Sultan of Brunei's Car Collection

In the photos below you can see FER TR SPYDER BP8890 EFF110 in the Brunei garages in Jerudong.

@basman007 stated:

FER TR SPYDER BP8890 EFF110 is the only one of those that I think is red + I've got pictures of a red Testarossa Spider. ​

@basman007 also stated:

FER TR SPYDER BP8890 EFF110 - Red/Black was spotted in Singapore during the festivities for the Ferrari 60th Relay. It was wearing Hong Seh stickers, so I think it is owned by Hong Seh (Singapore's Ferrari Dealer).​

The Testarossa Spider spotted in Singapore during the festivities for the Ferrari 60th Relay wearing the Hong Seh stickers and the Testarossa Spider EFG092 heading to auction with RM Sotheby's have both black front lower bumpers, while the car sitting in the Jerudong garages has a painted front lower bumper.

My assumption is that the Hong Seh car and the EFG092 car heading to auction with RM Sotheby's are indeed the same car, while the original EFF110 might still be locked in Brunei. That's just my two cents.

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I do not know and cannot answer the question, sorry.

Marcel Massini

 

Here is a photo of a black Ferrari Testarrossa (it seems to be a coupe), taken most probably in front of the Istana Nurul Iman Royal Palace in Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei.
Notice the DPD front plate which is similar to the one on the EFG092 car. I cannot find this particular car in the list of cars published many years ago. Maybe they switched plates?

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I think this was just a guess by basman as he had no proof. I think it's vice versa EFG is the truncated VIN for Testarossa Spider (e.g., EFG092) and EFF the truncated VIN for 512TR Spider models.

Most likely, as it happened with other models (e.g., Mercedes-Benz CLK GTR, etc.).

Agree, that was my thought, too. Here is another picture of EFG092:

 

What car a you referring to? EFG092 or a black Testarossa Coupe with DPD plate?

 

I just wanted to say that the front plate of the black Testarossa Coupe (DPD) is very similar to the front plate of the red Testarossa Spider EFG092 which has been restored by Pininfarina and Zanasi and now sold by RM Sotheby's.

 

Again a DPD plate, with a font identical to the red Testarossa Spider EFG092, on a black F40.
Most probably this one: FER F40 RHD DPD ZFF9J34B000084574

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Famous building number 5 is storing 149 cars carrying the "DPD" plate alone. So I think there is quite some DPD plates which look identical.

 

Please note the correct VIN is not ZFF9J34B000084574 but actually ZFFGJ34B000084574. The fourth digit is a "G", not a "9".

Marcel Massini

 

You are right (as always ). I copied the VIN from the list published many years ago without double checking. Anyhow, grazie!

 

In an interview from last year, Enrico Fumia speaks of twelve Ferrari Testarossa Spiders that have been comissioned by the Royal Family of Brunei.

https://www.speedholics.com/post/ferrari-f90-enrico-fumia-reveals-the-sultan-s-secret

 

There is some wrong information here!

EFG089 is a Testarossa Spider and has nothing to do with 97310 which is a 512TR Spider. Ergo two different cars.

The same goes for EFG086 which as well is a Testarossa Spider and has nothing to do with the black 512TR Spider from Hong Kong. Ergo these two are different cars also.

 

Still knocking about here, I do have a love/hate relationship with my Brunei experience.. Love that I was there, Hate that so many others are so knowledgeable on the that period of time which I should know more.. hey.. If I realised outside that bubble of the time that I experienced would be so cool and wild to discuss today.. I would have kept a diary and many more geek notes, have plenty of photos but only a few have been released. Now that its 2022, I now work within the motorsport industry, super busy.. but a certainly duff my hat to those fact finding and taking a real interest in the Brunei cars.. I also must pay huge respect to many contributors and to authors of books, and I certainly do read the material of many.. in particular @Marcel Massini . Knowledge that I can only envy!!

 

Ohh and @Peloton25 truely amazing MacF1 knowledge, I refer to it often, and @chilidog brave to publish the list (hope all is well with you since our Brunei experience). @basman007 for pursuing an archive of brunei cars that is second to none.

As a note of interest, I have a photo folder of pictures I took during my time in Brunei, It does raise many questions & options to those I show it too. Most very positive (wow, what an experience you have had Citronella), but some quite negative (what justice does a family of wealth have, to have this much of opulence in the world we live in). My answer to the first.. Yup, yeah, right place, right time to get a job in this surreal world.. loved it, yup, paid **** money.. but I never cared for 1 second, I adored the experience I was getting. My answer to the second.. yeah right.. like you wouldn't go bananas as a car nut with a blank cheque book, I honestly say fair play to the Bruneian Royals, sure.. you took it to the max.. took the piss even.. but you know what.. they looked after their population, in ways I witnessed and more so than I cannot describe in this short post, and absolutely better than my own government when they are clearly looking after themselves and their bank balance (esp COVID time, jobs, contracts for the boys, one rule for you, and free for all for us). Anyways.. that's another story. As a final thought, the Lonely Planet in a publication I can't remember during my time, stated Brunei as the most boring place on the face of the earth.. IMO, it was the most friendly, interesting and without a doubt, the most fun place I ever visited... Never judge a book by its cover.. I learned that very quickly.. Forza Brunei.

