F90

After almost 18 years, Ferrari finally admitted that the F90 existed and was made for the for the Sultan of Brunei in 1988. A brief passage in the 2005 Ferrari Annual outlined an impressive order of six bespoke supercars which were much more daring than anything Ferrari would have produced themselves.

The project was managed by Enrico Fumia, the head of the Research and Development department at Pininfarina. Fumia styled the car very similar to a Pininfarina Ethos Concept car made in the same period.

All six F90s used a Ferrari Testarossa chassis which Pininfarina used to sculpt an entirely new body and interior on top of. The engines were stock units, producing 390 bhp to the rear wheels. Interestingly, the wheels were also left untouched.

Ferrari says one of the most striking design cues was the edge design that flows around the vehicle. Fumia describes this as the elliptical leit-motiv. This theme is extended to rear light cluster, rear wing, and door accents. The F90’s custom interior is surrounded completely with a glass greenhouse and the sunroof can be fully removed.

After ordering six F90s, the Sultan and his brother Prince Jefri spent the next ten years ordering custom supercars from Aston Martin, Rolls Royce, Bentley, Dauer and more. Just before they stopped the influx of supercars, six Ferrari FXs were made around the 512M and featured William’s F1 electro-hydraulic gearboxes.

So far, none of the Sultan’s special Ferraris have escaped Brunei. One was spotted around Monaco and featured in a black and white photo in Cavallino magazine. Since then, the F90s haven’t been spotted.

Story by Richard Owen
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Ya beat me to it. Personally I think its extremely ugly.

 

No air intakes for the radiators?

 

Wouldn't really classify it as a Ferrari supercar... just because it has "F" and a 2 digit name doesn't immediately rank it up with the F40/F50.... after all, it's a Testarossa underneath.

 

Rich Owen is da MAN!!!

 

That car oooozes F50 styling IMO.

Front half to mid section at least.

 

+1.

The reason they haven't been seen in public is easy, they are ugly.

IMO, a waste of a nice Testarossa.

 

Now that you say it... I completely agree with you.

 

Fantastic post!

I remember seeing only two or three photos of this car over the past ten years.

This car has been kept VERY quiet with only extreme Ferrari junkies knowing anything about it.

Love the car personally, through its a bit chubby.


_J

 

A few of the cars have escaped the collection. There's a couple at the Marconi museum. Others come up for auction every now and then.

 

I am waiting for the day (if ever) that the cars all get sold. I could only imagine how many cars there actually are.

 

there are better photo's of these cars. they look better on the road than these photo's show

 

ya mean like these? also, not sure, but middle pic shows, I think, those are the 456 station-wagons he ordered too.
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A few F90s or a few of the Brunei cars in general?

Thousands. Doubt they'll all ever appear on the market. If they do it probably won't be soon.

If you're referring to the 2 estates immediately behind the F90 then they are Bentleys.

For the most comprehensive gallery, visit;
http://www.*************/gallery/129612/976/1.html
and the thread to go along with it (lot of info);
http://www.*************/PitLane?viewThread=true&bottom=0&gID=2&fID=0&tID=104217

 

good sites, crazy interiors.

and correct those are not 456 wagons.

 

the metallic ruby car is in the garage with the bentley one-offs. there are also photo's of the f90's driving.

for those saying that they won't leave brunei, that isn't true. many cars have left and many have been seen and photo'ed. all brunei cars are rhd, so the markets they surface in are primarily rhd markets. marconi has a couple here in the usa.

the real question is whether the f90's even still exist. although the sultans garages are big, they are limited in size. quite a few cars were dumped in the ocean once they were considered to be "used". it is only after the hard times felt by brunei, mainly jefri, that they began to leave, along with other legal issues.

the f90's were the first of the bunch of "custom" ferrari's. the real question is do they still exist and if so, where are they?

a seperate aside, look at the front nose and headlights. not to take anything away from the p4/5, but you can definitely see the pininfarina influence on the shape of where pininfarina was in their mindset and design years ago. i think the p4/5 has a very small linkage to the design concept of 20 years ago and the design concept of 40 years ago in the f90.
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by the way, the blue car is the mythos and the red car is the fx, both old and well published photo's

 

I just spent considerable time looking at all those cars.... DAMN THATS SOME MONEY!!! And TIME! Wow.... Always amazing...

Just look at those Bentleys! Anyway, he had a few 456's re-bodied... The "Venice" as it's called. 3 versions: 456 Venice Sedan Speciale, 456 Venice Spider (not Spyder) and 456 Estate. I think there is a green Spider in the Marconi museum along with a very good looking blue FX.



_J

 

This has to be the worst Ferrari interior EVER!

I'm glad the sultan was the only one to have THIS car.

Wouldn't you be embarrassed to say "yeah, it's an F40...."

_J
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Makes me think of the GM EV1 electric car......

 

UGLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

The Marconi cars never went to Brunei. I can't speak for other cars (like the F40/F50), but a lot of the special customs were still at Pininfarina when there was a 'falling out' between the Royal Family and Pininfarina. Let's just say they (Brunei) owed Pininfarina a LOT of money, and subsequently the cars were sold off.

 

Were there any actual stats on the Mythos? Thats one that I actually thinks looks pretty good!

 

I'm sure you could dig it up however any stat of this car may be hard to find aside from estimates. I think the engine was out of a Testarossa so specs could match pretty closely? I may be wrong. It's not like this car was ever road tested. Hardly seen.



_J

 

They only dumped shells of cars that had been cannibalized for parts or had rotted beyond repair from exposure to the sun after being stored outside. A few Bentleys, but mostly run-of-the-mill stuff like Mercs, etc. No way any exotics were dumped in the ocean. The rare Ferraris and McLarens and F1 cars are well-cared for.