Gallery: the cars of McLaren’s Special Operations division

It’s purple. Well, officially, McLaren calls it a ‘uniquely formulated Mauvine Blue’, but really, it’s purple. Ladies and gentlemen, this is a specially customised, purple McLaren 570S, and it’ll be displayed at this weekend’s Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance.

There’s more. Alongside this purple 570S, there’ll also be a ‘Ventura Orange’ 570S Coupe sat on the Pebble Beach lawn, and the 650S ‘Le Mans’ edition we told you about earlier this year.

It’s a reminder for the world – some kind of automotive, purple, orange and roof-scooped flare – that Woking has a department full of human beings ready to customise your McLaren supercar to the nth degree. 

Remember, McLaren’s ‘Special Operations’ division was launched in 2011 to “provide a bespoke personalization service for McLaren customers”. Which means anything from carbon fibre gearshift paddles, special paint, your own special edition McLaren (remember the one-off, polarising X-1 concept?), the P1 GTR programme or just maintenance for your F1 road car.

With McLaren showing off two new examples of the MSO at Pebble this year, we’ve decided to trawl through its back catalogue of exclusive, limited edition stuff, and we implore you to have a look and cast your opinions below.

Tell us, what would your ultimate, bespoke McLaren look like?

The car that officially kicked off MSO way back in 2011. Too orangey for crows.

Inspired by Audrey Hepburn and an aubergine. No, really.

Fast and Curious: the McLaren X-1

One-off McLaren 12 in orange and black. Nicknamed 'The Jaffa Cake'. By us and no one else.

A 12C Spider with new styling and spec enhancements, this celebrated McLaren's 50th anniversary. Better than a cake.

Bespoke 650S inspired by MSO concept, designed in collaboration with Frank Stephenson

Commissioned by the McLaren Paris retailer, one-off 650S gets contrast pearl white and gloss black finish

It's a P1 in Gulf livery. That is all.

A P1 GT-R liveried in honour of former McLaren racer Alain Prost

650S Coupe gets carbon fibre upgrades and special black paint with metallic red flakes. And, apparently, the ability to turn tarmac to MOLTEN LAVA

One-off 650S Spider. Very blue

One-off McLaren P1. Because, y'know, the normal McLaren P1's just too common, innit?

Special one-off P1 commissioned by David Kyte. Yep, it's blue with red highlights. Discuss

A P1 in 'Darth Maul' spec. We suspect this is not its official designation

Bespoke P1 provides further evidence of Jaffa Cake obsession within MSO

Ah, the lesser-spotted 'inverse Jaffa Cake'

MSO also took a crack at the old Merc-McLaren SLR, too. This one looks a little... wonky, no?

MSO will service and maintain your old McLaren F1. You DO have a McLaren F1, right?