VIN: the Sultan of Brunei McLaren F1 chassis 002
History of chassis 002
Chassis 002 was the first McLaren F1 completed for a customer.
It followed five prototypes (XP1 through XP5) and was the only production car built in 1993.
002 was ordered by the Brunei Royal Family who specified Dorchester Grey paint with a red stripe down each flank. The interior was upholstered in matching dark grey leather with red stitching.
The Sultan of Brunei, Hassanal Bolkiah, and his brother, Prince Jefri, began to acquire high end automobiles in large numbers during the late 1980s. Their seemingly unlimited funds came as a result of Brunei’s vast natural gas and oil reserves.
The first commercially viable discovery in Brunei was made in 1929 by a subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell. However, for a long time, the onshore Seria oil field was Brunei’s only commercial outlet.
A breakthrough came in 1963 when technological advances made offshore exploration feasible and the Ampa liquefied natural gas field was discovered 13km off Kuala Belait.
In 1969, a major find was the Fairley field close to Ampa and, in 1970, the Champion field was discovered about 70km north-east of Seria. Two more oilfields were discovered in 1975 (Magpie) and 1979 (Rasau) which increased production to 250,000 barrels per day.
As head of state, absolute monarch and head of government, Hassanal Bolkiah was in total control of the funds raised from Brunei’s gas and oil fields.
By the late 1990s, the Brunei Royal vehicle collection was believed to total in excess of 7000 vehicles, most of which were executive models from the likes of Rolls Royce, Bentley, Mercedes-Benz, Jaguar and BMW. However, a large number of high performance exotics were also purchased, often in multiples and frequently with special features.
The Brunei Royals were McLaren’s best customers. In addition to 002, they ordered four other F1 road cars: 004 (Grand Prix Red), 005 (Jet Black), 008 (Cobalt Blue) and 014 (Titanium Yellow).
Three F1 LMs, an F1 GTR and an F1 GT were also purchased.
Once landed in Brunei, chassis 002 was registered BN 1954.
It remains part of the Brunei Royal collection to this day.
Text copyright: Supercar Nostalgia
Photo copyright: McLaren - https://www.mclaren.com
