Words: Jonathan Wells
There are few car collections quite so secret as that of Hassanal Bolkiah – the Sultan of Brunei.
Frequently cited as ‘the most expensive car collection in the world’, the Sultan – whose fortune was estimated at around $20 billion by Forbes Magazine in 2011 – reportedly has somewhere between 4,000 and 7,000 cars to his name – with a collected value in excess of $3 billion.
As the mass of motors is such a mystery, the only information available about the collection must be pieced together from speculation and scraps of first hand encounters with the cars. But here’s what we know…
The Sultan’s records reveal that he has spent $78 million on coach-built Ferraris from Italian designers Pinifarina S.p.A in the past. A huge $475 million also changed hands at Rolls Royce in a spending spree that included a $14 million gold-plated Silver Spur limousine.
The Mercedes CLK GTR
Reportedly the cars are kept in aircraft hangars and, whilst some are tended to by a crew of maintenance experts, many hundreds have been sadly left to rot and depreciate.
And whilst there has never been a full list or catalogue released detailing all of the cars, we do know some of the more outlandish entries in the Sultan’s selection.
The Koenigsegg Agera CC GT
Eight McLaren F1s set the standard for decadence – but two of the specialised, Le Mans-winning Mercedes CLK GTRs follow hot on their tail.
The Ferrari Mythos concept car
The obligatory Bugatti Veyron also sits proudly in the collection, as well as some of the rarest Ferraris on the planet. The Sultan’s Ferrari FXX, for example, is one of only 30 ever produced – and his two Ferrari Mythos concept cars are even harder to come by.
The Porsche Carma concept car
A Bentley Java convertible, a Koenigsegg Agera CC GT and a Porsche Carma also make it into the hundred most expensive cars in the collection.
So add to these headliners 209 BMWs, 574 Mercedes, 179 Jaguars, 382 Bentleys, 134 Koenigseggs and a further 452 Ferraris and you’ll understand why this collection is widely regarded as the most expensive – and expansive – on the planet.
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