---
title: "Take a Rare Peek Inside the Sultan of Brunei’s Epic 2,500-Car Collection"
description: "Having all the money in the world certainly has its perks."
date: "2017-07-17"
modified: "2017-07-18"
authors:
  - name: "Kyle Cheromcha"
    job_title: "Editor-in-Chief"
    link: "https://www.thedrive.com/authors/kyle-cheromcha"
url: "https://www.thedrive.com/watch-this/12578/take-a-rare-peek-inside-the-sultan-of-bruneis-epic-2500-car-collection"
categories:
  - "Culture"
  - "News"
  - "People"
  - "Watch This"
tags:
  - "Car Collection"
  - "Photos"
  - "sultan of brunei"
---

# Take a Rare Peek Inside the Sultan of Brunei’s Epic 2,500-Car Collection

![](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/images-by-url-td/content/2017/07/brunei-4.png>)
*\<em\>www.thedrive.com</em>*

There's money, and then there's *money.* With the former, you might be able to put together a nice little garage, with a beautiful daily driver and a limited edition weekend toy and maybe even an expensive project or two. With the latter—we're talking [Sultan of Brunei](<https://www.thedrive.com/news/8865/barons-bring-gorgeous-mercedes-benz-230-sl-pagoda-and-jaguar-e-type-to-auction>) money here—you buy huge chunks of a supercar's entire production run just so you never run out of spares, if you ever drive it at all.

![message-editor%2F1500340701477-brunei3.png](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/message-editor/1500340701477-brunei3.png>)
**YouTube | GTBOARD.com**

With massive reserves of oil and natural gas at their disposal, members of the Brunei Royal Family are among the richest people in the world, and Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah and his brother Jefri spent much of their lives (and billions of dollars) building what's probably [the most insane car collection on Earth.](<https://wikicars.org/en/List_of_The_Sultan_of_Brunei%27s_Cars>) At one point it was rumored to number almost 2,500 cars, but a late-nineties financial crisis, poor maintenance, and general neglect [have caused it to dwindle and rot since then.](<https://www.gizmodo.com.au/2011/03/the-sultan-of-bruneis-rotting-supercar-collection/>)

![message-editor%2F1500340378846-brunei.png](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/message-editor/1500340378846-brunei.png>)
**YouTube | GTBOARD.com**

And that's an incredible shame, because these rare pictures posted in a slideshow on YouTube today show just how mind-boggling the collection was in its prime. Highlights include: a Ferrari F50 and Lamborghini Diablo in matching yellow, a Ferrari FX, a McLaren F1 GTR 'Longtail' (and three other regular-tailed F1s) the famous Ferrari 456 GT Venice station wagon, a brigade of yellow ducktail Porsche 993s, at least seven Jaguar XJ220s, five Porsche 959s, a room full of Mercedes SLs, one very out-of-place beige Lexus ES, and the list goes on and on.

![message-editor%2F1500340641063-brunei6.png](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/message-editor/1500340641063-brunei6.png>)
**YouTube | GTBOARD.com**

That abbreviated description doesn't even account for the dozens of special one-offs and unique projects the Sultan and his brother used to order from coachbuilders and manufacturers when money was literally no object. You'd probably need a week to pour through everything seen the background of these pictures and puzzle out exactly what's in there. Check it out yourself:

https://youtube.com/embed/UNBxkz4Si0I

## Author
Overseeing an expert staff of writers and editors from his lair in Los Angeles, Kyle shapes The Drive’s singular approach to covering the automotive industry and car culture. He’s been with the site as a writer since 2017, taking over as editor in 2019. On a daily basis, Kyle is responsible for directing The Drive's editorial news and car review content strategies, setting special coverage priorities, managing complex reporting projects, and ensuring what you read on the page meets our high internal standards for quality and trustworthiness. He is also the executive producer of The Drive's YouTube channel, which was relaunched in February 2024 to great acclaim and has accumulated over 14M new views in its first year back on the scene. He hosts a biweekly series on the channel where he breaks down fascinating and complicated stories from the automotive world.

### Author social links  
[Bluesky](<https://bsky.app/profile/kylecheromcha.bsky.social>)  
[Instagram](<https://www.instagram.com/kylecheromcha>)  
[LinkedIn](<https://www.linkedin.com/in/kyle-cheromcha-1550248a/>)