VIN: Bruce McLaren's unique McLaren M6 GT chassis M6GT-1
History of chassis M6GT-1
M6GT-1 was Bruce McLaren's personal M6 GT. It was built up from the first Trojan-made M12 chassis (M12-60-01).
At the time, the Trojan works in Croydon, run by Peter Agg, constructed all of McLaren's customer cars.
McLaren and Trojan had originally planned to build enough M6 GTs to homologate the car into the Group 4 Sports class for 1969. 25 vehicles would initially be required, but it was hoped as many as 250 M6 GTs might eventually be built.
Unfortunately, McLaren's focus on single seater and Can Am racing meant the M6 GT project got delayed and the plan to go Group 4 racing was abandoned. However, Bruce McLaren had long since harboured an ambition to build the ultimate road car of its day and neither he nor Trojan were deterred by the lack of a competition programme.
Chassis M6GT-1 was completed in early 1970. It first broke cover at a reception held by Barry Newman who was the sponsor for Howden Ganley’s McLaren M10B Formula 5000 campaign. Newman was a friend and close neighbour of Bruce McLaren.
By this time, a solitary competition version of the M6 GT had already been delivered to David Prophet (chassis M6GT-2-R). Prophet received his car in late April of 1969. He raced it several times before converting it to Group 7 M12 trim that September.
Chassis M6GT-1 was built with several unique features to include manually retractable headlights and a fully upholstered cockpit. It was fitted with a tuned 370bhp Chevrolet V8 engine and five-speed ZF transaxle. As M6GT-1 was intended for road use, the suspension was softened up and a thicker, higher quality fibreglass body was fitted.
Bruce McLaren had chassis M6GT-1 painted red and the interior trimmed in black. Upon completion, it was registered OBH 500H.
Over the next few months, Bruce McLaren used the car for his daily commute and to attend race meetings.
Unfortunately, the M6 GT programme was effectively shut down after Bruce Mclaren was killed testing the new M8D Group 7 car at Goodwood in June 1970. The M8D’s rear bodywork came adrift at high speed and the car ploughed into a bank at the side of the circuit.
Following Bruce McLaren’s untimely death, M6GT-1 was sold to Phil Kerr and Denny Hulme. Kerr and Hulme had the car exported to New Zealand where it was displayed at the Museum of Transportation and Technology in Auckland.
In 1990, M6GT-1 was sold to an American custodian and a few years later it was purchased by McLaren collector, Harry Mathews.
In January 2006, Harry Mathews sold M6GT-1 to Fred Phillips in Calgary, by which time it had still only covered around 2000 miles. Phillips has since sold the car to a collector in Chicago.
Text copyright: Supercar Nostalgia
Photo copyright: McLaren - https://www.mclaren.com
