The Sultan of Brunei is one of the richest men in the world thanks to his tiny nation’s oil wealth and dozens of corporate investments. He is also a fanatic car collector and owns one of the largest car collections in the world. The collection is housed in guarded hangars and only a few outsiders are allowed in, so no one knows for sure the exact number of cars owned by the sultan.
What is known for certain, however, is that the Brunei royal family bought up hundreds of supercars and luxury cars for a period in the 1990s, often buying a significant portion of an entire company’s manufacturing output at once. These include some of the rarest and most desirable cars in the world, including several made specifically for the Sultan himself by Ferrari and Bentley. They are so rare that few, grainy photographs are known of them, and in some cases their exact specification is not even known.
10 Ferrari Testarossa F90 Speciale
Via Supercars.net
The Sultan was a big fan of making special edition cars based on the chassis of existing models and that’s how the Testarossa F90 Speciale came to be. The car was based on a regular Testarossa and then extensively rebuilt to suit His Majesty’s exact tastes.
Via Supercars.net
The six existing F90s were all purchased by the Sultan in 1988 and it was eighteen years before Ferrari even officially acknowledged their existence. Eventually the F90s turned out to be fully stock Testarossas including the original car’s 390hp flat-12 engine.
9 Bentley Dominator
About Bentleyspotting
Most people assume that Bentley’s first SUV was the Bentayga, but in fact they made one decades earlier in the form of the Dominator. Six Dominators were built in the 1990s and reportedly sold for $4.6 million, all to the Sultan and his family members.
About Bentleyspotting
Very little is known about the exact specification of each car, but it is believed that Bentley borrowed heavily from the Range Rover of the time. It’s not even known what engine the Dominator had, although it’s thought to be either Land Rover’s 3.9-litre V8 or Bentley’s 6.7-litre V8 under the hood.
8th BMW Nazca M12
About BMW Media
As one of BMW’s most radical concept cars, the Nazca M12 came so close that the company built a successor to the M1. It weighed less than 2,500 pounds and used the same V12 engine as the 850i, which put out around 300 horsepower.
About BMW Media
The original concept car is still owned by BMW, but there is evidence that the Sultan paid coachbuilder Italdesign a huge sum of money to produce a second version for him. Only one photo of the Sultan’s alleged car is available, but if real, it would be the only privately owned M12 in the world.
7 Mercedes-Benz AMG CLK GTR
About RM Sothebys
The CLK GTR needs little introduction as it is known today as one of Mercedes’ crowning achievements. But at the time, the company was struggling to generate enough interest to sell the 26 cars produced.
About RM Sothebys
So it must have been a relief when the Sultan stepped in to buy two of these. He reportedly owns a hardtop and spider version of the car, and unlike many of his purchases, he has been spotted driving his CLK GTR in public.
6 Ferrari F40LM
About DK Engineering
The racing-derived F40 LM is widely regarded as one of the best handling Ferraris ever made, so it’s no surprise that the Sultan owns one. Only 19 were produced worldwide, and on the rare occasion that one is for sale, they sell for millions of dollars.
About DK Engineering
The LM differed from the regular F40 in a number of ways: First of all, it featured an upgraded engine that boosted power output up to 720 hp. It was also significantly lighter than a standard F40, removing every possible gram of weight for optimal performance.
5 Cizeta-Moroder V16T
About Cizeta
Cizeta-Moroder is a boutique supercar company that was founded when a group of ex-Lamborghini engineers got together to create their own car. It is based on Lambo parts and shares components with the likes of the Urraco, Diablo and Countach.
About Hagerty
If anyone thinks the V16T looks remarkably like a Diablo, then there’s good reason. The design is actually one of Marcello Gandini’s early proposals for the Diablo, which was rejected by Lamborghini and then sold to Cizeta-Moroder. The V16T found very few customers during its first production run, but the Sultan bought one and reportedly never raced it, keeping it as a hangar where it stands today.
4 McLaren F1LM
About Carpixel.net
The McLaren F1 is considered by many to be the ultimate road car and the LM is its ultra-rare, upgraded racing version. The fact that it is so rare is partly due to the fact that only five customer cars and one development car were built and the sultan got hold of three of them.
About McLaren
That left just two LMs up for sale to other buyers, one of whom is fashion designer Ralph Lauren. The Sultan occasionally sells a car or two from his collection, but unfortunately he has never shown any interest in releasing any of his LMs to other collectors.
3 FerrariFX
Via Supercars.net
Long before the FXX or FXX-K became collectors’ trophies, the ultra-rare 1995 FX was a jewel in the Sultan of Brunei’s collection. In his traditional style, he originally planned to buy seven FXs, but after running out of money had to cancel his order after only four were delivered.
Via Supercars.net
The remaining three were then sold to various buyers including the one pictured here. Underneath, the car was a near-stock 512M, but it underwent a thorough exterior redesign courtesy of longtime Ferrari collaborator Pininfarina.
2 Bentley Buccaneer
About Bentleyspotting
A true one-off, the Bentley Buccaneer was commissioned by the Sultan and is reportedly one of his favorite cars. He has been seen in public on several occasions, which is a rarity considering many of his cars never have a single mile on their odometer.
About Bentleyspotting
Very little is known about the specification of the Buccaneer, although the engine is reported to have come from the Bentley Continental R of the same era. Six examples are believed to have been made, in black, red and silver, and all are still in the possession of the Sultan and his family.
1 Ferrari F50 bolide
About Drivetribe
Convincing Ferrari to make a special edition of their already special F50 is something only a select few have the power to do, but that’s exactly what the Sultan did to make the F50 car. As with many of his other projects, very little is known about the specifics of the car, but it is believed to be based on Ferrari’s F1 car of the time and has the bare essentials to make it road legal.
About Drivetribe
It’s rumored to have an all-carbon chassis and a 12-cylinder engine, but that’s about all the information out there on the car. In fact, so little is known about it that these grainy photos are among the only images the world has of this insanely rare, one-of-a-kind Prancing Horse.
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About the author
Mark Cowley
(330 published articles)
Mark covers a variety of topics for HotCars, from the latest pickups to obscure Japanese sedans. A regular at car shows in the UK and Europe, if there’s an odd model or obscure manufacturer, he probably knows about it. Having previously worked as a radio host, he knows his way around top 10 lists and enjoys writing them as much as presenting them. Mark is a graduate of the University of Sheffield English Department and currently resides in Birmingham, UK.
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