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Sultan of Brunei!!
Imagine how crazy a car enthusiast could be: owns a McLaren F1? A Dauer 962? A Mercedes CLK-GTR? These become nothing if compare with the Sultan of Brunei. His collection includes 8 McLaren F1s, 6 Dauer 962 LMs, the only right-hand-drive CLK-GTR in the world, a pair of Jaguar XJR-15, a Porsche 959, 3 Cizeta V16Ts, a Lamborghini Diablo Jota .... and 5,000 other premium cars.
Although living in one of the smallest countries in the world, the Sultan (= King) has been the richest man in the world for many years, even richer than Bill Gate. Himself and his Royal family control Brunei's oil production, which gives him unlimited wealth to fulfill his hobbies, as well as providing free education and health care to his people. Compare to the Indonesia which surround it, the tiny Brunei is lucky to be gifted with the precious natural resource.
Strictly speaking, his majesty is not a die-hard car enthusiast, but his playboy younger brother Prince Jefri and his eldest son Prince Haakem are. They buy and play the supercars like toys, get bored very soon, then buy new ones and store the old ones in any of the 4 huge garages (more like a warehouse in terms of volume) for, perhaps, forever.
Why did they buy so many McLaren and Dauer? Perhaps they like to share with their relatives. Perhaps their wives like to drive them for shopping. Perhaps they want to have a few spare cars when the normally used one is under servicing. Most likely, perhaps because money is nothing to his majesty.
Apart from the aforementioned supercars, the Sultan has many custom-made cars. Ferrari, Rolls-Royce, Aston Martin, AMG etc. specially developed cars for his majesty, because money is no object. For example, you can see a trio of Ferrari 456 GT's variants - a long wheelbase 4-door saloon version, a convertible and even an estate version (what a nonsense !) Yet this is just the least spectacular one. Some concept cars, such as Bentley Java and Pininfarina's Ferrari Mythos show car were exclusively developed into real running machines for the Sultan.
In contrast to the motor show cars, Sultan also has many cars we have never seen and heard, for instance, the Ferrari FX. This is a supercar based on F512M but enclosed with an adventurous-looking body and a button-shift semi-automatic developed by Prodrive, much earlier than the F355 F1. Sultan has 6 such cars. Besides. His collection also includes a 542 hp, twin-turbo Rolls Royce, a Bentley incorporating Range Rover's 4x4 system called Dominator, 6 replicas for the '50s Mercedes 300SL based on today's 500SL but installed with AMG-enhanced 6.0 V8.
The Sultan's interest is also shown in motor racing. He has a private museum displaying all the Formula One championship-winning race cars since 1980, all are real cars bought from the teams. Because of this, Frank Williams was invited to visit the King.
In the past 15 years, the Royal family has been the most important client to many prestige car specialists. Aston, for example, supplied 200-300 cars during these years. Rolls-Royce even regularly supplied 40-50 cars every year. They have mechanics staying there to serve exclusively the Royal family. You can count the cost of all these cars.... well, perhaps "countless" is the most likely answer.
However, the situation has changed since the Asian economy crisis. In 1998, I knew from newspaper that Prince Jefri, who was the Minister of Finance of the country, lost billions of US dollars in his secret investment in stock market. The capital was actually illegally and secretly "borrowed" from the government's reserve, via using his power without the permission of the Sultan. Before this was unveiled, Jefri stole another great sum and escaped from Brunei.
The Sultan was very angry, not only sacked his brother's position, he also commanded to terminate the supercar import, sent all mechanics away and locked the garages. The loss is too great even to the richest man in this planet.
However, as Asian has recovered from the crisis, recently I heard the Sultan is shopping supercars again. Meanwhile, Prince Jefri said he is willing to refund the King as an exchange for his return to Brunei.
Link:
[URL=http://autozine.kyul.net/article/brunei/sultan.htm]Brunei[/URL]
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His Majesty Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mu'izzaddin Waddaulah, the Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam has been listed as the world's richest man for longer than most people can remember. As absolute sovereign of the little Sultanate that neighbours Malaysia, the Sultan pockets around half the profits from the state's oil and gas reserves for himself and his family. It's a personal bounty some analysts say amounts to three quarters of a billion pounds every year.
The garages are like huge warehouses
It's not surprising, therefore, that the Bruneian royals are profligate spenders. But still, no one could be prepared for the sights that await visitors to the multi-billion-pound collection stashed away in the four giant garages and workshop at House Number Five. "The garages are like huge warehouses," says one source, "wall to wall with exotic cars. My jaw hit the ground when I saw them. It can take an hour and a half just to get a certain car out if it's been parked right at the back."
5000 vehicles, all logged onto a central computer system
Around 3000 vehicles reside in the complex, out of a royal collection of 5000 vehicles, all logged onto a central computer system based in the workshop administration centre on the site. If not driven by immediate members of the family, then they are used by the ministers of state, government officials and members of the royal household. But the latest word is that much of the collection is now in mothballs as the Sultan assesses the impact of recent changes in the economic climate.
