Sultan of Brunei's Car Collection

That's the only one in HK. I said before that I thought that there was a 2nd one, but that was the same car that is now with SPS.

And thanks to Yuma for finding out how many 'Sultan-spec' cars were made.

 

Mercedes-Benz S600 HWA Landaulet - 5 pictures
Finally pictures that give a good look at one of AMG's 600 Landaulet's. This car, wich is now in Singapore, was re-built ground-up at HWA/AMG in 1998 at a cost of over 750k euros. The things you'll notice instantly are the completely new interior and the brandnew V12, but there's probably alot more done than meets the eye.


Mercedes-Benz S600 Pullman - 4 in 1 picture
The last year or so I have been seeing little pieces of this car in the background of media pictures, but up untill today I haven't found a single shot showing this interesting car. This W140 is mintgreen with everything that normally is silver now in gold including the wheels (just like the blue one that's allready in the gallery). It reminds me of their pink Pullman, wich I realised is from the W126 time. I didn't know there were any W126 Pullman's
+ a pic of a normal black one


Mercedes-Benz S600 Pullman - 2 pictures
And the Pullman W220. These pics were taken by SCN member Amran in Singapore.


Mercedes-Benz S600 AMG - 3 pictures
Three pics of two different S600 AMG's (one black, one grey) that were used by the Crown Prince (notice the DPM license plate). Too bad there is no good pic of the grey one, because I love the badass look of that car


Mercedes-Benz W126 V12 AMG - 1 picture
Interesting car in an interesting colour, mint green with ditto wheels. Like a couple of the other cars in this update this is another Brunei special. The W126 cars were not available with a V12.


Maybach 57 - 2 pictures

Maybach 62 - 1 picture


Mercedes-Benz Sprinter AMG VIP - 4 pictures
By the looks of it, it's now being used by Oakfields as a kind of motorhome.


Mercedes-Benz Fire Engine - 1 picture
This is one of two fire engine's that was being kept in one of the 21 Amadeo warehouses of wich the contents were auctioned in 2001. See this link for a little bit more info on what was for sale and the few pics of these warehouses/items I could find:
http://www.*************/PitLane?viewThread=y&gID=7&fID=134&tID=120354&bottom=60#post70
http://www.*************/PitLane?viewThread=y&gID=7&fID=134&tID=120354&bottom=60#post71


Mercedes-Benz SL600 AMG V12 - 1 picture
Another picture I found from the back of this awesome green car.


Mercedes-Benz CLK GTR SS - 1 picture
Yuma found a pic of the chassis plaque, confirming that it is #13.


Mercedes-Benz S73 T AMG - 1 picture
I'm not sure how reliable this source (I forgot to save the url) is, but thought it was interesting enough to mention: The Royal Family ordered 15 S73 T's, but only took delivery of 10 cars. Three of the Brunei cars were fitted with the C140 front end. The S73 T AMG was 1 million DM per car in 1996. By now it is believed that AMG made 18 of these cars. 3 of these are supposedly still with AMG and of a pricetag of 325k euros.

Production of basic cars: 1997

-Body style / Seats: Station Wagon / 5
-Powertrain: Front engine, Rear wheel drive
-Engine: AMG M120 E73 (same as Pagani Zonda C12S)
-Capacity: 7,291cc
-Type: V12, DOHC, 48 valves
-Max. Power: 565bhp/5,900rpm
-Max. Torque: 75.5kgm/4,500rpm
-Transmission: 5-speed automatic transmission
-Tyres: Front 255/40 ZR 19 - Rear 285/35 ZR 19

Equipment:

- AMG sportsexhaust system with metal catalysts
- AMG frontaxle brake system (calipers, discs)
- AMG sports suspension
- AMG light alloy wheels 19" type Monoblock
- AMG 300km/h speedometer
- AMG full leather interior
- AMG door trim lining set 14 pieces
- AMG trim lining set 4 pieces (headrests)
- AMG Carbon fibre gear shift lever
- Sony Hifi system with soundsystem & 10 units CD-changer



>>> http://www.*************/gallery/129612/976/10.html



Same post on scn: http://www.*************/PitLane?viewThread=y&gID=2&fID=0&tID=104217&bottom=450#post463

BTW: I also relocated the Argento Vivo pics to the 2nd MB page

 

