Rumored to amount to a total of 7,000 cars, the collection of cars of the Sultan of Brunei has been largely kept away from the public eye for decades. The collection was amassed by Prince Jefri Bolkiah and his son throughout the 1990s.
What makes the collection so intriguing were rumors that it contained at least 600 Rolls-Royce vehicles, each Rolls-Royce being worth multiple Ferraris on its own. That’s not all. The Sultan was rumored to be the owner of the most number of McLaren F1s by one individual.
Ever since the successive purchases of some of the world’s most enviable luxury and sports cars of the nineties and early 2000s, little else has been heard of the collection since.
Last week, two Instagram accounts ( brunei_cars_2001 and taffy_c_s_145 ) began posting pictures of arguably the world’s most interesting collection of exotic cars in history, that belonging to the Sultan of Brunei. Bear in mind that these photos were said to have been taken some time between the year 2000 and 2001. Some vehicles may no longer be a part of the collection.
We poured through the Instagram account to bring you some of the most intriguing images of the collection. What makes it interesting is the eclectic way in which is was put together, contrasting from the typical way collectors typically acquire cars.
Nonetheless, it’s interesting that images of these vehicles have finally come to light, giving us all an idea of what the car collector in us all would amass if money were no object. Here are the prevalent themes of the collection we’ve been able to gleam.
Retired race cars
Race cars themselves are not unusual when it comes to collections. However, not all collectors include them as these vehicles are typically not road legal and cannot be easily enjoyed unless the owner has the means to transport them to the race track to drive. Still, these cars are even harder to collect and maintain as they’re often in worse wear and require even more care to keep pristine. If kept, their history as actual race cars and victories they’ve achieved only add more value to the vehicle.
Among some of the Sultan’s most enviable race cars are multiple examples of the Mclaren F1, DTM Mercedes-Benz 190E Evo II, and Porsche 962 in race car trim.
Multiple examples
The Sultan makes the ultra rare seem quite common. At its peak, his collection featured multiple examples of some of the world’s rarest. At one time, he had 10 McLaren F1s out of only some 109 were actually built, and to this day, each one of these hypercars continues to be traded for over USD1-million a piece. Getting just one of these ultra rare exotics is quite a feat, buying them in bulk is something even fewer can achieve. After all, some of these cars, like the Ferrari F40 and F50, have a prerequisite of prior purchases, meaning a buyer will have to have been a long-time customer of the brand in order to be invited to purchase these models.
We’ve done a quick tally of some of the world’s rarest that he has multiple examples of.
McLaren F1 – 10 (out of 109 produced)
Ferrari F40 – 10 (out of 1,340 produced)
Ferrari F50 – 6 (out of 349 produced)
Ferrari 288 GTO – 4 (out of 272 produced)
Ferrari 250 GTO – 2 (out of 36 produced)
Jaguar XJ220 – 16 (out of 282 produced)
Porsche 959 – 12 (out of 345 produced)
Aston Martin DB5 - 2 (out of 1,059 produced)
Bugatti EB 110 – 4 (out of 139 produced)
Special commissions
Something not many are aware of are special commission models. These are supercars with unique features or designs included at the request of the buyer. Typically, these are just subtle custom touches like a unique color, custom seat, or in-car refrigerator. But in rare cases, and if money is no object, brands like Ferrari, Aston Martin, Rolls-Royce, and Bentley will be more than willing to create one-off versions for a price. Perhaps the most recent example of one is Mark Zuckerberg’s custom Porsche Panamera minivan commissioned for his wife.
In the Sultan’s case, he has some models that the brand would never produce until decades later. Take for example his Bentley Dominator, which is a Bentley SUV that predates the Bentayga by two decades. There’s also Ferrari 456 GT sedan and wagon. Ferrari’s first official four-door is the Purosangue, however, three decades before, the Sultan already had a four-door Ferrari sedan and station wagon created especially for him. There are even multiple examples of unique Aston Martins and Bentleys that have only been rumored but never actually confirmed until now.
Concept cars
Concept cars are typically produced by brands as design studies to determine the feasibility and public reaction to a particular model and style planned for the future. These vehicles are typically built for show and are hardly ever completed with working engines and interiors. They’re even less likely to be sold as they have yet to undergo the necessary testing and quality control of production models. As such, being able to acquire concept cars for a collection suggests some pretty powerful influence on a brand.
In the Sultan’s case, he has several, many of which were thought to be purely concept vehicles until they were found in his garage. Some of these surprising examples are the Ferrari Mythos, a concept car unveiled in 1989, and a BMW Nazca M12, unveiled in 1991.
This quick peak at the world’s most exclusive collection certainly verifies its notoriety. Judging by some of the exclusive models, the Sultan was a frequent shopper of some of the world’s most expensive automotive brands, so frequent that they were willing to bend over backwards to meet many of his unusual requests. Few collectors can exert such influence over automotive brands and it’s likely we won’t see another collection that comes close for a while.