Sultan of Brunei's Car Collection

Yes, #004. Thanks for the pic!

 

Hi, please can you point me to the Facebook post? I am very keen to follow up on the Countach. This car has never been seen in over 35 years!!! Many thanks. Robert

 

Brunei Dauer 962LM
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No hard feelings, but how does that contribute to this thread if people post the top images of a google search when searching for keywords like "brunei dauer" "sultan brunei cars" etc. without any background or additional information?
Randomly uploading pictures that have been circulating online for decades just makes this thread bigger yet does not contribute to a depth of new information.

 

Some "new" pictures from the reef. Found on Instagram
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Some more pictures from their property and cars.
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I don't know how you feel but i am obsessed with "the reef". So many cars are rotting in the sun/rain/humidity and it seems that also the buildings around are abandoned.
Does anybody know about the location? Are these cars on their property in Jerudong or somewhere in the jungle? Are there more photos?

All the best from Germany!

 

Is that one 962LM Wimbledon green?

 

4 days on and off, i’ve read the entirety of this thread. You guys are literally doing gods work by uncovering some of the rarest pictures of automotive treasury i’ve ever seen. As much as i’d love to contribute, I’m nothing but a mid western American kid with absolutely zero correlation to these cars. (Let alone Brunei in general.) I wish you all the best of luck in your findings and may these cars one day be unearthed from those tombs of theirs they call garages.

 

I think that is the Singapore F1? #021?

 

That’s what I thought. It was crashed in the 90’s wasn’t it and yet the Jag Xj in that photo is a 2000’s car.

 

Dear Fchatters,

Over the past few weeks I have been doing a little research about the four Ferrari 288 GTO's that went to Brunei but, before jumping to the history of each car, let me give you a brief intro...

When it was presented in 1984 at the Geneva International Motor Show, the Ferrari 288 GTO was the most powerful and fastest road car Ferrari had ever built. Initially Ferrari wanted to build the GTO in quantities just sufficient enough to homologate it for the FIA’s now-legendary Group B racing which required a minimum production run of 200 cars.

The Ferrari 288 GTO was built from 1984 to 1986 and, to this day, a total of 284 chassis numbers exist including 272 customer cars, 7 prototypes and 5 GTO Evoluzione's (of which only 3 exist today).

Little known fact is that around a dozen post-production cars were later unofficially built for VIP customers while Pininfarina was involved in repainting several cars alternative colors.

Soon after the production ended, Pininfarina began taking on substantial commissions from the Brunei Royal Family for batch orders of custom Ferraris. The Turin-based coachbuilder rebuilt at least four 288 GTO's during the late 1980's, all of which were converted to RHD.

Of the four 288 GTO's, two were post-production VIP cars (chassis #56641 in red and #57727 in black with a red indent) while the other two were purchased on the used market and later on went through full conversion at Pininfarina (#55671 in dark grey with red indent and #56655 in dark blue).

Let's start with the first chassis number...

#55671 (full chassis number ZFFPA16B000055671)

This particular Ferrari 288 GTO was the 15oth produced and it was (obviously) painted in Rosso Corsa (300/6) over a Nero (VM 8500) leather interior, with gearbox n°131, AC and power windows. Source: "The Book of the Ferrari 288 GTO" by @joe sackey.

First delivered new to UK-based Ferrari dealer Ron Stratton on April 24th 1985 who picked it up at the Ferrari factory with Gavin Green, a "CAR" magazine journalist riding shotgun for an epic drive from Maranello to London, to document what they were like to live with.

In July 1985, the whole experience was published in an article titled "Picking up a legend" - "CAR" magazine / July 1985.

You can read the whole article here: https://www.carmagazine.co.uk/features/car-culture/from-italy-to-britain-by-ferrari-288-gto-car-archive-july-1985/

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The very same car appeared also in "AutoWeek" of August 1985.

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On its way to England, the car was wearing the Italian temporary export registration EE 031 AK.

In the issue of "Motorsport" from April 1986 the car was for sale by Ron Stratton UK-registered under the number plate B288 GTO.

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Between 1986 and 1987 it was purchased from Ron Stratton by Hew R. Dundas (HRD Racing).

In September 1987 issue of "CAR" magazine tested (again) Hew R. Dundas' Ferrari 288 GTO and Rowan Atkinson's Aston Martin V8 Vantage Zagato at Castle Combe Circuit, neal Bristol (UK).

