I think the Harrods gtr is running a fake plate so El Chapo would get the parking tickets.

I’ve already solved the number plate mystery... It’s right behind shmee’s head!

The owner of that McLaren is probably not happy with these videos.

I'm very interested in these elchapo f1 stories

"You wouldn't move a plate from one car to another of the same car... in any normal world", but this is related to a Mexican cartel, not really any normal world

I have a need for El Chapo F1 content. It's the story I didn't know I needed.

Sounds more likely someone knew the original P440 CPJ car was leaving the uk so knew that no one would contest it if they then used that to get a none road legal one on the road.

We need to see ED and Shmee go for a hunt for the f1 in mexico, repo style. It would be hillarious

So the long and short of it is the Harrods car has been rung with the ID from a long missing f1. I bet the current owners of the Harrods F1 are fuming at all the attention currently being brought to this 🤣

I am still hoping that Ed will find El Chapo's F1

Plot twist Ed already purchased the Chapo F1 (plate behind Shmees shoulder) but is waiting for the statute of limitations to end (that and he is saving up 100k to buy a key from MacLaren)

If I could add some knowledge of my own: I understand that, when a car is exported, that registration number is automatically removed from the vehicle and is then able to be purchased and put on another vehicle if you had "associates" at the UK registry office (The DVLA). It's not possible, to my knowledge, to simply pick any series of numbers and letters you please that would make a genuine UK registration number and buy that from the DVLA. Therefore, the only way I can see that this registration number has been assigned to the R06 GTR is either: some strings have been pulled to allow this registration plate to be used again (though this poses the question of why this specific number when any number of private registration numbers could be attached to the vehicle), the registration number is assigned to R06 through an administrative error with the DVLA prior to the full computerization of their records, or the acquisition of the exported car's V5C, removing the plate to be put on retention (As Shmee describes in the video) and having the DVLA assign a "new" registration number to 039 which is then removed upon export. The fact the car is pictured wearing the UK registration plates is no benefit to the search. From the moment the car is logged as exported they are just pieces of plastic. When searching the MOT history on the vehicle online, you will only ever get records of the vehicle that it is assigned to at the time you search. There is no way to search for vehicle information for vehicles that have previously used that registration number and you won't find it online if the vehicle was exported before the modern systems were set up. The only people that might have the information about when and where that car went are the DVLA's historic records (which may have been destroyed by now due to not being needed), the import firm that handled the car in Texas, the US registration department that will have had some notification of the import on the way to Mexico (The DMV?), asking Ron Dennis about details of the sale of 039 or the company that made R06 road legal. The registration number is a "prefix" style plate so the "P" at the beginning of the registration plate denotes a time period for the plate (originally assigned to 039) being registered from 1st of August 1996 to 31st July 1997. The very earliest then that there would be any UK MOT test could be documented is 1st August 1999 (unless the vehicle had had a serious crash requiring a different test but that would've made news and be easier to trace). If the car was exported before a UK MOT was recorded then there will be less evidence of 039 existing in the UK. If it was a crime and I worked for the police then I'd be contacting the DVLA and discussing how/why the P440CPJ plate was reused. That would clarify if R06 has had a previous registration number, if indeed R06 is a legitimate road vehicle or fraud and that 039 was definitely never re-imported to become the same vehicle. One other detail that may be helpful is that the engine number is saved as part of the details of the vehicle so someone with access to the vehicle could compare the number to the digital records and check for a match. If they differ then you have more digging to do. There is a phenomenally slim chance that R06 has a combination of details from R06 and 039 to make it look like one road going vehicle. However, all the vehicle information required is protected heavily and those who release it unlawfully would face huge fines and a criminal record. Well, that comment was quite extensive and protracted.

If you want to find the El Chapo Mclaren just Call Nicolas Cage, he’ll find it in 60 seconds

The guy with the gtr f1, had a good thing going, assuming the "identity" of the street car. Now we need to know what happens to the gtr car too.

*Imagine the Mexican F1 owner showing up in the comments of this video...* 😋

The title should be how to talk for 9 minutes without saying anything

Do you think we will ever find the El Chapo F1?

Man I can’t imagine seeing a F1 GTR on the road, I’d flip.

Never have I been so enthralled by a discussion of the inner workings of a foreign DMV, lol.

So the Harrods Maclaren GTR is moody....reckon you've uncovered a little bit of up market Car Ringing !

Ed, just reveal the F1 in your basement already. We all know you found it.

I love how you have the license plate in the background !! Keep up the good work!

I love the continuation of this story, great video as usual!

