Supersize Me
Lots of people have a big interest in cars, but for His Highness Sheikh Hamad Bin Hamdan Al Nahyan, it’s not just the number of cars he collects, but his fondness for supersizing his cars. If you’d like to see a gigantic Dodge complete with four bedrooms, then head to Abu Dhabi—or read this article!
Special Collection
Sheikh Hamad built a couple of museums to house at least part of his collection, believed to be worth $160 million—though possibly quite a bit more. He may not have the biggest collection in the world, but his vehicles are among the most eccentric, colorful, and oversized around.
Abdulla Al Muhairi, Wikimedia Commons
Oil Change
The Emirates National Auto Museum (ENAM) features several large displays, including a supersized replica of a 1950s Dodge Power Wagon. Considering the source of the Sheikh’s wealth, it’s rather fitting, since oil-drilling companies of the time favored this vehicle lineup.
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Tailgate Party
Besides the giant Dodge’s air-conditioned bedrooms, lucky guests can avail themselves of a full-sized kitchen and a relaxing lounge. And what better way to use a giant tailgate than as a patio, providing a view of Abu Dhabi before the stairs are retracted and the desert ride begins.
Inside The Rainbow Sheikh’s $20 Billion Dollar Car Pyramid, TheRichest
A Different Perspective
Taking advantage of its size, you can sit five or six people in the cab, complete with seat belts. But in an apparent nod to safety, the real cab is lower down, while the master bedroom takes up the interior of what looks like a cab from the outside. Otherwise, visibility would be a major issue.
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Plowing Ahead
And in another reference to the petroleum industry, the only wheels suitable for this 50-ton behemoth are those typically used to move oil rigs about. No surprise there’s a big engine too. The giant replica Dodge’s Detroit Diesel straight-six engine is often found in bulldozers.
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Heavy Duty
Not only did the motor come from heavy machinery, but also brakes, steering linkage, and suspension arms. They all help propel this giant, street-legal and with a license plate, though it takes its time. When you’re that big, even 300 hp won’t get you a speeding ticket.
Rush Order
It’s evident that the Sheikh is a colorful figure, and that takes form in many colors. In 1983, the billionaire ordered seven S-class Mercedes, each painted a different hue, with matching interior. This earned him the nickname of "Rainbow Sheikh". And he was kind of in a hurry.
Inside The Rainbow Sheikh’s $20 Billion Dollar Car Pyramid, TheRichest
Factory Made
He wanted the rainbow array of Mercedes-Benz 500 SELs cars ready in time for his wedding. Mercedes reportedly shut down regular production at one of its factories so it could entirely devote itself to this special order, with the help of paint jobs from a firm called Styling Garage.
Inside The Rainbow Sheikh’s $20 Billion Dollar Car Pyramid, TheRichest
On Target
And for that added bit of flair, he ordered color-coordinated gun racks to be installed in each trunk, ready to accommodate a trio of color-coordinated M16 rifles. When the project made headlines, it’s hardly surprising that the affectionate nickname Rainbow Sheikh caught on.
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Look Way Up
The Sheikh also has a helicopter that’s multicolored, so even on a dry desert day, you might see a rainbow in the sky. And closer to earth is a Fiat 500 with a custom paint job that covers the chromatic continuum. But not all is sunshine and rainbows. There’s also sleek and mysterious.
Vintage Elegance
Sheikh Hamad’s interest in vintage cars is extensive, and his collection points to 1970s European models and 1950s American models. There is an air of nostalgic elegance about his particular array of stylish vehicles. But more delights await outside.
Inside The Rainbow Sheikh’s $20 Billion Dollar Car Pyramid by TheRichest
Usual Suspects
It’s perhaps logical that a car museum’s parking lot would offer still more delights for automobile aficionados. An NYPD police car can be examined, in case you’ve never been to the Big Apple. And prepare to be astonished by another arresting experience: the world’s largest Jeep.
UNIQUE CAR COLLECTION OF SHEIKH HAMAD 🤯 OVER 600 CARS, Rohan Robert
Jeepers!
Parked outdoors right next to the desert, there’s a massive Willys Jeep, with an ordinary-sized version beside it so you grasp the true dimensions of its bigger brother. Fortunately, it appears that there are no equally giant vehicles on display, so you’ll hopefully not be crushed under foot.