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As stated above in the intro, the car was purchased on the used marked, presumably after Hew R. Dundas' ownership, and it got shipped directly to Pininfarina for a full conversion.

It appeared in the early Nineties in Brunei wearing the registration BM9988 and it was painted in Dark Slate (often quoted as Grigio) with red stripe (instead of the standard black stripe).

It had a black leather interior with red piping on the seats.

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There is at least one more very recent private photo in existence from inside the "Royal garage" in Jerudong, Brunei but it cannot be shared in public. I have seen it and I can confirm it's certainly the car pictured above ad that the number plate BM9988 is clearly visible.

To this day the car appears to be still in Brunei.

More to follow. Stay tuned!

 

Brilliant, thanks for posting this. Fascinating.

If 56641 is a post-production VIP car, how come it has a chassis number before 56655, which was a production car? Was it an unused chassis number?

Also, we’re the post-production VIP cars in addition to the 272/284 cars built?

Does Joe Sackey mention the post-prod VIP cars in his book?

Great work! Will certainly stay tuned!!

 

#57727 (full chassis number ZFFPA16B000057727)

This particular Ferrari 288 GTO was sold new in 1984 or 1985 (not sure) and originally invoiced to its first owner resident in Apollo, Pennsylvania (USA).

The car was presumably one of the VIP post-production cars. Source:

Around 1987, after the original owner sold it, it got shipped directly to Pininfarina for full makeover, including RHD conversion, tiltable steering wheel, new interior and Nero repaint.

In the late Eighties or early Nineties (no tangible date) the car appeared in Brunei wearing the registration BN2288. From a photo posted by @basman007 in November 2006, it might be this one:

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In November 2006 it was located in Ottawa-Canada, being dismantled with all parts in plastic bags. Owned by a lawyer. Not for sale (yet). Source:

From 2012 to 2013 the car was restored at a Ferrari dealer in New Zealand. Quoting a post on Facebook by Neil Penfold (one of the responsible people for its restoration):

"Yes it is, such an epic car. Restored in New Zealand. It had been outside for 10 years. The tilt able steering was removed during the restoration.".

Source: https://www.facebook.com/paolo.garella/posts/10155980525439941

As you can see from the photo below, posted on Facebook by Neil Penfold, the car had been completely stripped down and you can notice that it wasn't really repainted all that well by Pininfarina:

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Another photo posted on Facebook by Neil Penfold, after the New Zealand restoration, is from its first shakedown, wearing a temporary registration: 7665X (notice the 13 on the right side written in vertical, suggesting it was the year 2013):

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Please notice that there is no red stripe as the body divide recess, even though it is believed that this car was delivered to Brunei with a red stripe.

Quoting a YouTube video by DK Engineering from end of November 2020:

"Owing to humidity and the nature of the environment that the car has been living in for most of its life, it required a total restoration at only 1.800 km from new in 2012. That was carried out by a Ferrari main dealer and actually the technician that was responsible for that restoration is an employee of DK's at this moment in time.".

Source:



In June 2015 a black Ferrari 288 GTO appeared in London, wearing the dealer number plate 892 RK. The car didn't have a red stripe but it was rather left standard-black, as photographed in 2013 in New Zealand.

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In September 2015 the car was present at the Concours of Elegance UK 2015, held from the 4th to the 6th of September, 2015 at the Royal Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh, Scotland. The car had the following number plate: 3 XO. The car now featured the iconic red stripe.

Source: https://sportscardigest.com/concours-of-elegance-uk-2015-report-and-photos/3/

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On November 2015 @joe sackey posted a photo of the same car, asking @Marcel Massini for a confirmation of its chassis number as being #57727 and he confirmed so. Sources:

In August 2016 the car was spotted in the UK, this time with another number plate: A964 TAG. Sources:

In September 2016 the very same car appeared at Blenheim Palace for the 2016 Salon Privé, again wearing the number plate A964 TAG. In the second photo you can also see the full-black-leather seats with black Daytona inserts (you can be sure it's the same car by looking at the number 65 hanging from its rear view mirror - can be seen in both pics):

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Again @Marcel Massini confirmed it's chassis #57727. Sources:

In continuation to the YouTube video posted above, in November 2020, DK Engineering offered for sale a black (Nero) with red stripe Ferrari 288 GTO belonging to "one particular Royal Family".

