A rare custom Ferrari 456 Venice STATION WAGON owned by the Sultan of Brunei Hassanal Bolkiah was spotted at the successful Damien Hirst auction last week (Gross take after the 2 day auction, $199m).
Starting out as a 456 GT equipped with a V12 442 HP engine, the Sultan added 2 more doors and a hatchback to make a truly unique Ferrari you could tote you kids around in. Other customizations on this right-hand drive model include a slightly stretched wheelbase, new bodywork on the back end, and new seats.
Seven were made and the Sultan owns six of them, reportedly purchased for $1.5 million each in 1996.
Sometimes I'm really glad we have super rich mofos who can live out their wildest fantasies, even if those occasionally include the a slightly modified station wagon.
According to Wikipedia the Sultan is a well known auto fanatic and possess somewhere between 3,000 to 6,000 cars, many of which are extremely rare.
According to Guinness World Records the Sultan's personal private collection has 500 Rolls-Royces — the largest collection of that marque in the world. During the 1990s, his family accounted for almost half of all Rolls-Royce purchases, bulk buying slightly modified vehicles for diplomats and adding unique cars to their own collection. He also owns the very last Rolls-Royce Phantom VI, a 1992 state landaulette. Among his collection are the Porsche Carrera GT, Lamborghini Diablo Jota, Porsche 959, Bugatti EB110, Lamborghini Murcielago LP640, Maybach 62, Jaguar XJR-15 and six Dauer 962's. He is also the owner of six models of the Ferrari FX, the original red show model of the Bentley Continental R, two fully operational versions of the Ferrari Mythos concept car, both of the Ferrari 456 GT Sedans, the only right hand drive Mercedes-Benz CLK-GTR in the world, five McLaren F1's including both black LM models and three Cizeta-Moroder V16T cars. He also possesses a Formula One car as driven by every Formula 1 World Drivers Champion since the 1980 Formula One season, particularly the ones driven in the last race for each season. A prime example of this is Jacques Villeneuve's Williams FW19 which still bears the collision damage courtesy of Michael Schumacher in the 1997 European Grand Prix.
He has a special interest in buying one-of-a-kind concept cars, including the Bentley Java and Bentley Dominator 4x4, whilst leaving slightly more common race cars such as the Aston Martin AM3 or the modified Mercedes-Benz 300SL to his brother Jefri.
My god. He makes Jay Leno look like a cabbie who owns his own Ford Victoria.
[Via]
One of the offerings in this year's annual Christmas catalog from Neiman Marcus is a "Customized Cupcake Car" available for $25,000.
A Lamborghini Gallardo customized with Sharpie markers after which it was finish in a clear coat. Supposedly took 2 weeks to complete. It's a sharp look.
Named for Wilhelm Hofmeister, the Director of Design at BMW, the Hofmeister Kink refers to the following design quirk of BMW automobiles which is now a signature element of the company. Since its introduction in 1961 it has been included in all their cars.
My immediate thought when I saw Eric Haze's interpretation of a 
