Marko thank you for the pictures. Hopefully more McLaren F1 photos surface! :)
Ahahahah I had a "Hit in the nose" (French expression = Slightly drunk) when i wrote this, we had a farewell party at work for a co worker and I had a few Champagnes glasses ahahaha
His race car collection rarely seems to get a mention. I recall reading an article in a magazine in about 1992 and it showed photos of all the world championship winning F1 cars for about 2 decades all behind glass in his collection. The mag is long since gone, any photos of these cars available? The article also stated that cars that had fallen out of favour were simply chopped up, put on a barge and dumped into the sea!
I've heard about all those championship F1 cars, but never got a chance to see photos like you did. The list of his cars never really had any race cars listed other than the random F40 LM and the single McLaren F1 GTR that wore a replica livery of the 24 Hours of LeMans winner.
The article said the single seaters were all together in a separate annex to the rest of the collection. The photos made them look like stuffed animals behind glass in small cubicles. It said very few people got to see them. I have no ideas how they managed to take any pics.
I think I recall a photo being posted some place on this site of those cars. All in glass cases, must have been at least 10 of them, with a couple of Mike's cars in there too. There must be some way some how to pry some of these cars away from him. A big auction company like RM, or even (shudder) barrette jackson, should approach him and sell them off. Heck charge half the house fee for doing so. You never know, he may just decide to do it at some point.
I have contacts with people who worked in Brunei and with people who work(ed) at Pininfarina and other companies involved with the Brunei project cars.
The other question I have is who owns what! from what I gather most of the cars were purchased by the Sultans brother rather than the Sultan himself?
Absolutely, and from what I recall , Infamous prince Jefri was involved in a gigantic fraud scandal and those cars have probably been seized by his brother. The fact that those cars have been purchased with dirty money is the main reason why there is so much secrecy around them
The cars were purchased by Prince Jefri Bolkiah, who is the younger brother of the Sultan of Brunei Hassanal Bolkiah. Prince Jefri owned a network of companies and investment vehicles under the name AMADEO run by his son Hakim which was used to buy the luxury goods company ASPREY and build an amusement park and other projects in Brunei. In July 1998 the AMADEO group collapsed under US$ 10 billion in debt. Between 1983 and mid-1998 some US$40 billion of what were called "special transfers" were made from the accounts of the Brueni Investment Agency. A lot of ex-AMEDEO cars were auctioned in Brunei many years ago. See previous photos from the auctions.
Yes I recall that all coming out. So were both the Sultan and his brother collecting at the same time? or has the Sultan been getting the admiration/blame all this time when it fact it was the brother?
Please enjoy a new and never-seen-before photo of the Ferrari F90, precisely the 4th of 6 prototypes ever to be delivered by Pininfarina (not Ferrari!) to the Royal Family, next to a Boeing 747 "Jumbo Jet" which just landed in Brunei, on March 1992. My source revealed that, until today, nobody has ever seen a Ferrari F90 in person; no one but the Sultan himself, his former representative (the intermediary between the Brunei Royal Family and Pininfarina) and the people who worked at Pininfarina at the time, obviously. Not even Ferrari has ever seen it!!! All of the six cars ever produced are still jealousy guarded and locked in the Brunei "cloister". Image Unavailable, Please Login
It too bad he just hides them away. He must forget about them completely except for the newest edition. There must be plenty of cars stuffed away he would get rid of. Heck maybe even give them away if the right person came along. He must know probably 1/2 his collection is pretty much junk by now..
That is far from being true! I don't know if it is due to a change of mind or some general money available, but in the last few years they started to restore some of their Coachbuilt Specials in need properly under the radar through a certain workshop in a far away country... Even though they only manage few cars a year, the process seems to be somewhat steady at least and more cars are already in the pipeline - some of them in a really bad shape unfortunately.
It isn't a Ferrari. It's some other thing with some Ferrari parts. And not particularly attractive. The sultan overpaid.
What is you source? Can you provide some background? It's the first time I read the cars are being restored... Thanks!
It is based on a Ferrari Testarossa chassis so it qualifies as a full blooded Prancing Horse. The aesthetics are subjective but you have to consider it was produced in 1988. Its styling resembles the modern-thinking of the Eighties and it was way ahead of its time. Its designer, Mr. Enrico Fumia, is celebrating his 70th birthday this year and the F90 its 30th birthday. Expect some surprises!
It's an interesting bit of automotive history, for sure. True, it has a TR chassis... but it's not a Ferrari prototype. Style-wise, it reminds me of the Pontiac Banshee IV.
The Ferrari F90 later inspired the design of the Pininfarina Ethos Concept I (green) & Ethos Concept II (blue) and the Lancia Y (840), which actually went into production in the Nineties. The Lancia Y was a project led by Enrico Fumia. Do you notice the same continuous line that loops around the whole car like on the Ferrari F90? It was a very successful car, despite many people found it awkward looking. I think it's a beauty and an example of well-thought automotive design. Should I mention that Enrico Fumia led the design of the Alfa Romeo 164, the Alfa Romeo GTV and Spider and Maserati 3200GT? Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
The Ferrari F90 is featured in September's issue of RUOTECLASSICHE. I'll buy it this weekend. Image Unavailable, Please Login