McLaren M6A, a racing car, was developed by Bruce McLaren along with his racing team for the entry into the Can-Am season, 1967. It came primarily as the replacement for the M1Bs and interestingly helped win them their first championship amongst many at Can-Am. The M6A was replaced by M8A during the 1968 season and in the meantime McLaren and Trojan came together to build the M6B.
The name M6 was used later in developing sports car for the 24 Hours of Le Mans and was called the M6GT. However, the company failed to qualify for FIA’s Group four regulations. Only a very few M6GT were completed. Later, the M6GT were transformed into road cars and one of them was used by Bruce McLaren for his personal transport.
Bruce gathered a number of designers during 1967’s off season in order to build the McLaren M6A. People like Gordon Coppuck, Robin Herd, Don Beresford and Tyler Alexander joined Bruce in working on the car. This car boasts of the 1st monocoque chassis ever constructed by McLaren and the body was specially designed to create more force which is best suited for the Can-Am circuits. The most significant change was the replacement of Firestone by Goodyear as the tire supplier.
The spring of 1967 saw the first McLaren completed and tested at the Goodwood circuit. It was extensively tested before being shipped off to North America for preparing for the race. The final addition was an orange paint. The orange color later became symbolic of McLaren.