Shoujaa, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
Biggest Of The Big
Guinness World Records has certified this pumped-up Jeep as the largest motorized car around, though the engine doesn’t quite scale up as much. But that’s probably for the better, as you wouldn’t want to exceed the local 99 mph (160 km/h) speed limit, even if you’re a VIP.
Spending Money
And Sheikh Hamad is indeed a VIP. His family has ruled Abu Dhabi for three centuries and controls nearly all of its oil reserves, which helps explain why the 70-something royal is worth $20 billion. The royal family is worth $150 billion, among the wealthiest households in the world.
Towering Figures
And in an interesting twist, during the economic crisis of 2008, the Abu Dhabi government helped rescue the construction of the world’s tallest skyscraper, Burj Khalifa. So, the family knows about supersizing. But super wealthy Sheikh Hamad is quite uninterested in supercars.
Thinking Out Of The Boxster
The Sheikh loves his gigantic replicas and full-sized American classics, but he doesn’t seem that mesmerized by the performance and sports car worlds. He does own a vintage Porsche Boxster, but many of his vehicles lean more to the posh side. But again, there are some gaps.
Elevated Position
A third of his collection features the stylish output of Mercedes-Benz. Besides his rainbow collection, he put a Mercedes W116 on monster wheels, and he has an 1885 steam-powered Benz, though details on that are a bit murky. Nonetheless, his love of the German carmaker is strong.
Quatchenerlo, Wikimedia Commons
Highly Selective
But you’ll search his pyramid-sized museum in vain if you’re looking for signs of any vehicles from Audi or BMW. That’s maybe the charm of his collection: a bit quirky, a bit unpredictable. Nonetheless, whatever the gaps, his supersized interests are still “global”. Literally.
Global Concerns
It’s true that the Sheikh’s globe on wheels is just a millionth the size of Earth, but it’s among the biggest scale models of our planet around. Disappointingly, you can’t drive the globe, but you might enjoy its nine guest rooms and nine bathrooms while you’re being towed around the desert.
Abdulla Al Muhairi, Wikimedia Commons
Big Is Small
And if your personal invite gets lost in the mail, you can still visit the Emirates National Auto Museum, whose ticket prices are far from supersized: 50 United Arab Emirates dirhams, which is around $14 US. And young visitors get in for free if they’re under 10 years of age.
Information Hole
Children can also climb up several military vehicles, one of which even includes a golfing range. Presumably, this would qualify as miniature golf. But information is a bit scarce. All items on the museum website’s “latest news” start with “Lorem Ipsum,” and fail to get much more informative.
UNIQUE CAR COLLECTION OF SHEIKH HAMAD 🤯 OVER 600 CARS, Rohan Robert
Need A Car
And getting to the museum can be a bit of a chore. It’s likely wise to hire a rental car or taxi in Abu Dhabi for the 45-minute drive through the desert. Public transit seems to be a little iffy, though one source suggests the X65 bus. But it’s a bit confusing, so check with local sources.
Under Wraps
And visitors might feel almost as confused once they do get to the museum. One reviewer noted that the museum “is not huge on info boards,” and said many of the cars were covered in wrap with barriers around them. And Star Wars fans should be prepared for some disappointment.
Mythic Power
Despite a local tour company’s claims, it seems unlikely that the world’s largest two-wheeled caravan (AKA camper trailer) was conceived as Jabba the Hutt’s “castle on wheels”. Nonetheless, the Guinness-certified five-story home on wheels has some impressive stats.
Big Water Tank
Weighing 122 tons, the 66-foot (20-meter) long trailer offers eight bedrooms, eight bathrooms, four garages, and 24,000 liters’ (6,300 US gallons’) worth of water storage, something that might come in handy for those desert excursions. Meanwhile, other sources of confusion persist.
