. To this day, McLaren F1 is still considered one of the coolest supercars that ever existed.

“Just 3 years ago, I was taking a shower in New York City and sleeping on the floor of my office. And now, obviously, I have a million-dollar car and quite a lot of amenities,” Musk told CNN in 1999, feeling excited mixed with emotion.

In his first year of owning an F1 car, Elon Musk traveled 17,702 kilometers on the odometer. He uses supercars as his primary means of transportation, driving from Los Angeles to San Francisco. At one point, Elon Musk left his F1 parked on the street in Palo Alto (California) for three weeks.

McLaren F1 is considered by many to be the greatest supercar of the 1990s. Photo: RM Sotheby’s.

Unexpected accident

But all that good ended after the 2000 accident.

One afternoon, Elon Musk was driving with entrepreneur Peter Thiel to meet investors to win some venture capital for his fledgling PayPal company.

On the way, Peter Thiel turned to ask what this car could do. Elon Musk has pressed the gas to show off the acceleration of the F1 car.

The owner of the F1 admits he “really doesn’t know how to drive” this supercar. He was unable to run on the traction control system. The extreme acceleration force caused the rear wheels to eject from the car. The rest of the F1 flew through the air into an embankment.

Thankfully, neither Elon Musk nor Peter Thiel were injured. After reporting the accident, the two businessmen hitchhiked the rest of the way to the meeting.

Elon Musk has confirmed that the car is uninsured. Therefore, he paid out of his own pocket to pay for repairs. He kept the car until 2007 and sold it for a profit.

Elon Musk’s destroyed F1. Photo: Beijing Satellite TV.

The value of the supercar today

Why did Elon Musk break up his favorite supercar so soon?

When he founded Tesla, he considered it a matter of brand image for the CEO of an electric car company to drive the pinnacle of internal combustion engineering. At the same time, he desperately needed some cash to help Tesla Motors and SpaceX survive.

It is unknown who the current owner of McLaren F1 is. But according to Supercar Blondie, the car caught fire in 2009 and was sent to McLaren’s Special Operations Team to “smash and rebuild” completely. If launched on the market today, this car will be worth about 20-25 million USD.

American automotive lifestyle company Hagerty once pointed out that a 1998 McLaren F1 can be sold for from 14.8 million USD in “Medium” condition, which can be up to 22.6 million USD. Photo: RM Sotheby’s.

Ironically, Tesla has created two electric models — the Tesla Model S and Model X — with performance variants that can beat McLaren’s 0-100 km/h acceleration times.

“McLaren is a great car,” billionaire Elon Musk said in a 2013 interview with Wheels magazine. “It’s a work of art, it’s a really beautiful piece of technique. But I didn’t want people to always write that I had a high-performance gasoline sports car, so I decided to sell.”