The first customer car from McLaren.

Team McLaren was started by Bruce McLaren late in 1963. Bruce wanted to race two of his own “Cooper Specials” in the Tasman series planned for Australia and his native New Zealand. The Cooper Special was a modification of the car he was driving for the Cooper Formula One Team at the time. Bruce made the chassis slimmer and lighter and, with the help of Teddy Mayer, acquired Coventry Climax engines to run in them. Bruce McLaren Motor Racing Ltd tested their prototype Cooper Special in September 1963 and entered their first race at Levin, New Zealand on January 4, 1964. In his own country, under his own banner and in his first race, Bruce’s cars came in first and second, quite an achievement. Bruce was extremely encouraged. He had applied his own principles to racing and won.

After a victorious start the decision was made to build the first real McLaren from Bruce’s own designs. In September 1964 the new McLaren-Oldsmobile started testing at Goodwood The Mark 1 was a simple space frame design of round and square tubing with light alloy sheeting riveted and bonded to form a stressed and bonded undertray. The Mark 1 was fitted with an Oldsmobile V8 engine, Cooper wheels, uprights and steering arms, and a 4 speed Hewland gearbox. The new car had its racing debut at Mosport Park that September and was the fastest car on the track until a throttle linkage broke incurring a long pit stop which resulted in Bruce’s third place finish. The Mark 1 was soon setting records on the American circuits and with the success came requests from other drivers who wanted replicas.

In November 1964 the MA went into production as the McLaren Elva Mark 1. Work began immediately on 24 customer M1As in order to have a car on display at the London Racing Car Show in January 1965.

The M1A in the Mathews Collection is the first of the Elva built cars, chassis 20-01, and is the car that premiered at the London Racing Car Show as the first McLaren customer car the world had ever seen. The car was then bought by John Coombs, a Jaguar dealer in England, for Graham Hill to drive. After the L.A. Times Grand Prix in October 1965, John Coombs sold the car to Jerry Entin, a California racer. The M1A’s new owner landed it a part in the movie Spinout, in which Elvis Presley drove the car.

In June 2000, the Mathews’ M1A was invited by Lord March of England to appear in a tribute to Bruce McLaren at the Goodwood Festival of Speed hill. The M1A, along with the Mathews M6A, were shipped over to England and with Harry driving the latter, Lord March had the honor of driving the M1A during the weekend.