McLaren’s P1 hypercar was the lightning bolt that turned the fortunes of McLaren Automotive. Production sold out within a few months of its October 2013 offering regardless of its daunting retail price. The recipe was brilliant, the same pursued by the LaFerrari and Porsche 918 Spyder: a hybrid gas-electric powertrain placed in an exotic carbon-fiber architecture. In the case of the McLaren, gas engine and electric motor combine to produce just over 900 horsepower in a car that weighs about 3400 pounds. P1, LaFerrari and 918 introduced us to the term “torque fill” relevant to extreme performance hybrid powertrains: the electric motor delivers instant-on torque at launch to “fill in” until the twin-turbo gasoline engine revs high enough to deliver significant torque. This technique adds the weight of batteries and electric motors, but it also delivers an effective powerband of 7000 rpm.

P1 retail price was about $1.3 million but, like almost every other P1, the car Gooding & Company is offering at Amelia Island next month received extensive custom work, such that when completed it was signed not only by the head of design, Frank Stephenson, but by no less than The Boss, Ron Dennis, who took over leadership of McLaren in the 1980s and built a racing dynasty.

Nicknamed “The Professor,” this car has an estimate of $2 million, but is being sold without reserve. Proceeds will endow a department chair at the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, the owner’s alma mater. Founded in 1874, Rose-Hulman has an enrollment of approximately 2,175 undergraduate students. Unlike the top ten engineering schools that offer doctorates and garner massive research funding, Rose-Hulman is focused on undergraduate education. It is currently ranked number one in the U.S. News & World Report national survey among undergraduate engineering schools that do not offer a doctorate.

Supercars and hypercars from the 1980s and on are a developing area of collector interest. P1 is significant in many regards. It arrived when the McLaren Automotive enterprise was in trouble due to a few early stumbles, and turned the tide thanks to both profit and extensive media coverage. It also thrust McLaren immediately into the fray with Ferrari and Porsche, elevating perceptions of the brand. It transferred Formula One technologies directly into a road car. It served as a legitimate successor to the McLaren F1, which is considered by many to still be the greatest supercar ever created even 20+ years on. And P1 arrived at roughly the same time as LaFerrari and the 918 Spyder, making it a pioneer in the field of gas-electric hybrid hypercars.

Get the best of Forbes to your inbox with the latest insights from experts across the globe.