Sultan of Brunei's Car Collection

Getting back to our "glass house", here is a DTM Mercedes-Benz 190E, chassis AMG2019361, registered KF99. This is an exact copy (but converted to RHD) of the 1992 DTM Mercedes-Benz 190E 2.5 16v EVO II "Berlin 2000", the official one with which Keke Rosberg officially competed and finished in 5th place in the 1992 season.

For some unknown reason, it has been signed by Franz Beckenbauer, John McEnroe, Juan Manuel Fangio, Michael Schumacher etc. etc. etc.

The yellow sticker on the door shut (photo 3) is the inventory tag, which is present on every car within the collection and it usually indicates:

1. "Magic No" (internal code to identify the car and its position inside the inventory),
2. "Regno" (registration plate),
3. "Franchise" (vehicle manufacturer)
4. "Model" (vehicle model),
5. "Chassis No" (chassis number),
6. "Engine No" (engine number),
7. "Year" (year of manufacture).

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Why having one when you can have two? In a separate garage, there is another exact copy of the first car. This one is again a DTM Mercedes-Benz 190E, chassis AMG2019362, registered KF138. Again in RHD and again with all the signatures, but in different places (so it means they are not stickers).

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Going on with the "glass house", I'm presenting you a silver Dauer 962 LM, chassis #TP99620151 (abbrev. #151), registered BQ7523.

According to SUPERCAR NOSTALGIA, it was one of five examples that Dauer sold to the Brunei Royal Family, all of which were finished in different colours. Chassis 151 was painted silver and upholstered with a black interior.

More info about the car: https://supercarnostalgia.com/blog/dauer-962-lm-chassis-151

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Here is a photo of the previous leak:

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As mentioned before, we have four more Dauer 962 LM in Brunei. Here are the new photos shared by Taffy on social media:

Dauer 962 LM, black, chassis #TP99620172, registered KF9911.

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Dauer 962 LM, green, chassis #TP99620141, registered BQ7162.

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Dauer 962 LM, red, chassis #TP99620175, registered BP962.

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Dauer 962 LM, yellow, chassis #TP99620133, registered BQ126.

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All the five cars have been leaked before, so I'm not going to post all the previous photos, which can be found in this thread/discussion.

 

Continuing with another Porsche from the "glass room", here I'm presenting you a Porsche 959 in (what appears to be) black with blue interior, RHD, chassis WPOZZZ95ZHS900046, registered BP888.

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Of course it's not the only Porsche 959 in the collection. Here are some more from the other garages. How many can you count? I can count 8 different examples + 1 from the previous post in the "glass room". Not all the plates are visible, so I managed to identify only a handful. Here's the list of 959's I found:

Porsche 959 - registration: BP888 - chassis: WPOZZZ95ZHS900046
see previous post

Porsche 959 - registration: BM959 - chassis: WPOZZZ95ZHS900048
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Porsche 959 - registration: BN959 - chassis: WP0ZZZ96ZJS900287
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Porsche 959 - registration: KE8791 - chassis: WPOZZZ95ZHS900088
959 Komfort - Graphite Metallic - LHD
https://www.porscheregister.com/S900088#details
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Porsche 959 - registration: BN9669 - chassis: WPOZZZ95ZJS900232
Guards Red / India Red - LHD
https://www.porscheregister.com/S900232#details
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Porsche 959 - registration: BK6996 - chassis: WPOZZZ95ZHS900044
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Porsche 959 - registration: KF9898 - chassis: WPOZZZ95ZJS900230
Black - LHD
https://www.porscheregister.com/S900230#details

Porsche 959 - registration: KE8907 - chassis: WPOZZZ95ZJS900160

Porsche 959 - registration: BN919 - chassis: WPOZZZ95ZJS900169

Porsche 959 - registration: BM969 - chassis: WPOZZZ952JS900174

Porsche 959 - registration: DPB - chassis: WPOZZZ95ZJS900131

Porsche 959 - registration: DPD - chassis: WPOZZZ95ZJS900198

Unable to identfy / plates not visible:

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The Brunei Collection has always fascinated me, but it still gives me very mixed feelings. Sure, they arguably kept some companies afloat over the years, and yes it was arguably at the expense of the Brunei population, but even if we forget about the source of the money, it is such grotesque opulence and waste, the cars just rotting away. Even if they let them go in the future, it will take countless millions to restore them all. I'm sure there's a big line of enthusiasts and vultures waiting though...

 

I can't confirm the veracity of the theft story either. I also don't know what happened before: Taffy's instagram posts or the leak of the Google Drive with all the photos (don't ask for it, it was shot down).