Rolls-Royce supplied 40 or 50 cars a year to Brunei
"The usual order for anything other than the most unique cars would be for at least six examples, all supplied in different colours," another source claims. Two UK companies have benefited handsomely from the Sultan's munificence: Aston Martin and Rolls-Royce. Aston is believed to have supplied between 200 and 300 cars over a 15-year period, ranging from virtually standard models to customised versions of current cars, such as the Vantage shooting brake and saloon.
Aston has also supplied rolling Vantage chassis to Pininfarina, which has designed and built cars like the AM3 and AM4. Sources estimate the final cost of those machines at 600,000 Pounds, and just two or three of each have been built. Aston also supplied and serviced all the Jaguars on the Brunei fleet after the Coventry-based company refused to send technicians over, bizarrely suggesting the Sultan might like to rely on the local dealer network instead... Rolls-Royce supplied 40 or 50 cars a year to Brunei, mainly for use as government "runabouts". The cars cost up to 450,000 Pounds and have all in recent years featured a special "Sultan spec'" engine. Reliable sources speak of a twin turbocharger set-up and a series of internal mods that deliver a peak torque figure of 712lb ft at 2400rpm and 542bhp at 4500rpm.
Six Ferrari FX models for the Sultan
The Bruneian royals have also spent millions with Italian coachbuilder Pininfarina which, as well as rebodying Aston Martins, has also produced many unique Ferraris. Convertible, coupe and saloon versions of the standard 456 Ferrari (all codenamed Venice) have been produced in limited numbers, mainly for Brunei but also for wealthy customers elsewhere in the world. Pininfarina has also produced at least six Ferrari FX models for the Sultan. Based on 512M running gear, the cars feature manual transmission shifted by a button on the steering wheel, a system developed by Prodrive for its rally cars. It predates Ferrari's own paddle-shift system on the F355 by a couple of years.
The family also owns two fully operational Ferrari Mythos road cars - the Mythos was supposed to be a one-off show concept - but Pininfarina's latest proposal, the Bolide, was turned down.
Under the circumstances, perhaps the Sultan will choose to let the cars rot until Brunei's prospects brighten. And that will be a great time to get into the restoration business...
[URL=http://www.classicdriver.com/uk/magazine/3200.asp?id=10495]Classic Driver[/URL]
1 of the Sultan of Brunei 's F40 and its grey! See the Pic!
[B]I need to have a talk with this guy![/B]
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More Links to Sultan Brunei:
[url]http://www.geocities.com/sul288us/[/url]
[url]http://www.supercars.net/PW?dp=y&login=mini%20magic[/url]
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Woah! That is really insane.
It's nice to see minorities with nice cars for a change. I reckon the Sultan doesn't get pulled over in his country.
I've never seen a grey F-40 before! Amazing... :eek:
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wow i wonder if hed adopt me :D
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Amzing what money can do...i only wish ihad that much.
I wonder if he could adopt me too? Or if hes a genrous man i could very easily get many things id like for only1 mil :D ...Dodge viper,ford GT,house,shares....
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i'd like to be an ambassador in Brunei, i'd get to be driven around in a Rolls or if i'm lucky, drive a Dauer 969LM
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Yeah, what a waste of money.... there's really no reason why someone should, under [i]any[/i] circumstances, have such a heinous amount of money. Especially when people living much in much of Brunei were suffering.
Anyway, that's a lot of really sweet cars. When Ferrari refused to sell him more than one F40, he turned to the black market for the rest of 'em. :p
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[QUOTE=Batmobile_Turbo]i'd like to be an ambassador in Brunei, i'd get to be driven around in a Rolls or if i'm lucky, drive a Dauer 969LM[/QUOTE]
No not really, my dads the ambassador of Brunei to over 4 different countries already but still you only get driven in a black mercedez... none of those fancy cars such as the Rolse- roise and stuff.... :mad:
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Bolide
Does any one have good pictures of the F50 bolide, or the Ferrari Fx? thanx
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[QUOTE=ezekielrage123]Does any one have good pictures of the F50 bolide, or the Ferrari Fx? thanx[/QUOTE]
dont think many bolide pic were taken
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I would kill to see someone break into his garage with a monster truck and totally smash every car he had, and to see the look on his face!
When you think about it, he would probaly just buy them all again :rolleyes:
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[QUOTE=Egg Nog]Yeah, what a waste of money.... there's really no reason why someone should, under [i]any[/i] circumstances, have such a heinous amount of money. Especially when people living much in much of Brunei were suffering (and that's basically everyone not somehow tied in with the oil industry)[/QUOTE]
Right on, Comrade.
General Strike!
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I vote we reinact gone in 60 seconds
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[QUOTE=Egg Nog]Yeah, what a waste of money.... there's really no reason why someone should, under [i]any[/i] circumstances, have such a heinous amount of money. Especially when people living much in much of Brunei were suffering.
