#Shorts Custom McLaren 12C doors up.

It launched in 2011 as a two-door coupe, the MP4-12C. It received a few updates over the years, most of which could be retrofitted to existing cars, and ranged from the power hike to new software for the infamously odd IRIS infotainment system.

In 2012, a Spider version launched, and both cars were renamed ‘12C’, presumably to make pub boasting less of a mouthful. The Spider possesses a folding metal roof, which drops electronically, but means you no longer get a glass engine cover. You might think the trade-off worth it for the extra sensations of driving open-top. We’ve got one of those here, in carbon-draped 50th Anniversary Edition form. Fifty were made of each body style, in 2013, and it shows off lots of the ‘MSO’ extras you can spec on McLarens used and new.

The car continued production until 2014, when it was superseded by the 650S, which in effect was a heavy facelift of the 12C. Before its replacement, though, McLaren added more goodies, including a front-lift system for better clearing the nose over speed bumps, and proper buttons on the doors in place of the showy swiping method that made early cars strangely tricky simply to get in. Over 3,400 12Cs were made, sales split 60/40 in the coupe’s favour.