The McLaren Speedtail XP2 prototype has inspired the design of a one-off electric guitar. Made by David Gordon Guitars in Miami, Florida, the instrument, which was on display at the 2023 National Association of Music Merchants show, incorporates several of the hypercar’s styling touches into its design.
The sleek guitar body is made from lightweight alder wood, paired with a master-grade flamed maple neck, a lower horn milled from aircraft-grade aluminum, and an ebony fretboard. The XP2’s Saragon Quartz exterior paint influenced the guitar’s finish. David Gordon, luthier and owner of David Gordon Guitars, said the supercar “was the perfect muse.”
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The back of the headstock features carbon-fiber laminate, matching the car’s satin carbon door sills. Gordon also used carbon fiber for the backplate, with leather detailing the guitar’s internal wiring cavities. It has laser-etched pickup covers and additional red accents celebrating the XP2’s Oxblood Red interior.
McLaren introduced the Speedtail in October 2018, billing it as the company’s first “Hyper-GT.” The aerodynamic exterior allows it to reach a 250-mile-per-hour top speed, with its cabin featuring a three-seat layout with the driver positioned in the car’s center.
It has a powertrain that pairs a twin-turbocharged 4.0-liter V8 engine with a parallel eMotor hybrid system. The combined output is 1,035 horsepower and 848 pound-feet of torque. The car can sprint to 62 mph in 3.0 seconds and stop from that speed in 105 feet. It can hit 124 mph in 6.6 seconds and 186 mph in 13 flat.
The Speedtail XP2 prototype, which hit its top speed more than 30 times on the Space Shuttle runway at the Johnny Bohmer Proving Grounds, played a crucial role in the model’s validation process. McLaren finished the prototype’s cabin with full aniline leather and aniline nubuck in Oxblood Red, contrasting carbon-fiber interior elements, and brushed and polished machined aluminum trim.
McLaren limited Speedtail production to just 106 examples, all claimed before the car broke cover. Deliveries for the hand-built, seven-figure hypercar began in 2020. The car isn’t technically legal to drive on US roads, but an exemption allows non-compliant vehicles to drive up to 2,500 miles a year under a special show or display status.