But there's one thing I'm sure: I didn't count the cars but there are 1 GB of photos, sorted by brand and model (most of them with color and license plate). All images are named IMG_[number] and I'm pretty sure those are photos directly taken from an early 2000s digital camera because of the quality and naming. If there are another Gigabyte of photographs from the same source, I didn't see them.

Jorge HG

 

The photos on Google Drive were available long before Taffy’s posts from yesterday (read: a few years). I can confirm the volume/quantity of photos, all from the same source.

 

Has chilidog been suicided? And Citronella is gone for good too? His photo album never became a book?

 

Unfortunately we don’t know what happened. Also don’t forget about @basman007.

 

I saw his name come up but haven't read much of his posts, so I'm not informed about his role.

I did notice this:

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I mean, put on your tinfoil hat...

 

AFAIK chilidog is fine. He still has a personal account in social media, where he last posted last 12th september this year. I don't know what happened after watch dog's message, but he dissappeared from fchat.

Jorge HG

 

Yeah I found his socials too. He is old enough not to give a F anyway, but I guess he got spooked back then.

 

Can anyone provide clarity as to why the 2001 photos were kept private for so long after they were originally shared? It seems to have stirred some people up that the photos were released, including the Prince of Johor. You would think as one community all devoted to shedding more light into what exists behind closed doors inside the Brunei collection that photos like these would have been incredibly useful to those wanting to get involved with making sense of the entire collection, but instead these photos were hidden away from the public eye by other Brunei investigators for years, allowed only for those who were privileged enough to be able to see. It kind of defeats the purpose as to why everyone works relentlessly to find and share old photos and information relating to the collection you think? Was there some sort of pressure by the auction networks or the royal family itself to not share the photos? Or were people just coveting the photos as to not cause a flood of new info much like what is happening now? Either way, I think that this photo drop is one of the greatest things to happen for everyone involved in the hunt for more relating to the Brunei collection. I’ve seen dozens upon dozens of repeated questions that people frequently ask about the collection that can be finally answered with the photos that are now public. Is it really beneficial towards the community to covet photos such as these ones?

 

Who are chilidog and watch dog and what are their roles inside the BRF collection?

 

No one wants to get publicly involved in what could be a state and government information theft/leak, less if its Royal Family has that power or influence. The emails who had access to the Google Drive were visible, also the one used to upload the photos.

On the other hand and regarding Brunei experts or aficionados: the more info and photos leaked, the higher security the Royals will impose. I remember when the Mclaren F1 GT headed to UK, some photos were taken by bruneian spotters and even airport workers. When the Brunei Royal Family knew this, they
requisitioned all cameras and mobile phones during transport proccess, so it was harder for us to track more recent movements as the Brunei livery's F1 LM or the comeback of the F1 GT now painted in blue. Being careful about what we posted allowed some people to keep the contacts and gaining more information. Now, with this big leak, we can assume the work is mainly done here, and they will reinforce the collection security and confidentiality to its highest form.

Jorge HG

 

They'll send some Gurkhas after them ;-)

 

Just going by context clues from social media, it sounds like he worked in Brunei with the collection during that haydays. Watch Dog sounds like he's a spook, who must be in the know if the key management system is a keyrridge system.

 

It's already like that. I know a guy, who is friends with Prince Mateen. He had been in the garage a few years ago. The way he describes it, is that it's essentially like any highly secured building you would enter such as a SCIF. It' all through layers of access controlled doors, you can't have any electronics such as phones on you, and you're escorted. I'm surprised there's no NDA to enter, but I'm guessing it's not like there is anything new in the garage that the world doesn't know about. The time he was in there, there were Ghurkas, but that's probably because he was with Prince Mateen. There are actually newer photos, but I'm unsure to what extent and who took them. I saw 2023 photos of the orange F1LM and the F1LM that is supposedly owned by the Prince of Johor now, but the photos was clearly in Brunei outside of the garage. The 2023 photos aren't to be circulated. They are fine with the 2001 photos.

 

I was surprised and a bit shocked by the photos leaked by Taffy out of the blue... but they are out and gone viral. It's now too late to stop the avalanche, since I think also the Google Drive link has been leaked... to be fair I think there are multiple Google Drive links active today (copies of the original folders being re-uploaded). This myth has been busted now.

The next big thing would be the F1 museum, underneath the "glass house" or Garage number 5. There are photos leaked from the underground dark garage, but no F1 cars to be shown... probably already sold in the late Nineties.

The pics are out so I think we'd better document them and give them some context, so to bring this thread back to life.

That's just my two cents.

 

Sold and returned to the teams that loaned them.

 

To my understanding the Formula 1 cars were never owned by the family but lent by the brands themselves. Brands like Mercedes, Mclaren, Ferrari or Williams worked for Prince Jefri at that time, so I guess they wanted to strenghten their relationships with the royals.

Jorge HG

 

But this doesn't mean there are no pictures....

 

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