Anyway, that's a lot of really sweet cars. When Ferrari refused to sell him more than one F40, he turned to the black market for the rest of 'em. :p[/QUOTE]
His people are better than anyone in the US
After being rocked by a multi-billion-dollar financial scandal involving members of its own royal family, Brunei has finally come to grips with the fact that its oil reserves will start running out in 25 years' time. The Southeast Asian country's people will need to find other ways of maintaining their affluent and pampered lifestyles.
Brunei's citizens don't pay income taxes, there is no interest on housing loans and health care is free. They even have a lavish themepark on the outskirts of the capital where all rides are free of charge, perhaps the only one of its kind in the world. Oil revenues have also helped pay the salaries of some 60 percent of Brunei citizens, who work for the government with high pay, short working hours and perks such as interest-free car loans.
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[QUOTE=JT6speed]His people are better than anyone in the US
[/QUOTE]
Well, their government isn't run by Bush, and that's a definite plus.
However, nobody in Brunei has been allowed to vote in Brunei since the early sixties. Considering the population and the wealth of the country, Brunei could easily maintain the world's highest standard of living. Too bad they're not too close to the top of that list. In fact, Brunei's HDI was only at 31 in 2001.
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maybe i could get in touch with the guy, ask for a few 100K :p
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I make a motion that we set up a bank account and have as many people as we can find deposit $25 each into this account that will be used to start our own car collection. We could then set up a time share thing, and everyone would get a chance to drive amazing cars.
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A) where would we keep them?
B) what country would they be in?
C) half our members cant drive yet
D) even if we get 1000 people in on it its only 25k:p
think about it:D
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[QUOTE=tallguynate]I make a motion that we set up a bank account and have as many people as we can find deposit $25 each into this account that will be used to start our own car collection. We could then set up a time share thing, and everyone would get a chance to drive amazing cars.[/QUOTE]
Not enough money, 25 is just not enough (considering it's 25/monthly), you'll end up with a couple of Civics by the end of many years and with a disney world kind of line of ppl to be able to drive them.
You can always put the money where they pay you interests for it, but still... Either a lot of ppl contributing or a higher monthly payment... much higher.
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i think escort's idea for the ''gone in 60 seconds'' remake is the best ideo ;)
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maybe if we all put like 100k in each over 5 years with 100 people that would make 10 mil, we could buy at least 3 nice supercars with that!!! track racing anyone?:D
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awesome cars :eek:
just look at the ferrari 456 venice i cannot believe my eyes A FERRARI ESTATE!!! :eek: :eek: :eek:
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Here ya go.......
[url]http://www.dkeng.com/frames.php[/url]
Goto Stocklist,
Then General
then fourth down on the left !!!
:D :D :D
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i like the car share idea, tehres one in england, they have ferraris, 911 turbos, and the like, i think its called, umm something 1, if i think of the name ill post it
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no worries of ever becoming bored. EVER!!
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[QUOTE=Blue Supra]maybe if we all put like 100k in each over 5 years with 100 people that would make 10 mil, we could buy at least 3 nice supercars with that!!! track racing anyone?:D[/QUOTE]
Prehaps wecould save up numerous ammounts of money this way and purchase land and make meeting halls and garages :D (i vote canberra...ill alsohavea place to use as a car yard then lol) silly idea buti think its a tad more practical then a time share on cars. :)
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[QUOTE=my porsche]i like the car share idea, tehres one in england, they have ferraris, 911 turbos, and the like, i think its called, umm something 1, if i think of the name ill post it[/QUOTE]
Its called the P1 club. Man, i wish i could join, they have such awesome cars there. take a look at there website its [url]www.p1international.com[/url]
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[QUOTE=Michelotto]Its called the P1 club. Man, i wish i could join, they have such awesome cars there. take a look at there website its [url]www.p1international.com[/url][/QUOTE]
thats it! im gonna join when im older and have 10 restarauants in london.
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Money Well Well Spent Imo
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[QUOTE=my porsche]i like the car share idea, tehres one in england, they have ferraris, 911 turbos, and the like, i think its called, umm something 1, if i think of the name ill post it[/QUOTE]
England isn't Britain , please MP :)
Anyway, Classic Car Club , here's the Edinburgh cars ( with links to the other 'stables' in the UK ) ..... [url]http://www.cccedinburgh.co.uk/Stables.asp[/url]
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the 1996 ferrari fx was built for him!
imagine if ferrari designed and built a car for me
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It still shows some people have way too much money.
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damn that sultan, lol i wonder if he ever goes out of the country into the media spotlight coz ive neva seen a pic
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If i was as rich as this Sultan... i wouldnt spend so much money on so many cars... there are a lot of poor people in the world who could use the money for food.
I'd probably buy 2 supercars... and 1 everyday car, a couple of houses in different countries and the rest? i'll give the money to the people who need them the most... really.
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Sure you won't just try to bribe Lindsey Lohan? ;)
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[QUOTE=F1_Master]Sure you won't just try to bribe Lindsey Lohan? ;)[/QUOTE]
umm yea... i forgot about that! so yea all the things i said PLUS bribing Lindsay to sleep with me... :D :D :D
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I have one car that he does not have.
A 1996 Toyota Corona 2.0l ! :D