Hey guys, awesome thread , but i have a few questions. I am really interested in this topic but i dont know enough about it. First i am from germany so sry for my english. The special Ferraris from Pinifarina e.g the FX, F90 456 Station etc., i guess the normal ferrari mechanics dont know how these cars work, so the sultan has special ferrari workers who were involved in developing these cars, right? And do this ferrari workers live in brunei at the sultans palace or do they work for 2weeks in brunei and then they come back home. Some people told me they work only for 2weeks in brunei and then they send other workers, but i think 2weeks are too short. Another rumour is, that people said, that the workers for the ferraris are from england, that doesnt make any sence for me. the home office from ferrari is in italy, so why the heck should they send engineers from england to brunei, who have never seen and F90 or 456station wagon, so they dont know how to handle these cars. i hope u have some answers for me and hope u understand my english ;-)

 

Sorry if this is a repost...
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wonderful find basman....i love those mercs....but the pic of the s600 pullman is in malaysia....not brunei

 

It is. Its nothing to do with the Brunei cars

 

Untill 1998, yes. Allthough not all of them were involved in the development of the cars. I'd imagine they were good in their work none the less. There were quite a number of British guys among them and they worked in shifts indeed. I hope one of the mechanices who reads this can give you a more specified answer

 

Fake indeed. It has been on the web as long as I can remember together with a red version: http://img174.imagevenue.com/img.php?image=12537_s20_122_127lo.jpg

Just like the Sbarro Alcador, wich usually is displayed together with these 2 360's. There are only three Alcador's of wich I also made a gallery here: http://www.*************/gallery/129612/1527/1.html None of these were made for the Royal Family.

 

The Brunei Cizeta V16T & V12TR story

For a 1993 article about the awesome Cizeta car/company, please see below my story concerning the Brunei cars.

The first Cizeta was black with a creme, RHD, interior and had boomering style intakes. This first car was present at the 1991 Geneva Motor Show. I'm not sure who was all present that year, but I'd imagine at least Prince Jefri was there. The Royals liked the Cizeta so much that they bought it off the stand, just like the Continetal R at that same show by the way. Or was it allready ordered, since it was RHD allready? Aah, how nice would that be? The Geneva carshow as one big candy store Besides the showcar, a 2nd (RHD, black/black with boomering style intakes) and a 3rd (RHD, blue/black with strake style intakes) Cizeta were ordered.

What exactly happened with these three cars is still a bit of a mystery to me. The V16T was produced between 1991 and 1995. In may 1993 five cars were delivered to customers. I think the two black Brunei cars were amongst these five. I think the third, blue, car was ordered some time after Prince Jefri bought the 1st two, because the blue car was the second to last car that was delivered to customers. I think that at least the 1991 Cizeta was flown to Brunei that year, joined by the other black car at a later stage. At one point, nearing the year 1998, someone decided, possibly Prince Jefri himself, that the V16 was no match for a Ferrari V12. The Cizeta's were send over to Pininfarina, where they were to be equipped with a 512 TR engine, transforming them from Cizeta V16T to Cizeta V12 (TR). I think the first Cizeta was also the first to undergo this operation. Besides the engine Pininfarina also changed the interior from creme to black and fitted different (nicer) wheels. I can imagine that Pininfarina also made changes to other parts to improve the car. The second black car was the 2nd car to go into the operation room. It was first stripped and was then fitted with the 512 TR V12 and then.... nothing: it was probably 1998 by now and **** just hit the fan on a massive scale

Where was the 3rd (blue) car, wich carried chassisnumber 001 btw? Well, it could be that the Cizeta Company send the car to Hong Seh, the Ferrari importer in Singapore that handled some of the Royal Brunei business as well. Something that supports the theory of Hong Seh being the Cizeta dealer is that in 1991 in some media appeared that the first Cizeta was sold to a customer in Singapore. I think this should have happened in 1994. This car was spotted driving around Sant Agata in 1993, so it shouldn't have lasted long before it was send to Asia. And then what? Four years just sitting there waiting for a plane or ship to take it to Brunei? Another option is that it was meant to stay in Singapore for one of the houses or Royals there. Maybe they've driven it a couple times and that at the time of the crisis it was at Hong Seh for a service and never payed for. But Hong Seh claims it only has delivery milage. So, Hong Seh took delivery and everyone forgot about the car, even Hong Seh themselves? Even when the other two Cizeta's were send to Pininfarina nobody remembered the blue Cizeta?
It's also possible that the blue car did end up in Brunei and was send or en route to Pininfarina and, when all car related work was halted in 1998, Pininfarina send to the untouched car to the Royal Brunei Cizeta dealer in Singapore. And kept the two black Cizeta's untill they were payed for... I like this last one the most, but we don't know alot for certain. All we know for sure is that this car is currently at Hong Seh in Singapore. Or do we? All we have are Hong Seh's claims. They mentioned the car on their website, but showed a picture of the 1st (black/creme) Cizeta. And now even their website is offline...