The last 2 letters show where the car is registered in this type of number plate. For example In this case it would be PJ which relates to Reading which is near McLaren so makes sense

Something is going on with that extra reg Shmee shows, M505 YRN. The govt checker says it's a yellow F1 but was first registered in August 2020, not late 1994 or early 1995 which is when M reg was active for new cars. That only happens when a car has been originally purchased with a personal plate assigned to it from day 1, the DVLA never generate a number plate for the car at that time. It's only when the personal plate is removed from the car (sold or transferred to another) that an age-related number plate is generated for it. I've done this to two of my cars that I bought from my dad who had put his personal plate on it when he first ordered them. My guess is the new reg number is a car that has had it's personal plate taken off it and there has been an error in inputting the chassis number. Both reg numbers are active on the DVLA database so it's highly likely they are two different cars but for one thing: the MOT database only has one MOT result for M505 YRN. If it had been on a personal plate previously then it would automatically be linked to those previous tests, certainly all of my cars that have had plate changes are. MY hunch is the Harrod's car is on P440 CPJ incorrectly, having assumed the identity for some reason. Now these videos are highlighting the story the owner has now put it on a different, new, registration as a new registration via the SVA system normally used by kit cars and anything that's heavily modified. Normally this would generate a Q plate (not date-specific and a hit to a car's value) but I presume the owner can prove the car was manufactured on X date by Y company so qualifies for a M plate. Either way something is not right with the story!

I love the touch of the F1’s license plate in the background

Every single video of this car is so anticipated even when we don’t know when or if another one will come out again. Thank you for more on this car, I hope you someday come across it first hand and have an opportunity to make a shrewd offer on it and meet him right in the middle ( at your first offer. )

When Ed does find the F1, there better be an hour long episode! Looking forward to it. 😉

Keep this series coming it’s do damn interesting

Love that Ed put the plate in the background of this video!

I don’t know why I’m so invested in this case

The answer to the plate is most likely much more simple than it appears. I would say given similar experiences that the plate P440 CPJ was a plate retained by Mclaren which was used to export the car from the UK and into the US/Mexico for the MRN documents etc. Once the car had arrived in its end destination the car should have been re registered but given its owners that never happened and the plate stayed on the car. Mclaren retained the number plate and V5 registration document and given Mr Clark was former Mclaren Cars Sales acquired the plate/registration from them for 06R in order to avoid a type approval and IVA test issues. This could be why Mclaren gave a high price for a new set of keys for the car to stop it coming to light and that if there is no registration documents the car cant legally be exported from the country.

last time i was this early shmee still had his blue LT

I feel like if UK authorities see this series, they’re going to make the GTR come in for an inspection.

Such an awaited episode Love the channel Keep rocking ❤️❤️❤️

Got my "This can be red" shirt yesterday! Love it!

2:00 “you couldn’t possibly have the same number plate...” Look behind you Shmee... 👀

Ed, we want an interview with the guy who drives the new Koenigsegg around Marietta Georgia please:)

I have been waiting for this story for a long time

Excited for this one!

A video I’ve been waiting for!

Interesting that plate being discussed, was sitting in the background!!! Nice one SHMEE!! 👌

One of the most humble guys in the automotive industry. Well, also one of the knowledgeable guys as well.

Clarkson has El Chapo's Mclaren F1.

This is like when your favourite two shows make a cross over episode. This makes me so happy!!!

My favorite ongoing story. I’m pulling for you!

Nice job of explaining the mystery Shmee!😉👍👍👍👍👍

I live in the UK, and understand the UK registration process reasonably well, and that was a particularly poor description of of the whole process works. The interesting point for me was the slight inference that the Harrods car is displaying a registration plate that perhaps it shouldn't be - but without getting very close and checking the VIN tag of that vehicle it would be hard to prove. A vehicle VIN is tied to a Reg number, and in this case that Reg number appears to still be allocated to the El Chapo car - so how car the Harrods car be legally displaying it?

"It's behind you" something the uk subscribers might get

If you look in the background you’ll know it was Ed this whole time 🤣

So the harrods F1 GTR is a ringer.

I love that SAME numberplate is hanging in background :D

Started this video without realizing it was Shmee .. turned it off immediately!

My theory, original owner sold the car to the drug dealer el chapo, got double the pay and used the extra money to buy another mclaran f1, which is the harrods one, subseqeuntly hiding the purchase and "duplicating the car". By the time everyone realised it was too late and the harrods car had gone through alot of changes.

I'm liking the plate over shmees left shoulder 😂😂

Shmee is one of the all time favorite story teller

Watched it twice and I’m still confused 😂

Im from the uk and a vehicle MOT tester. I still have no idea why these two cars have the same plate. If the vin on the gtr doesn't correspond to the paper work it should have been flagged up and amended by whomever has been testing it

Did anyone else notice the easter egg in the background? (The license plate on the right)

One of the things that the dvla does, for a few reasons, is keep a plate number off any sale lists when not classed as a cherished plate. A cherished plate is what Shmee mentioned being a significant looking number. When I had a car that the last owner had a cherished/personal plate on, when I got the car DVLA assigned the same plate that it had been registered with originally when new. They actually do this so they only need to update one database at a time! The plate will only go back to the system when the vin is reported as scrapped. When the el chapo McLaren left then uk the reg would have been either deregistered and the plate reg number put aside. Because of the law about putting newer plates on older cars to hide age, when you get a car registered they try to give you an age related plate, so there’s a good chance that the records showed that mclaren had that reg number range at the time the race GTR was manufactured and that reg number was available and gave it to McLaren. It was probably a mistake at dvla who assumed it was the same car and the el chapo car just never had the plates taken off in Mexico. The numbers do actually mean something, on that car the P means 2nd half of 96 or 1st half of 97, the 3 digits are the consecutive number starting at 1 and the last 2 letters are the area. It’s worth noting that I would assume McLaren themselves would have registered these cars themselves and DVLA tend to give car companies and dealers a range so the may have had p400-p600 to assign with those 3 digits. This means that even if the gtr was registered in say 2010 but made in 1996 then it would get a plate from 96.

