The Sultan of Brunei’s legendary secret car collection has hit the net

On Sunday, two Instagram accounts began posting reviews, possibly on the largest, most secret collection of cars in history. The multi-thousand-dollar coffers owned by Brunei’s royal family are believed to hold more Rolls-Royces than any other, although they do include more so than British luxury cars. There was a gathering largely hidden from the public eye for decadesexcept for a few images floating around the net here and there. Now it’s available to everyone.

All of these photos were taken in the early 2000s, so we’re seeing the collection as it was around 20 years ago. How are we in Drive Understand, the images were kept by a tight-knit group of people until a recent spat forced a member of the group to post them. A petty squabble strikes again; this time we all win.

The collection was assembled by Prince Geoffrey Bolkiah and his son during the 1990s. Jeffrey was later caught embezzling billions from private and sovereign wealth funds. As part of the restitution, a large part of the collection was handed over. Some cars from the collection eventually put up for sale (probably to cover the corresponding debt), but missing a few noteworthy exampleswe know very little about where these machines landed.

It is widely known that the fleet includes many bespoke models, including cars ordered expressly and exclusively for the Sultan himself. One of the more noteworthy examples was the Bentley Dominator seen above. This early Bentley SUV looked neat Bentayga decades before it eventually reaches the masses.

But if that doesn’t impress you, how about the Ferrari 456GT Estate? You and your friends can just walk into a Ferrari dealership and spec any model that way, right?

This is 1993 Bugatti EB110 SS was one of four delivered to the Sultan and the only one in this spectacular ’90s trim. This is a car with good documentation and one of three reported to remain in the collection.

If they whet your appetite, the two profiles have dozens more like them: brunei_cars_2001 and taffy_c_s_145. While it seemed like we’d be treated to a drip feed of such images for a very long time, at some point on Monday, the former account shared a Google Drive link to the entire set on its story. It’s hard to say if it represents the entire collection in its entirety, as many cars have seemingly come and gone, but it’s undoubtedly the most extensive view of the stash the public has ever had.

By the way, if you download this folder, be warned: it huge. It’s about a gigabyte in size and organized by make and model. It’s actually pretty surreal to navigate because, as we said, some of these cars haven’t been widely known until now. Clicking through subfolders detailing amazing converted Bentleys with cryptic names like ‘Buccaneer’ and ‘Imperial’, you never know what you’re going to see, which makes it all the more exciting. It works the other way too; one folder titled “AA Unknown Exotic Car” leads to none other than a black example of BMW’s 1991 Nazca M12 concept styled by Italdesign. Happy digging!

Update November 25, 2024, 4:10 PM ET: This article was updated a few hours after publication to note that all images are now shared on Google Drive.

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