The 1st Cizeta, that was completely finished, ended up with Dick Marconi's Collection in California. I'm not exactly sure how and when the deal went down, but Marconi ended up with some Brunei specials that were still at Pininfarina. The buyer of the 2nd car was less fortunate, since this one was still stripped naked. The British dealer Talacrest bought this one, but didn't do anything with it. The pictures in the gallery show this car at the end of it's stay with Talacrest. Since about a year the Belgian dealer Vanderveken is offering this car for sale. I don't see much happening to this car soon, because the costs to restore this car to it's original glory would be much too high.

I have doubled the amount of pictures on the Cizeta page by adding 20 new pictures. I've also put them in the correct order:
http://www.*************/gallery/129612/976/4.html

1st car
Photoshoot before Geneva '91(?): http://www.*************/Pics?viewPic=y&source=gal&uID=129612&gID=976&pgID=4&pID=714478&first=true
Geneva 1991: http://www.*************/Pics?viewPic=y&source=gal&uID=129612&gID=976&pgID=4&pID=714481&first=true
At Pininfarina for surgery: http://www.*************/Pics?viewPic=y&source=gal&uID=129612&gID=976&pgID=4&pID=714488&first=true
At the Marconi Collection: http://www.*************/Pics?viewPic=y&source=gal&uID=129612&gID=976&pgID=4&pID=714492&first=true

2nd car
Photoshoot before Brunei(?): http://www.*************/Pics?viewPic=y&source=gal&uID=129612&gID=976&pgID=4&pID=714511&first=true
Stripped down, at Talacrest: http://www.*************/Pics?viewPic=y&source=gal&uID=129612&gID=976&pgID=4&pID=714514&first=true

3rd car
Enjoying the Sant Agata weather: http://www.*************/Pics?viewPic=y&source=gal&uID=129612&gID=976&pgID=4&pID=714520&first=true


Same post on SCN: http://www.*************/PitLane?viewThread=y&gID=2&fID=0&tID=104217&bottom=450#post467

1993 Cizeta article: http://www.*************/PitLane?viewThread=y&gID=2&fID=0&tID=104217&bottom=450#post468

Check this book, written by Fchat's Brian (Jet-X), about the entire Cizeta history: http://www.16cylinder.com/

 

Few corrections:

1. The cars at Geneva were already ordered. The order books were full from the 1989 Geneva show where the prototype was displayed. There was no 'buying' off the stand. The Sultan (through Hong Seh) ordered three cars.

2. The black/creme car was actually the requested to be changed to black interior by the Sultan. I know, Claudio still has the creme interior in his posession (going into the next car possibly).

3. 1991-1994 is production years

4. Hong Seh wasn't an official 'dealer' but the Sultan's rep, and bought cars on behalf of the Sultan. All cars for the Sultan (at least Cizeta) were delivered to the Sultan through Hong Seh.

5. The conversions were originally suggested by Pininfarina, not the Prince. There was also a rumor (unsubstantiated) that the V16 engines weren't running properly. Cizeta offers lifetime warranty on the motors and transmissions, so the rumor is peculiar. Second, I've logged over 500 miles behind the wheel of a Cizeta, not to mention been a passenger in a Cizeta for over 1000 miles, and nary an issue. So I question the reliability issue again. Finally, the biggest internal rumor was Pininfarina convinced the Sultan to have Pininfarina convert the cars to convertibles. The engine work likely came because of Pininfarina's association with Ferrari - as the cars were coming back to Italy, there was no reason work (if there was an issue) couldn't be done on the motors. Where the motors from the Sultan's cars are is a big mystery. Some say they were trashed, others believe they're crated up somewhere. I believe the former.

6. Marconi acquired the car in 1999. It is chassis #103, first Cizeta to be delivered.
Thanks for the plug.

 

BTW - Giorgio Moroder still owns the prototype, and it's located in Italy. And the two Ferrari conversions, they're not 512TR motors, but 512M motors.

 

Thanks alot! I was expecting to have made a few mistakes and that you would correct me

The three cars were all ordered at the same time, in '89?

Wich car is this then? Creme interior and Ferrari engine: http://www.*************/Pics?viewPic=y&source=gal&uID=129612&gID=976&pgID=4&pID=714489&first=true

So this is the 1st car delivered then?
http://www.*************/Pics?viewPic=y&source=gal&uID=129612&gID=976&pgID=4&pID=714504&first=true

Hmmm.. a practical matter. That makes sense.