More Treasures
One reviewer complained the museum calls any 4x4 a “Jeep,” which brings up another issue. There seems to be a second museum, devoted just to off-road vehicles, in Sharjah, another part of the United Arab Emirates. The Sheikh seems to spread his 4x4 collection over two museums.
eclicks_by_bunny, Wikimedia Commons
Off The Beaten Path
In 2020, Guinness World Records certified Sheikh Hamad’s collection of 4x4 vehicles as the largest in the world, so he has more than enough of them to go around. But the Sharjah Off Road History Museum doesn’t get a lot of publicity, so you’re going to have to seek it out.
Rainbow Attractions
After paying 55 AED (around $15 US), you can explore three exhibit halls and outdoor attractions—with particularly special items marked, naturally enough, by a rainbow. Some examples had some “weird-feeling modifications,” a visitor said, but overall, it was “really cool”.
Inside The Rainbow Sheikh’s $20 Billion Dollar Car Pyramid, TheRichest
Lengthy Construction
And unsurprisingly, there are oversized vehicles here too, in case the giant Willys Jeep and Dodge vehicles at ENAM weren’t enough. A 24-ton beast called the Dhabiyan is a 10-wheeled SUV, conjoining multiple vehicles, including a military truck, and is 35.4 feet (10.8 meters) long.
UNIQUE CAR COLLECTION OF SHEIKH HAMAD 🤯 OVER 600 CARS, Rohan Robert
Group Effort
The Frankensteinian creation has an Oshkosh M1075 military transport at its core, with supporting roles played by a Jeep Wrangler Unlimited’s body, a Ford Super Duty’s turn signals, and a Dodge Dart’s rear bumper and taillights. It’s an imposing, even terrifying, sight.
A DAY WITH THE WORLD'S LARGEST SUV- DHABIYAN OF SHEIKH HAMAD, Rohan Robert
High Volume
However, the Dhabiyan is an amalgam more than a replica. But not to worry, the Sheikh took inspiration from another SUV: the Hummer H1. The supersized result holds the title as the world’s largest Hummer, tripling its length, width, and height, so boosting its volume 27 times.
Michael Gil from Calgary, AB, Canada, Wikimedia Commons
Driving The 4x4x3
With more volume comes more weight, so his Hummer H1 X3 powers each wheel with a separate diesel engine. The enlarged height of 21.6 ft (6.6 m) affords two stories that come with a sink, a toilet, and a guest room—putting a whole new spin on the concept of “motor home”.
Making A Name
And the Sheikh’s penchant for supersizing extends beyond vehicular contraptions. In 2009, he had workmen carve out the name “Hamad” in the sand dunes of an island he owns. The all-caps trenches on Al Futaisi island were so large that his name was visible from space.
Hamad the biggest name in the desert name in sand visible from SPACE Island Futaisi, MediaInfernity
Big Point
The series of Latin letters covered 5,600 ft (1,700 m) and could be seen by orbiting astronauts and satellites. But after a few years, the orthographic waterways were either deliberately erased or succumbed to the gusts and saltwater currents of the Persian Gulf.
Hamad the biggest name in the desert name in sand visible from SPACE Island Futaisi, MediaInfernity
In The Area
And Sheikh Hamad himself appears to have largely disappeared from the headlines, even as his car collection continues to draw attention. But a rising star in the UAE is the Crown Prince of Dubai, who’s a major car collector, fond of cars the Rainbow Sheikh has kept his distance from.
Quick Study
Hamdan bin Mohammed Al Maktoum is definitely into supercars. While Sheikh Hamad likes his cars big, Crown Prince “Fazza” likes his cars fast. For instance, he purchased the super-rare Lamborghini Veneno, which can shoot out 750 hp and reach 60 mph (97 km/h) in 2.8 seconds.
Unsurpassed
And when it comes to royal collections, it's hard to beat the Sultan of Brunei’s garage. He and his brother amassed something like 7,000 cars worth a total of $5 billion. The Brunei collection includes a world record of 150 Rolls-Royces, in addition to around 2,000 other luxury cars.
Inside the Sultan of Brunei’s $5 Billion Dollar Car Collection, TheRichest
Sizable Reputation
But for sheer panache and excess, it’s hard to beat the supersizing Rainbow Sheikh. With his idiosyncratic and colorful tastes, along with a fondness for giant replicas, Sheikh Hamad Bin Hamdan Al Nahyan is a name that will likely be long remembered in the annals of car collecting.
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Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33
