VIN: the Sultan of Brunei McLaren F1 chassis 004
History of chassis 004
Chassis 004 was one of ten McLaren F1s ordered by the Brunei Royal Family. Of these, five were standard F1 road cars and another three were to F1 LM specification. The other two comprised an F1 GTR (painted as a replica of the 1995 Le Mans winner) and an F1 GT road car (the long tail 1997 homologation special).
The ten McLarens joined a roughly 2000-strong fleet of exotic and luxury automobiles purchased by the Brunei royals during the mid 1980s and early 2000s.
Although they were no strangers to high end motor cars, the Brunei royals really began to accumulate vast quantities of machinery after the Sultan’s younger brother, Prince Jefri, became the country’s Minister of Finance in late 1986. Vast oil and natural gas reserves meant the royals were able to spend nearly £200m on high end cars every single year for nearly two decades.
Chassis 004 was painted Grand Prix Red and upholstered with a dark grey interior. It was one of two F1 road cars painted Grand Prix Red; the other was chassis 028 which had a magnolia interior and was gifted to Michael Andretti as part of a compensation package when McLaren ended his Formula 1 contract early.
A third red F1 was also built (chassis 021), but this example was painted a unique shade known as Blood Red Solid.
Chassis 004 was the fourth F1 road car completed and one of 25 examples manufactured in 1994.
Unfortunately, fairly soon after its delivery to Brunei, the car was wrecked in a high speed accident.
004 was returned to McLaren where it was parted out. The spares were subsequently flown back out to Brunei as inventory for the royal family’s remaining fleet.
Text copyright: Supercar Nostalgia
Photo copyright: McLaren - https://www.mclaren.com