You're welcome

 

Are you saying the 3 orders were made at the '89 Geneva show or some time after it?

 

I saw the car at Talacrest. The car was a MESS. I was 18 at the time and the guy was practically begging me to take the car off their hands

 

All three cars were ordered at the same time. One black/creme, one black/black, one blue/blue. According to Claudio, over 100 Cizeta's were ordered at Geneva, but when it came time to collect deposits, etc, only a fraction followed through.

The black/creme was finished when the Sultan decided he didn't like the light interior, so it was changed to black prior to delivery.

 

That is really cool btw

That must have hit hard. It's such a shame that many of these cool car companies don't make it I know Cizeta still exists, but it isn't really active.

Did you have contact with him for your book?


Thanks for the suggestions and corrections. I have adjusted my story. The only thing I'm still not getting is this:

If the 2 black cars had a black interior and the blue car had a blue interior, then wich car is sitting in this picture with a light (creme) interior and a new Ferrari engine?
http://www.*************/Pics?viewPic=y&source=gal&uID=129612&gID=976&pgID=4&pID=714488

 

I haven't had any luck reaching Giorgio (by phone/fax/email), so his previous interviews will have to suffice.

As for the car above, the seat inside it is not the Cizeta seat - it's something else. Whether it's a place holder or what the new owners were going to finish with, I dunno.

I know about the cream interior as Claudio still has it, and I've cleaned it up personally.

 

The Brunei Cizeta V16T & V12 story

For a 1993 article about the awesome Cizeta car/company, please see below my story concerning the Brunei cars.

In 1989 Cizeta showed their prototype at the Geneva Auto Show. I'm not sure who was all present that year, but I'd imagine at least Prince Jefri was there. The Royals, probably Prince Jefri, liked the Cizeta prototype so much that they placed an order (via Hong Seh) for three cars. The first production Cizeta was present at the 1991 Geneva Motor Show. This car was meant for Brunei/Prince Jefri. It had chassis 103 and was black with a creme, RHD, interior and had boomering style intakes. But when he saw it at the Auto Show he didn't like the colour of the interior, so the creme was replaced by a black interior. The other cars were RHD, black/black with boomering style intakes and RHD, blue/blue with strake style intakes.

What exactly happened with these three cars is still a bit of a mystery to me. The V16T was produced between 1991 and 1994. In may 1993 five cars were delivered to customers. I think the two black Brunei cars were amongst these five and maybe also the third (blue) car. The blue car was the second to last car that was delivered to customers, so maybe it was shipped towards Asia in 1993; or if that isn't the case then in 1994. I think the 1991 Cizeta was flown to Brunei that year, joined by the other black car at a later stage and possible the blue car after that.

At one point, nearing the year 1998, Pininfarina proposed to Prince Jefri to replace the V16 with a Ferrari V12. We can only guess for the reason why, but it could have been because of the practicallity - seeing as Pininfarina had mechanics present in Brunei. The Cizeta's were send over to Pininfarina, where they were to be equipped with a 512M engine, transforming them from Cizeta V16T to Cizeta V12. I think the first Cizeta was also the first to undergo this operation. Besides the engine Pininfarina also made changes to the interior and fitted different (nicer) wheels. I can imagine that Pininfarina also made changes to other parts to improve the car. The second black car was the 2nd car to go into the operation room. It was first stripped and was then fitted with the 512M V12 and then.... nothing: it was probably 1998 by now and **** just hit the fan on a massive scale

The 1st Cizeta, that was completely finished by Pininfarina, ended up with Dick Marconi's Collection in California in 1999. I'm not exactly sure how the deal went down, but Marconi ended up with some Brunei specials that were still at Pininfarina. The buyer of the 2nd car was less fortunate, since this one was still stripped naked. The British dealer Talacrest bought this one, but didn't do anything with it. The pictures in the gallery show this sad car at the end of it's stay with Talacrest. Since about a year the Belgian dealer Vanderveken is offering this car for sale. I don't see much happening to this car soon, because the costs to restore this car to it's original glory would be much too high.

