VIN: the Brunei Royal Family Ferrari F40 LM chassis 88523
/ Ben Tyer
HISTORY OF CHASSIS 88523
Completed at the Michelotto works in December 1990, chassis 88523 was purchased by the Brunei Royal Family as part of the fast expanding collection being put together by the Sultan and his brother, Prine Jefri.
The Sultan, Hassanal Bolkiah, had been buying high end sports cars since the 1960s – while studying in England he purchased, among others, a Lamborghini Miura and Maserati Ghibli. Later, funded by the enormous expansion of Brunei’s enormous gas and oil fields, the Brunei Royals began to order batches of the best sports and luxury cars, many of which were built to highly customised trim at vast expense.
Of the at least ten F40s purchased by the Brunei Royals, 88523 was the only LM.
And, like most of those other F40s, chassis 88523 was sent to Pininfarina for transformation to the Sultan’s preferred specification.
In this case, 88523 emerged from the Pininfarina works with its original colour scheme of Rosso Corsa over a Nero swage line reversed. Inside, Pininfarina converted the car to right-hand drive and fitted the same kind of luxury spec. fixtures found on most of the other Brunei F40s. This included installation of Testarossa-style seats, full Nero leather upholstery with Rosso piping, electric windows, conventional door handles and air-conditioning (the controls for which were mounted on a brand new central control panel).
Upon completion, chassis 88523 was shipped to Brunei where it assumed the registration KF7899. This uniquely configured F40 LM has remained in the Brunei Royal Family collection ever since.
Text copyright: Supercar Notalgia
Photo copyright: unattributed
