UPDATE, 6/9/2015: Jalopnik reports that Atkinson's McLaren F1 has sold for £8 million, or roughly $12.2 million at today's exchange rate. Below, our original post from 1/23/2015, when Atkinson first put the car up for sale.

Rowan Atkinson may best be known to American audiences as Mr. Bean, the hilariously hapless Brit with the musty green Mini. In real life, however, Atkinson is a true gearhead of excellent taste, as evidenced by the burgundy 1997 McLaren F1 he's putting up for sale after having owned it since brand new.

It turns out, however, that a bit of Mr. Bean's clumsy streak shows through in real-life Rowan: The comedian has had not one, but two crack-ups in his beloved F1, a 650-horsepower supercar capable of 240 mph back when Bill Clinton was in office.

No matter: The first was a minor scuff-up. The second was a very serious wreck, from which Atkinson was lucky to emerge unscathed. (We've taken liberties in doctoring the image above—even Mr. Bean couldn't be that gregarious after such an accident)

The aftermath of Rowan Atkinsons second F1 crash, August 2011 Paul Franks Getty Images

Despite the severity of this second accident—where the car spun into a tree and a road sign before landing in the wrong lane and catching fire—McLaren's Special Operations team was able to put it all back together. Indeed, McLaren F1s are essentially impossible to wreck completely, although Atkinson's thoroughly-smashed examplecost more than $1.3 million to set right.

It's hard to poke fun at Atkinson, though. He's a car guy through and through. Just watch his interview with Jeremy Clarkson on Top Gear, where he posted the second-fastest lap on the Star In a Reasonably Priced Car leaderboard.

And check out how lovingly he describes his F1 to The Telegraph's Andrew Frankel:

"Look at a modern supercar of comparable performance and it will be vast, heavy and offer little or no space for your luggage. By comparison the F1 is tiny, yet it will seat three, store enough for you all to go on holiday and still finds space for a proper, normally aspirated 6.1-litre V12 engine. And it weighs the same as a shopping car. Nothing has ever been designed before or since with such imagination and clarity of thought."

Atkinson gets it. And he didn't buy the F1 as an investment car to be ferreted away in a climate-controlled garage:

"The whole point of the car, the thing no one ever writes about, is you don't need to go to the Stelvio Pass or the Nurburgring to enjoy it. It's so quiet, so comfortable that you can use it, and enjoy it, on any journey. Most of the miles I have done it in are journeys you might do in any other car: going to Sainsburys or doing the school run."

Indeed, since Mr. Bean bought the car new in 1997, he's racked up 41,000 miles on it—frankly an astounding number for one of only 64 road-going F1s ever made, a car that cost Atkinson about $750,000 new and has only gone up in value since then. Yes, even despite the double-wrecking.

You really should read the entire Telegraph article, which includes a ride-along on what may have been Atkinson's last drive in the car. Now, the well-used and deeply-loved F1 heads to London luxury sellers Taylor & Crawley, wearing a price tag that comes out to just a kiss under $12 million at today's exchange rate.

Will he miss it? "Oh quite a bit, but I don't use it as much as I used to and the time feels right," Atkinson tells The Telegraph.

This fella's got the right idea.

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