I am pretty sure we are talking about #57727 but one thing I am concerned about is the interior. In the photos (and video) posted by DK, the car now has red seat inserts, despite being originally black.

My personal opinion is that this car was originally delivered by Pininfarina to the Royal Brunei Family with the iconic but controversial red stripe and with a full black leather interior.

During its restoration in New Zealand, the red stripe was probably removed and changed to a more conventional/standard black stripe.

After its arrival to Europe (UK), the car got the red stripe back, as probably intended by the BRF at the time of the original order.

In regard to the red inserts on the interior, I guess it's just DK Engineering's personal take on personalizing the car, in order to match the outer red stripe... but again, this is just my very personal opinion about it, since I haven't found any certain evidence.

Rumor has it that this car has been completely rebuilt at least two times.

Please see my original posts with the complete description and all the photos by following the quotations below:

To this day the car has been sold by DK Engineering. Rumor has it that it's the same owner of the matte Grigio Brunei Ferrari F40, also acquired and sold through DK Engineering.

Maybe someone in here could confirm or deny this last statement...? Rumors... rumors...

More to follow. Stay tuned!

 

How "very recent" are those photos? I mean.. on the socials we saw photos from various era (80s, 90s etc..), and the "most recent" I Saw of those garage are from 2010.. my other question is, in those photos did you see any other "Specials"??

Thanks For Keeping Us updated

 

As far as I’ve been told, the photo is from 2020... during the first lockdown in spring 2020.

 

In fact I have checked in @joe sackey ’s book. Both chassis numbers are mentioned but none as post-production cars. Regarding the #57727 there is basically no information whatsoever. There is still a bit of confusion.

 

No confusion whatsoever re 57727.
Standard production 288. The 252nd built (in chassis number sequence).

Full 17-digit VIN: ZFFPA16B000057727.
Original exterior color: Rosso Corsa FER 300/6 (red).
Original interior color: Nero VM 8500 (black).
Chassis type F 114 AB 100.
Engine type F 114 B 000, internal #00261.
Gearbox type F114, internal #254.
Scaglietti Body #250.
Power windows.
Air conditioning.
27 June 1985 factory completion date.
Invoiced new to E. G.
Later to Brunei.

Marcel Massini

 

In May 1986 Stratton sold 55671 to Mr. A. M. who on the 18 August 1986 sold it to Hew Dundas. Mid-1988 Dundas sold it and it went to Mr. H. in Hong Kong.
Only in 1993 to Brunei.

Marcel Massini

 

I tried to join all the info I could find but it’s basically impossible to find all the data online. I’m just a newbie and I’ve put a lot of effort in the research. Obviously some facts are incorrect and/or incomplete, that’s why I’ve written you in private. I was hoping for an answer before posting. Anyhow thanks for all the clarifications Mr. @Marcel Massini .

 

Marco:
I am constantly being inundated/swamped with PM's and emails etc. , 24/7/365.
It is simply impossible to reply immediately. My day has only 24 hours and the night.
TX for understanding.
Marcel Massini

 

No worries. I thought so. Thanks for taking your time. I will also post some info about #56641 and #56655.

 

56655: Brunei got it in 1994 only. Had several owners before.

Marcel Massini

 

Thank you for your continuing efforts! Will look forward to what you can share about this GTO.

 

#56641 (full chassis number ZFFPA16B000056641)

This Ferrari 288 GTO is the 193rd car produced. Source: @joe sackey's "The Book of the Ferrari 288 GTO".

Quoting a part of my previous post's intro...

...it seems that this 288 GTO is a post-production VIP car, even if now I am not sure that is completely correct.

The car was delivered to the Brunei Royal Family in its traditional Rosso Corsa FER 300/6 with black leather interior Nero VM 8500, A/C and power windows.

Some rumors say that this car was never converted to RHD by Pininfarina but rather kept as LHD. From my personal information and quoting Paolo Garella in a private chat we had about the Ferrari 288 GTO he wrote: "We converted only 4 cars.".

The photos below are taken from Paolo Garella's website (https://www.paologarella.com) and you can see one of the photos is dating back to 1994.

Unfortunately the number plate in the photo below is not visible, however there are records about this 288 GTO registered as BN1212.

Sadly very few information about this car are public and available online... but maybe @Marcel Massini could help...

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More to follow. Stay tuned!