 

Awesome

 

Very interesting. Can you add everything you know about all Venice cars to the www.autowiki.org database? Then all cars are visible in a nice overview. You get the (eternal) credits for every car single car you add. By the way, Matthias Urban speaks in his Handbuch der Seriennummern of 'Venezia' and 'Break' instead of Venice and Estate.

 

Hi Marko, I know it’s been nearly 2 years since you posted this but bravo on your research with the 4 Brunei 288 GTOs! I’ve loved all of your posts. I am still completely obsessed as ever with the 288 GTO after visiting the Patrick Collection Museum’s “426 GTO” registration plate when I was a teenager which starred in Motor magazine back in the day (see photo circa 1991).

I visited countless times and got to be a bit of a regular so even got taken to the over-spill garages of the 210 cars they couldn’t exhibit as they only had room for 70 in the museum! It was the British Brunei collection of its day, thankfully all heated and air-conditioned and unlit most of the time with the cars all under covers.

If no one else has already pointed or worked it out, I believe I can solve the mystery as to whether the red one was also converted to RHD even though Paulo Garella - as you say - privately messaged you to say 4 were converted, yet the majority of his photos of it are still LHD on his website.

However, if you look at the wipers on Paulo’s first photo of the red one - photo date stamped 29 7 94 which is nose to nose with the Indiana blue one with both of their engine covers up - you can clearly see the wipers have now been converted to RHD suggesting the whole car would also have been done so too by that time or around that time.

I’d love to see more of this car. I’d also read somewhere it had been slightly boosted in performance (by only as much as 40bhp) as opposed to the other 3, but I cannot find where that info is so perhaps I am wrong.

But, if that is so perhaps that’s why Paulo has shown photos of it on his website where it looks no different really to a standard LHD 288 GTO. Also am I right in saying it was painted in a slightly darker red to the standard Rosso Corsa Ferr 300/6? This again was something I recall reading, but again I cannot now find my source so perhaps I am again wrong…

Also my theory as to why so many are poorly maintained in Brunei is that a great part of the collection was not the Sultan’s, but was Prince Jefri’s - the Sultan’s younger brother.

After he was caught having stolen $14.8 Billion from the public funds when Finance Minister for just over a decade from 1986, he was ousted from the family and country - for a good 10 years until he was seen in public with them again.

I believe the Sultan at the time immediately sacked his mechanics and turned off the air-conditioning in his garages to set an example to him. His collection was immense at 2,000 cars, although only a fraction compared to the Sultan’s 7,000. In that decade he’d spent $475 million on Rolls Royces and $78 million at Pininfarina…

I believe it was Jefri who ordered the 288’s and that’s why one escaped to be in bits on a Canadian lawyers garage floor after he lost his ministerial position in 1997. That is thankfully back together as you’ve documented and is here in England now. It was joint-head of the Secret Supercar meeting at Donington Park earlier this year with another 3 cars.

It’s only a theory, but his brother was incredibly livid with him for a while and it’s similar to Saddam Hussein who punished his son Uday by torching his incredible car collection after he’d murdered Saddam’s favourite servant after he’d introduced the Iraqi leader to a woman who became his mistress, which greatly upset Saddam’s wife.

But who knows! Anyway great research and thanks again, I hope we can rest the case of that one red RHD 288 GTO exists - or once existed - in the world, albeit hidden away in a Borneo jungle, hopefully now not rotting and melting away…


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Hey guys I think I found the clearest ariel picture of the BRF compound
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I tracked down some of the original magazines that had the Sultan's garage images and I scanned them at super high-res. Here's one - you can easily see the McLaren F1 and the silver Dauer 962!

-Wayne
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Here are some more higher-res photos from that same magazine (Wheels Magazine September 1998).

-Wayne
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Clearly the "star cars" shown in the first photo I just uploaded are located here:


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This is super interesting!

 

I'm sure this is the hoghest quality scan I've seen of this photo. Congrats mate!

Jorge HG

 

Please, read the whole thread from the beginning. Not only a very interesting read, but the complex was first shown here by one of the BRF former mechanic.

Jorge HG

 

yes I have. But I was just saying that the picture I sent is probably the best one that shows the full compound. Previous pictures uploaded here were taken just from google maps and a tourist yt vid which only showed part of the warehouses.