YouTuber Tavarish (Freddy Hernandez) is no stranger to turning salvage title exotics into showroom beauties, along with buddies Ed Bolian of VinWiki and Tyler Hoover of Hoovies Garage, since the Car Trek days. But perhaps one of his biggest projects to date has got to be the restoration of the flood-damaged Volcano yellow McLaren P1 hypercar (previously owned by Ernie @lambo9286) that showed up on Copart Auctions, back in 2022. In an Instagram post on Christmas Day that year, Tavarish said that he’d buy the car if it received 40,000 likes. It eventually did, and the rest, as we know, is history. Previously worth $2 million, Freddy acquired the car for $575,000.
Once the P1 landed in the shop, the damage was glaring: salt-laced water, shattered glass, corroded wiring, and a mold‑infested frunk. The doors and hood still opened, but the electronic systems were fried, and the hybrid battery was dead, clocking a rebuild budget in the mid‑six figures.
For those who’ve been following the build so far, the team recently managed to drop an engine that is significantly more powerful than the original and were even successful in cranking it. It is a reworked M840T McLaren unit, with 1,400 horsepower. For reference, the stock setup with its twin-turbo V8 and electric motor put out 903 horsepower.
But in a recent twist to the story, Frank Stephenson, who was the former design director of McLaren Automotive and Lead designer of the P1, has decided to get involved. Stephenson, of course, is one of the most significant figures in the world of automotive design, having penned everything from the humble modern-day Mini and original BMW X5, to more extreme supercars and hypercars like the Ferrari F430, McLaren MP4-12C and the Maserati MC12.
Besides his private practice, Stephenson also runs his own YouTube channel, where he lends his thoughts on the latest industry trends, critiques the styling of everything from classics to the latest supercars, and inspires the next generation of designers. It also serves as an outlet where he can let his imagination run wild in the digital world. A perfect example of this is when he sketched out one of his most radical creations ever. Dubbed ‘Frankenstein’, it is a culmination of some of his best works in a single hypercar, designed for GTA V.
Tavarish’s McLaren P1 presents Frank with the opportunity to bring such incredible imagination to life. As someone who led the design of the original, there is no one better to envision what an even more extreme version of the P1 could look like. The plan is to create the McLaren P1 EVO, or as Tavrish puts it, the fastest McLaren in the world. Not fastest P1, fastest McLaren ever!! Which means it’ll have to be faster than the McLaren Speedtail’s 250 mph. The top speed of the stock P1 is rated at 217 mph.
Based on the three digital renderings that Frank and his team have come up with so far, they’re certainly on the right path. All three designs follow a long-tail LT-style rear end, ideal for those high-speed runs. Within McLaren’s own stable, we’ve seen LT variants on the F1 GTR, the 675, and the Speedtail. From wild wings, including a never-before-seen Delta Wing and a unique variant that doesn’t feature a wing at all (opting for a Le Mans prototype fin), to reworked front and rear ends, aero-blade wheels, these are certainly some of the most extreme McLaren P1s ever dreamed of. It remains to be seen which design is eventually chosen for the build.
Ironically, when few dared to buy what was the victim of Hurricane Ian that hit Southern Florida in 2022, Freddy took on the risk to save a part of the Holy Trinity lineage. Now, Frank’s involvement has considerably elevated the status and profile of this P1, as a 1-of-1 bespoke creation that seems destined to rewrite history.
Image Source: Frank Stephenson Design, Tavarish