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| Exotics and Caffeine at McLaren Charlotte. Wow! Author in appropriate McLaren hat, celebrating their F1 Constructors Championship. |
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| SPOILER ALERT! I mean, what's more special than a plain old Porsche 911? A Porsche 911 with extra go-fast parts from Manthey Racing! |
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| On display in a glass walled room, one of 1,270 Porsche Carrera GTs. Recent auction prices, let's say $1,400,000. Think that's a lot of money for a used car? Keep reading! |
I started at the Stuttgart Saturday at Hendrick Porsche, complete with a Porsche hat on my American head, and just to cover all the bases, of course the Porsche company is based in Stuttgart Germany. When I was lucky enough to get stationed in Germany, I'm sure I drove through Stuttgart, but didn't really visit anyplace there. My Army band had a big gig there in a several nights long marching band show, but I did not attend that one due to a surgery in the family. With one show per night, we had scheduled some free time events for the band members in town, and I honestly don't remember if they went to Porsche or Mercedes. Oh well.
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| Still under covers, a brand new 2025 Porsche 718 Spyder. Already sold, I'm sure it was custom ordered by a customer that is about is about to go very fast! Let's say 493HP fast. |
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| My personal favorite, and way under a million dollars, here's a brand new 2025 Porsche Cayman GT4 RS. Sure, it's still sticker priced at $220,000 or so, but it has the engine from a 911 GT3 in it, and makes a perfect present if you're still shopping for me! Again, already sold to a customer that was lucky enough to get an allocation and order it. |
Several highlights at Hendrick Porsche involved Porsche cars of course, but there were also some other cool cars to see. Two brand new Ferrari 296s were parked outside, as well as a classic Morgan and a Ferrari 360. There were plenty of 911s of various types, including the higher performance GT3 models, but the coolest and rarest of all was a Carrera GT. They typically sell for over a million bucks, so I could understand that this one was on display in a glass walled room, with signs that said "do not enter."
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| A classic "whale tale" 911 outdoors. |
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| 1st Edition Lotus Emira. They just came to the USA this year in 2024. You can buy one at Lamborghini of Charlotte just up the road. |
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| Ferrari 360 attended the Stuttgart Saturday. There is a Ferrari owners group in Charlotte, the Charlotte Area Ferrari Enthusiasts (CAFE.) |
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| A classic Morgan! Oh, they still make them like this too! |
A couple of brand-new cars that had sold, or more likely been custom ordered by customers, were a 2025 718 Spyder still in the shipping protective cover, and a 2025 Cayman GT4 RS. With a sticker price of $220,000, it's a bit fancier, newer, and way faster than my 2009 Cayman. This version of the GT4 RS is the first time they have ever put a 911 GT3 engine in a Cayman, so I've got one one on my Christmas list if you're shopping!
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| Don't worry, I really am at the McLaren event, but they also sell Rolls Royce! And they had a LOT of Rolls Royce cars for sale! Here's a row of the Rolls Cullinan, their SUV. They start at about $400,000. That's each, not the entire row here. |
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| Papaya colored cars, must be McLaren! Again, they have a LOT of cars in stock. |
Over at McLaren of Charlotte, there was a HUGE crowd of people. Now, they probably usually don't get a lot of customers since they specialize in brands like McLaren, Rolls Royce, and Koenigsegg, so when they host an event like this, tons of car fans turn out. So many in fact that I couldn't hardly get near the place, and that's after braving the ridiculous traffic around a Costco store! This was the first type of event like this that I've known about, so maybe they do it more often, maybe not, but it was a sure fire hit that I didn't want to miss.
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| Mansory. What's up with that name on a Rolls Royce? Glad you asked! |
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| The Mansory folks in Germany specialize in taking your every day Bb fancy car (like a Rolls Royce) and then they make it fancier! I looked at their website, and can only summarize what they do. Need your luxury SUV armored? Give them a call! Here's the link! MANSORY |
There were a LOT of new McLaren Arturas on the lot, some GTs, some used cars, and a boat load of new Rolls Royce cars, both the regular cars and the Rolls Royce Cullinan, their SUV. I mean come on, about 15 shiny new Cullinans sitting on the lot, outside? I know Charlotte is home to an NFL team, an NBA team, and the world HQ of Band of America, but holy smokes that's a LOT of high-end cars.
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| Just a Ford GT |
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| One of many Lamborghinis |
The most amazing car was sitting outside, front and center, behind some barriers of course. This was a 2021 Koenigsegg Regera. For starters, they only made 80 of these speed demons, and the sales price started at $1,900,000 when new. That's MILLION with an "M." I'd guess it costs more than that now!
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| The Koenigsegg Regera has 1500 total horsepower. Not 150, but 1,500! |
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| Regera front and center! It's got 919 miles on it, so maybe you can talk them down in price! |
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| The Regera is for sale. Contact McLaren Charlotte. Top speed 249MPH. I know there's a test track in Germany where you can go that fast. Have fun if you do! |
The McLaren folks put on a great event, again with free coffee, some raffles for charity, some puppy dogs that I think were plugging a fund raiser of some sort, some free energy drinks, a souvenir area that was selling McLaren F1 team shirts and hats, and a place to have your photo taken with Santa! But wait, there's more!
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| McLaren Elva in green or white? These have 804HP! Started at $1,695,000. Each. |
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| McLaren Elva This one is for sale, contact McLaren Charlotte! ELVA FOR SALE |
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| Elva rear view The standard version had no windshield or windows, but you could get a windshield if you want! |
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| You only live once, go ahead and get the Elva in this green! You won't lose it at Walmart that way. Top speed 203mph. |
INSIDE the dealership there were more cars, and the highlight for me here was not one, but TWO McLaren Elvas. I'd only seen one in person before, so now I can say I've seen 3 of them. From what I can see on line, that would be 3 out of only 149 built. Hey, I've spotted 2% of them! Only 146 more to see!
If you want to learn more about the Elva, check out Doug DeMuro's video on YouTube:
Or check out Jay Leno's take on the ELVA, with great info from the McLaren guy that designed it!
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