Mansour Ojjeh's legendary McLaren collection goes up for sale — the story behind the man who co-built the brand
Jul 21, 2025
Key Points
- Mansour Ojjeh, the Franco-Saudi businessman who transformed McLaren into an F1 dynasty and luxury brand through $740 million in TAG Heuer sales and a 50% stake in the carmaker, has died at 68.
- His collection of 20 final-production McLarens—all in exclusive burnt orange, all undriven—is being sold by dealer Tom Hartley Jr., representing cars no other customer can replicate.
- Ojjeh's wealth originated from his father's billions brokered through Saudi arms deals, funding McLaren's dominant 1984 F1 season and the development of the McLaren F1 supercar now worth $20 million.
Summary
Mansour Ojjeh, the Franco-Saudi businessman who co-built McLaren into a dominant Formula 1 force and luxury automotive brand, died at 68. His legendary collection of McLaren road cars—approximately 20 vehicles, all in his signature burnt orange and all final production examples of their respective models—is now being offered for sale by dealer Tom Hartley Jr.
Ojjeh's wealth came through his father, Aram Ojjeh, who accumulated billions as an intermediary in Saudi arms deals, brokering weapons, missiles, and infrastructure contracts between the Arab world and Europe. The family established the TAG (Technique d'Avant Garde) holding company in 1977, which gave them access to the Saudi royal family and unrivaled leverage in defense projects. When Aram died in 1991, reportedly worth several billion dollars, he had already sponsored the Williams Formula 1 team and built a sprawling empire that included a cruise liner (the Queen Elizabeth 2) and properties across Paris and Monte Carlo.
Mansour inherited TAG and immediately deepened the family's involvement in motorsport. In 1983, he switched TAG's F1 sponsorship from Williams to McLaren, where team principal Ron Dennis proposed a shareholding in exchange for financing a new turbo engine. Ojjeh funded the development of a Porsche turbo engine badged as TAG. The partnership dominated the 1984 season, with drivers Nikki Lauda and Alain Prost winning 12 of 16 races and securing both the drivers' and constructors' championships.
Ojjeh bought a 50% stake in McLaren's holding company in 1984. He then pushed McLaren to build a road car, which became the McLaren F1 supercar, launched in 1992 and now worth around $20 million. The F1 has become one of the rarest and most coveted cars ever made, owned by figures including Elon Musk and Sam Altman, and displayed in museums.
Ojjeh's influence extended beyond motorsport. He acquired the Swiss watchmaker Heuer and rebranded it as TAG Heuer, which he and his family eventually sold to LVMH for $740 million in 1999. He later launched TAG Aviation and Aeronautics, distributing Bombardier jets to the Middle East and developing luxury airport infrastructure.
The collection now for sale represents an obsessive final chapter. Every car is in delivery condition, never driven. Every vehicle is the last one produced of its model—the final F1, final Senna, final Speed Tail, final GT, final Elva—each bearing a plaque documenting its status. All are finished in burnt orange, a color exclusive to Ojjeh; McLaren does not offer it to other customers. The cars carry Ojjeh's personal logo in place of the McLaren badge, a gesture of the brand's loyalty to the man who helped build it.
The collection originated with a single car. Ojjeh's brother had acquired the last F1 off the production line in burnt orange and planned to sell it. Ojjeh bought it from his brother instead, then built an entire collection around that foundational car and its exclusive color. McLaren CEO Zack Brown described Ojjeh as "a titan of our sport, ultra competitive, determined, passionate, and sporting." His collection stands as a singular monument to that legacy, a set of cars that no one else on earth can replicate.