Where was the 3rd (blue) car (wich carried chassisnumber 001 btw)? Well, it could be that the Cizeta Company send the car to Hong Seh, the Ferrari importer in Singapore that handled some of the Royals car business/purchasing as well. Something that supports the theory of Hong Seh acting as the middle man for the 3 Cizeta's is that in 1991 in some media appeared that the first Cizeta (chassis 103) was sold to a customer in Singapore. I think this should have happened in 1994 at the latest. This car was spotted driving around Sant Agata in 1993, so it shouldn't have lasted long before it was send to Asia. And then what? Four years just sitting there waiting for a plane or ship to take it to Brunei? Another option is that it was meant to stay in Singapore for one of the houses or Royals there. Maybe they've driven it a couple times and that at the time of the crisis it was at Hong Seh for a service and never payed for. But Hong Seh claims it only has delivery milage. So, Hong Seh took delivery and everyone forgot about the car, even Hong Seh themselves? Even when the other two Cizeta's were send to Pininfarina nobody remembered the blue Cizeta?
It's also possible that the blue car did end up in Brunei and was at or en route to Pininfarina and, when all car related work was halted in 1998, Pininfarina send to the untouched car to the dealer in Singapore that was taking care of transport to Brunei. And kept the two black Cizeta's untill they were payed for... I like this last one the most, but we don't know alot for certain. All we know for sure is that this car is currently at Hong Seh in Singapore. Or do we? All we have are Hong Seh's claims. They mentioned the car on their website, but showed a picture of the 1st (black/creme) Cizeta. And now even their website is offline...


I have doubled the amount of pictures on the Cizeta page by adding 20 new pictures. I've also put them in the correct order:
http://www.*************/gallery/129612/976/4.html

1st car
Photoshoot before Geneva '91(?): http://www.*************/Pics?viewPic=y&source=gal&uID=129612&gID=976&pgID=4&pID=714478&first=true
Geneva 1991: http://www.*************/Pics?viewPic=y&source=gal&uID=129612&gID=976&pgID=4&pID=714481&first=true
At Pininfarina for surgery: http://www.*************/Pics?viewPic=y&source=gal&uID=129612&gID=976&pgID=4&pID=714488&first=true
At the Marconi Collection: http://www.*************/Pics?viewPic=y&source=gal&uID=129612&gID=976&pgID=4&pID=714492&first=true

2nd car
Photoshoot before Brunei(?): http://www.*************/Pics?viewPic=y&source=gal&uID=129612&gID=976&pgID=4&pID=714511&first=true
Stripped down, at Talacrest: http://www.*************/Pics?viewPic=y&source=gal&uID=129612&gID=976&pgID=4&pID=714514&first=true

3rd car
Enjoying the Sant Agata weather: http://www.*************/Pics?viewPic=y&source=gal&uID=129612&gID=976&pgID=4&pID=714520&first=true


Same post on SCN: http://www.*************/PitLane?viewThread=y&gID=2&fID=0&tID=104217&bottom=450#post467

1993 Cizeta article: http://www.*************/PitLane?vie...om=450#post468

Check this book, written by Fchat's Brian (Jet-X), about the entire Cizeta history: http://www.16cylinder.com/

 

wonderful story basman....so it means that the blue car is still in singapore ?....nice to see the pic in italy.....if it is still here...it will still classified as top secret and no one can enter the place....the car will also be covered with dust and bug i think !

 

Thanks
Yeah, like you can read above in my post, there isn't much to go on, but I believe (especially since Jet-X had contact with Hong Seh) that the blue Cizeta is just sitting in Singapore for all this time... almost 10 years now I hope, unlike in Brunei, that they didn't forget to put on the air conditioning...

 

the blue car is still in Singapore at Hong Seh. It is for sale, but not advertised heavily. It's the only blue car, and is chassis #001.

 

well...in that case...how much are they selling ?....and if you are still in contact with hong seh....can you asked for more pics of the blue car....sitting inside the garage......and it would be damn nice !

 

yeah....i think they will still warm up the engine.....but since hong seh help prince jefri to bring in cars for him ?.....there are still rare cars inside hong seh i think....i saw it from hong seh's website....which is offline now....there are ferrari f50.....bmw nazca...ferrari berlinetta and the jag xj220....do you think they suffer the same fate like the cizeta ?

 

I wonder if anyone can remember where this picture originated from:
http://www.*************/Pics?viewPic=y&source=gal&uID=129612&gID=976&pgID=3&pID=538698&first=true
It shows the Nazca, F50 and possibly a Rolls Royce in a garage. Maybe this is at Hong Seh's?
At the other hand, the Royce is allready wearing Brunei plates, so maybe it is at Jerudong Park after all. If Hong Seh made pictures of the Brunei cars they were holding, then why didn't they make any more (of the Cizeta and TR Spiders for instance)? Why did they use a media pic of the Cizeta on their site instead of a pic of the real deal?


Damnit, the secrecy is one of the biggest reasons why I like this so much, but sometimes it's just bloody frustrating