McLaren Special Operations (MSO), the bespoke division of McLaren Automotive, has delved deep into the company’s heritage to create a unique colour with a family story attached.
“Muriwai” refers to different episodes of the McLaren story – it is the name of the New Zealand costal community where McLaren founder Bruce McLaren won his first motor race; it is also the name he gave to his family house in Surrey, England and it is now the name of a new special paint colour in the MSO catalogue for the recently launched 570S Spider.
Inspired by the whitewashed walls, deep blue doors and shutters of the handsome McLaren homestead, Muriwai White paint is white with blue flecks. The colour was developed by McLaren Special Operations together with its paint partner AkzoNobel and Amanda McLaren, Bruce’s only child and a brand ambassador for McLaren Automotive.
Amanda returned to her childhood home in the first 570S Spider to be finished in Muriwai White, recalling the importance of the house that shared the same name.
Bruce and his wife Patty settled in Surrey after he won a racing scholarship which brought him from New Zealand to Great Britain in 1958. With Bruce McLaren Racing established, Amanda was born, and after renting modest accommodation in nearby Surbiton and Weybridge, the family built their dream home in Walton-on-Thames into which they moved in 1967.
McLaren Special Operations can create any colour a client wishes. Muriwai White is a particularly special shade given the family story behind it.
“I’m sure my parents would have loved this ‘Muriwai’ colour, and they would be so proud of the 570S Spider and the other McLaren road cars, as that is where my father saw the future of the company,” said Amanda.
“The M12GT was his vision of the roadgoing supercar and the DNA of that 1969 car is evident in all of McLaren Automotive’s products. To compare photos of the M12GT outside our old house with the 570S Spider today is a rather lovely circle to behold.”
Check out a bespoke McLaren 720S with a unique fuchsia paint finish.
Read about the six MSO 570GTs painted in McLaren’s historic ‘XP Green’.
