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A remarkably low-mileage 2021 McLaren Elva is crossing the block this August, and it may be the most thoroughly documented example of the model to come to market. The car is being offered by Broad Arrow Auctions as part of The Quail Auction 2026, scheduled for August 14 in Carmel, California, carrying a pre-sale estimate of $1,750,000 to $2,100,000.
McLaren revived the Elva name in 2019 as a modern tribute to Bruce McLaren's open-cockpit racers of the 1960s, though the result shares little beyond the badge. Slotted in as the most extreme road car in McLaren's Ultimate Series alongside the P1 and Senna, the Elva strips away a windshield and much of the usual creature comfort in favor of unfiltered, top-down speed. Only 149 examples were ever produced.
Power comes from McLaren's twin-turbocharged 4.0-liter V8, tuned here to 804 horsepower and 590 lb-ft of torque and routed through a seven-speed dual-clutch gearbox. McLaren quotes a 2.7-second sprint to 60 mph and a 203 mph top speed, figures that place this windshield-optional speedster among the quickest road cars the British marque has ever built. A carbon fiber tub and body panels help keep weight down, while an Active Air Management System, a first for a production car, channels air around the cabin to soften the buffeting normally associated with open-top driving at speed.
This particular example, chassis number 110, is one of a handful of U.S.-market cars built with the optional windshield, and it shows just 600 miles since leaving McLaren Denver in the fall of 2021. Finished in a hand-painted MSO Bespoke Grey Primer with a gold racing stripe over an Ice White cabin, the car carries roughly $150,000 in personalization through McLaren Special Operations, touching everything from the brake calipers to the exhaust pylons. Service records show annual visits to McLaren Scottsdale dating back to 2023, and the sale includes a clean CARFAX along with its original Bell helmets, goggles, and car cover. Ultra-low-mileage modern exotics like this one tend to draw outsized attention at auction, a trend also visible in this pristine 2024 Nissan GT-R that recently surfaced with delivery-level miles.
Because the Elva is both new and scarce, Hagerty's price guide doesn't yet track it directly, but Hagerty's valuation tools still offer a useful window into how the rest of McLaren's Ultimate Series has held up. Hagerty currently pegs a 2014 P1 in good condition at roughly $1.5 million, up more than 11 percent over the past year, with the strongest examples selling well past $2 million at auction, not far off this Elva's own estimate. That kind of steady appreciation suggests collectors are increasingly treating McLaren's halo cars less like depreciating supercars and more like the blue-chip machinery they were designed to be.
Bidding opens August 14, but with this level of originality and paperwork behind chassis 110, it wouldn't be surprising to see the Elva push toward the top of its range. For more on how today's auction houses are pricing rare and unusual machinery, take a look at this one-off 1953 Cadillac 'Elegante' concept heading to Kruse Auctions, or see how a numbers-matching 1970 Plymouth 'Cuda measures up against Hagerty's own muscle car valuations.