VIN: the James Munroe McLaren F1 chassis 069
History of chassis 069
Chassis 069 was the 60th of 64 McLaren F1 production cars built.
It was one of six examples assembled during the last year of availability (1998) and one of four originally painted Mercedes-Benz Brilliant Silver. The interior was upholstered in black leather with a red driver’s seat insert, a dark grey alcantara dash and black carpet.
069 was registered R533 OGF and delivered to its first owner on February 29th 1998.
The purchaser was British accountant, James Munroe, of Wokingham, Berkshire.
Munroe worked for US publisher, McGraw-Hill. At the time he was paid an annual salary of £51,000 and his employers knew nothing of his rapidly growing motor car collection. He told anyone inquiring about the source of his wealth that he had sold a media company to McGraw-Hill and, as part of the deal, had to work with them as a consultant for a period of years.
In addition to the McLaren, Munroe also owned a number of Ferraris, one of which (an F355) he had started to race in the 1997 Pirelli Maranello Challenge.
For the 1999 season, Munroe wanted to move up to the British GT Championship. He purchased the ex-David Morrison / Parabolica Motorsport F1 GTR Long Tail (chassis 27R).
In May 1999, Munroe sent chassis 069 back to McLaren for conversion to High Downforce specification. The High Downforce Kit featured a GTR-style body kit, 18-inch GTR wheels and uprated suspension. Munroe also had the colour changed to Carbon Black and had the interior upgraded with latest air-conditioning system, black alcantara LM-style passenger seats and an alcantara steering wheel.
At this stage, the car had covered just 764 miles.
Unfortunately for Munroe, his web of tales was about to catch up with him. While holidaying in Spain during July of 1999, Munroe’s race team manager discovered his assets had been frozen by McGraw-Hill’s lawyers. They had discovered Munroe had made 17 unauthorised payments during the previous four years totalling nearly £2.9m.
McGraw-Hill had become suspicious after Munroe appeared in a BBC TV show (The Car’s the Star) in which he discussed what it was like to own and race his expensive McLarens.
The fraud squad of Thames-Valley Police began an investigation and, in September 2000, Munroe was sentenced to five years in jail.
In January 2000, chassis 069 had been sold by McGraw-Hill via McLaren to a US buyer. It was showing 924 miles and the lights had been converted to left-hand drive specification. Soon after the car left McLaren, chassis 069 was fitted with a non-standard exhaust system minus cats and with smaller silencers.
The new owner then exported 069 to the USA but encountered problems with registration; it sat stuck in customs until 2005 before returning to Europe.
In May 2005, the car was entered for Bonhams’ Monaco auction. However, it was withdrawn prior to sale with 1800 miles now on the odometer.
Between 2005 and 2016, chassis 069 was reputedly owned again by the original US buyer as well as a German collector. During this period, it was kept in the UK and sent back to McLaren where it was returned to original specification and the High Downforce Kit removed. The wheels were changed to black.
In April 2016, the car was put up for sale by the McLaren Special Operations Heritage department. It was by this time showing a little under 2800 miles.
Text copyright: Supercar Nostalgia
Photo copyright: McLaren - https://www.mclaren.com
