This McLaren Senna was airlifted 57 stories into $27,000,000 apartment to be used as an ornament in ultimate flex

Published on Jan 03, 2026 at 4:08 PM (UTC+4)
by Claire Reid

Last updated on Dec 24, 2025 at 1:46 PM (UTC+4)
Edited by Alex Maxam

A billionaire businessman used a crane to hoist his McLaren Senna GTR to his penthouse apartment so he could use it as an ornament. 

Australian car enthusiast, Adrian Portelli, decided he would quite like the high-end car to be the ‘centerpiece’ of his new home. 

But was, of course, met with a bit of challenge given that the apartment in question is 57 floors in the Sapphire by the Gardens building in Melbourne, Australia.

The solution was simple.

Hire a crane.

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The McLaren Senna GTR is to be the ‘centerpiece’ of the penthouse

Somewhat bizarrely, this isn’t the only time someone has hoisted a McLaren into a penthouse.

This guy in Seattle, in the US, did the same thing.

In Portelli’s case he quite rightly pointed out that the McLaren Senna isn’t road-legal. 

But rather than opt for a conversion like this owner, he decided to use it as an ornament in his apartment. Fair enough. 

“It was sitting in a factory and I can’t drive it on the road,” he told 9 News.

“I decided to have it craned up there instead.

“It’s an art piece.”

But with his apartment being so high up getting it in place was no mean feat. 

For a start, he had to get a crane to hoist the McLaren into the air, which drew plenty of attention from passersby, as you can imagine. 

Not only that but he had to have the wall of the apartment completely deconstructed so the car could get in. 

It wasn’t easy getting it inside

“It was a mission,” he said.

“They had to take out all of the windows, so it might have found its forever home.

“The car is going to sit in the lounge room, it will be the centerpiece.”

Portelli shared a slew of snaps of the unusual installation to his Instagram page, where he said the whole thing had given him a bit of a giggle. 

“When I went to bed last night I just giggled,” he wrote. “Young Portelli would be proud. The one nobody knew 10 years ago.

“If I can motivate and inspire people to want to succeed, my job is done because I understand how hard and lonely it is on the pursuit of success.”

And as far as flashy displays of wealth go this one will be hard to beat, won’t it?

For more, check out this Porsche supercar being craned onto a mansion’s roof during a house party.

With a background in both local and national press in the UK, Claire moved to New Zealand before joining the editorial team at Supercar Blondie in May 2024. As a Senior Content Writer working on New Zealand Standard Time (NZST), Claire was the first writer on the team to make the site’s output a slick 24/7 operation covering the latest in automotive news.