So cool with the plate in the background, and the video shows again that Tim is one of the smartest people in the car business.

We all need to come together and solve this!

This story keeps getting better and better

I love that particular plate, P440 CPJ, hanging on the wall behind Shmee!

Imagine when a video titled I found it is uploaded

I've seen similar instances with cheaper vehicles where they'd share plates on similar vehicles and stay in different countries but its pretty interesting to see on a McLaren.

someone take one for the team and go to Sinaloa

simple way of getting a GTR on the road before you could like today

Love how they have there own plate printed off and in the background of the video

This is an awesome bit of info, but damn you guys are good story tellers. More details yet still no closer to the truth

So basically the Harrods F1 is a ringer 😂😂😂 Also the old number plates in the UK did have area codes, PJ was for Guildford/Surrey which would make sense?

Love the p440 cpj plate Easter egg in the background

The three letters do signify where the registration was issued (the last two actually) & this is how it has always been. PJ signifies Guildford in Surrey. Not always the case for age related registrations issued long after as they use up pre allocated registrations but would hold true for this reg.

Question would be then, how does the Harrods car get an MOT? Part of a MOT check is to make sure that the registration plate and VIN number match up. No match = no MOT and phone call to police about possible stolen car.

Haha nice prop in the back there Ed!

Something not adding up + Shmee = Great content

Interestingly, the log book system is also prone to mistakes - I factory ordered a AMG C63 in 2012, in the cheapest colour - obsidian black, the V5c described the car as "Gold" it was a massive PITA to get it changed because DVLA couldn't get their heads around the difference between correcting what was a clear admin error and recording the car as changing colour from Gold to Black. Luckily, I had taken loads of photos of it on the day it was delivered to me and after I sent those, they finally got the message that the car never was (and hopefully never will be!) Gold in colour.

All I’m hearing is the car that has been driving around in London for 10+ years is illegal

the plate is behind him!!

It’s worth mentioning the Harrods GTR (06R) finished 3rd in the 1995 24 hours of Le Mans. Possibly the most successful race car privately owned and driven on public roads.

Well that certain cleared everything up!

I never thought this day would come

🙏👍Greetings from bali!

As soon as you buy the el chapo car, Netflix is going to come trying to make a docuseries on all this lol

I was waiting for the "Hey guys I'm Shmee" 😂🤣

There is a P440 CPJ number plate in the background of the VINwiki videos.

I love how the same number plate is right behind shmee himself lol

Spotted the plate in the background too lol

I think the word you are looking for is ringer 👍

A connect the dots game involving el cartel de Sinaloa and a UK administration oversight feels like an Extreme sport. (Chuckles) I’m in danger.

I think the answer lies more in the following: If you check Vehicle Enquiry Service (on the UK gov site) P440 CPJ had a new V5 (logbook) issued on September 10th 2020. M505YRN (which has the correct VIN R06 according to the HPI data) was newly registered with the DVLA in August of 2020 with a new V5 issued on the 25th September 2020. So it would appear that the Harrods car had the wrong plate on (i.e. not matching the VIN) and it has now been re-issued with the M505 YRN, which is a standard DVLA issued registration. Why they had the same plate in the first place is a mystery but I wouldn't be surprised if the Harrods car now starts wearing M505 YRN. It could be that the Harrods car had the P440 CPJ as the El Chapo car left the country and it was quite easy back then to get a replacement V5 and use it on the same make and model of car - it would only be a problem if the car got inspected and found to have the wrong VIN, they new it was never coming back so have 'adopted' it ever since as it was an easy way to road register a GTR, and it may be that they have now put R06 through an IVA test to get it registered legitimately since all of this information is coming out regarding the fact it has the wrong plate.

Anyone know why the back plate on uk cars is yellow and the front is white? Always been curious about this.

How it could have happened is that the original owner of F1 P440CPJ bought another McLaren F1, had the plate transferred onto the newer car and then exported the "Old" F1 without having a new plate allocated to it as it had been reported/logged with the DVLA as being exported

The best thing of this video is that the P440 CPJ plate is hiding in the background.

Imagine el chapo turning up at your door for his plate back what do you do???

A wild Shmee has appeared

That P440 CPJ license plate is sitting behind him on the wall... did Ed get an F1?!?!

The only way to find out may be to inform the DVLA of the seeming cloning of a vehicle. The Harrods car has been displaying that plate legally or illegally. MOT runs out on the 7 of April. Who else bets no one will dare put another MOT on it ever again.

PLEASE ED! MORE EL CHAPO F1 VIDEOS!!

I thought Tim said he hadn't driven any Mclarens before and i was like Dude, you own 2.