Recently a leak on the net brought out the incredible car collection of the family of the 29th Sultan of Brunei, a kingdom in Southeast Asia, a collection of more than 7,000 cars whose total value is estimated at 5 billion US dollars. If the palace parking lot can only hold 110 spaces, the main garage from which the photos were taken can hold 3,000 spaces.
Photos taken in the 2000s. The collection is generally attributed to Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah, who has presided over the country since 1967, but most of it was actually built up by his playboy brother, Prince Jefri. Taking advantage of the revenues from Brunei's natural gas and oil reserves, the two men ordered high-end machines by the dozens.
This lot is made up of personalized and unique cars, we have selected the 5 most incredible in our eyes. Warning, it can sting!
The Sultan of Brunei's Ferrari 456GT with night vision
This is one of two Ferrari 456 GT “Night Vision” models, equipped with infrared cameras for driving at night without headlights. The most notable feature is the rotating roof camera, complemented by cameras on the rear wings and bumper.
The trunk houses advanced technology from military helicopters, powering the system, while four large screens display live camera feeds. So no room for a fuel cell!
The second “Night Vision” model is black and has no roof camera.
The Bugatti EB110SS
Four Bugatti EB110 SS supercars are in his collection. Three of these vehicles are yellow, black and silver, but it is the fourth (chassis 39013) that caught our attention with its configuration, in black, is adorned with red, blue and yellow both outside and inside with a multi-colored transmission tunnel that is reminiscent of VW's Harlequin series.
These bombs are powered by a 3.5-liter V12 engine with four turbochargers, producing 560 hp (or 603 hp in the Super Sport version), mated to a six-speed manual transmission. They accelerate from 0 to 60 mph in just 3.4.
Bentley Dominator
A beast to look at, this Bentley Dominator can surprise. Unconventional as the Prince likes them, this Dominator, whose name alone gives a taste, was produced in the 1990s and can be considered the precursor to the ultra-luxury SUVs that exist today, such as the Rolls-Royce Cullinan and the Bentley Bentayga.
However, it was not designed for the general market.
Instead, Bentley only produced about six units of the Dominator model, all of which were designed for the personal use of the Sultan of Brunei.
Unfortunately, the specifications of this first luxury SUV from Bentley have never been disclosed by anyone, including Bentley itself. seconds, reaching a top speed of 342 km/h.
Bentley Silverstone
Incredible model this Silverstone, it is a total of 8 cars that were bodied for the royal family of Brunei between 1994 and 1995.
They were designed by Hawtal Whiting and built by ASC, American Sunroof Corporation of Detroit.
The cars were built on the Continental R (SZ) chassis and are powered by the Bentley Continental R Sufacon L-Series twin-turbo engine, codenamed Blackpool.
The body is a 3-position coupe, where the Bentley Silverstone can be a full convertible, a Sedança coupe or a coupe.
Ferrari F90
We know the legendary F40 (of which he owns 7) then the iconic F50 (he owns even more), but much less this F90, nothing more normal because this Ferrari F90 was produced by Pininfarina specifically for Prince Jefri, not to be confused with the more modern SF90. A top secret project where 6 F90s were built without Maranello's knowledge, Ferrari learned of its existence with everyone when the information was disclosed in 1988.
A crazy story that makes this car even more extraordinary despite its design at least unconventional for a Ferrari, normal since officially it is not one even if it proudly displays the prancing horse logo. An illegitimate child of Ferrari due to an infidelity of its designer Enrico Fumia head of the R&D department of Pininfarina, but we do not say the Sultan's name. A story told here by its designer.
The name F90 refers to "Ferrari of the 90s".
The F90s use the Testarossa platform but come with completely new body panels in Targa trim and are powered by a 390 hp engine that drives the rear wheels.
Here is what closes our Top 5 of this surprising collection.
However, do not believe that everything is rosy for the prince's cars, in 2011 the Sultan had to part with ... 21 cars from his collection. We sincerely do not think that it is for financial reasons because the Sultan of Brunei has control over all the reserves of his kingdom, so we lean towards the side that he was tired of seeing his collection tainted by cars with zero kilometers on the clock and never driven in an advanced state of rust and electrical and electronic systems that have taken on moisture, some would have stuck engines, seized and unusable without a passage through the box of complete disassembly and refurbishment! The climatic conditions of the kingdom are not favorable to such storage, perhaps it would have been necessary to invest in garages equipped to keep such cars protected from humidity and at optimal temperature as is done in the garages of major car manufacturers.
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