VIN: the Brunei Royal Family McLaren F1 LM chassis LM1
HISTORY OF CHASSIS LM1
Chassis LM1 was the first of five consecutively numbered F1 LM production cars manufactured after McLaren’s prototype (chassis XP LM).
Of the F1 LM quintet sold to customers, one went to British economist David Morrison (LM3), one to Japanese industrialist Yoshio Tsuzuki (LM2) and the remaining three (LM1, LM4 and LM5) were purchased by the Brunei Royal Family. In addition, the Brunei royals took delivery of five standard F1 road cars (002, 004, 005, 008 and 014), an F1 GTR (09R) and an F1 GT (054).
The McLarens joined a huge fleet of high end cars ordered by the Brunei Royal Family whose seemingly unlimited wealth came from their country’s vast natural gas and oil reserves.
As head of state, absolute monarch and head of government, the Sultan, Hassanal Bolkiah, was in total control of the cash raised from Brunei’s gas and oil fields. In late 1986 the Sultan’s younger brother, Prince Jefri, became Brunei’s Minister of Finance and throughout the 1990s the two men spent nearly £200m per year on high end automobiles.
Many of the cars dispatched to Brunei were off-the-shelf executive models, but there were also a number of bespoke creations manufactured at vast expense along with a fleet of supercars from the likes of McLaren, Ferrari, Lamborghini, Bugatti, Dauer, Aston Martin and Jaguar.
Like sister car LM4, chassis LM1 was configured in a black over pale grey colour scheme with blue, yellow and pale grey stripes. Inside, both cars featured dark grey alcantara upholstery with yellow as opposed to orange highlights for the steering wheel script and gear lever trim.
Upon delivery to Brunei, chassis LM1 was registered KF90. It has remained part of the Brunei Royal Family collection ever since.
Text copyright: Supercar Nostalgia
Photo copyright: unattributed
