Being different at a cost, but what cost? That’s the question you have to ask yourself to own something like the McLaren GT Verdant Theme by MSO. We’ll be quoting a lot from the press release so bear with this. All McLarens are unique, but now there are “bespoke” options for those willing to pay for them. Options like the unique paint job and cashmere interior found in the McLaren Verdant. 

We’ll start with the paint job. It blends a number of green colors that tie into the sculptured body lines. It’s also a satin finish. And, it’s a tri-color paint which means there’s a base color, then a color tint over that, and finally clear. It gives off a rich, deep effect even with the satin finish. So far, so good. 

The McLaren Verdant “revels in a feeling of the verdant landscapes…”

McLaren notes that Verdant means “green with grass or other rich vegetation” or “of the bright green color of lush grass.” It explains why verdant is significant for this exercise. “The Verdant GT revels in a feeling of the verdant landscapes and fresh horizons that the GT has been designed to explore.” 

To get all of this “feel” into the paint the painters blended Horsell Green, Arbor Green, and Steppe Green. These are the “bespoke” colors blended together. McLaren needs to dramatize this as much as possible before it spells out the most interesting aspect of this exercise. It says the paint job took 430 hours to create.

So the fancy paint took 11 weeks? I don’t think so…

Folks, that’s just shy of 11 weeks. 11 WEEKS. And we’re assuming there were at least two to three people working on it at any given time. Whoa! For the fun of it let’s break that down. Let’s say the shop rate was $75 an hour. And let’s also say there were three people working on the McLaren. Three people for 11 weeks comes to just shy of $100,000. 

In Southern California, some shops are charging between $100 and $125 an hour for custom work. So we’re trying to be conservative on the pricing. And there may not have been three people working on the car continuously. Maybe two one day and three the next. So it’s hard to be really accurate. But you get the drift? 

Auto painters have to blend paint every day-especially if they are matching panels due to a repair. So blending paint is a common thing. In the case of the McLaren, three greens were blended together to highlight surfaces and sculptured breaks in the body surfaces.

The McLaren Verdant seems both excessive and exaggerated

It just seems so excessive. Or maybe I meant exaggerated. It seems ridiculous, really. The paint didn’t take over 400 hours to do unless the body needed a couple of week’s worth of prep due to falling off of a transporter so something equally destructive. Fitting panels and getting body gaps nice takes time. 

But this is a new car, so the McLaren painters started with something fresh that was built in a jig. That means panels fit nice and gaps should be good. So all there is left to do is primer the body, sweeten up a few panels, and start laying down the finish color. With two or three people on it that might have taken a week. Then lay down some clear, color sand it, and rub it all out. So maybe another week or two. That’s at most four weeks. Not 11 weeks.

Even the brake calipers are green

Beyond the paint, the body and front splitter got Napier Green pinstripes. The brake calipers are Napier Green as well, and the MSO Black was shot onto the wheels, upper window surround, and exhaust tips.

Of course, there is more exclusive excess to feature. Like the charcoal gray cashmere inside. It covers the center console, door inserts, lower dashboard, sun visors, head restraints, and the backs of the seats. What’s left got Dark Green, Laurel Green, or Jet Black leather. It was piped in Laurel Green for some contrast.

So there you have it. The saga of the McLaren GT Verdan Theme By MSO.