Within the early Nineteen Nineties, Sheikh Hamad bin Hamdan al Nahyan, a member of Abu Dhabi’s ruling household, positioned one of the vital uncommon bespoke orders in automotive historical past. He’s stated to have commissioned Mercedes-Benz to construct seven W126 Sa-Class saloons, every painted a special color of the rainbow, with interiors absolutely colour-matched right down to the carpets, dashboards and air vents. The request got here with a good deadline and a rare stage of customisation. A number of stories declare that to ship the automobiles on time, Mercedes quickly halted different manufacturing at one in every of its factories, dedicating workers and assets solely to the sheikh’s fee. Whereas Mercedes has by no means publicly confirmed the stoppage, the story has endured for many years and earned Hamad a nickname that caught worldwide: the “Rainbow Sheikh.”
A collector drawn to scale, not supercars
Sheikh Hamad is the son of Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed Al Nahyan and a descendant of the household that has dominated Abu Dhabi for greater than three centuries. A lot of his wealth traces again to the household’s management of the emirate’s oil reserves, which account for round 95 per cent of the UAE’s oil, based on figures cited by Superstar Web Price.Regardless of that wealth, his assortment defies billionaire conference. He owns an enormous, eclectic assortment of over 3,000 autos which, based on Street & Observe, consists of no trendy hypercars or supercars, no Bugattis or Ferraris, apart from a first-generation Porsche Boxster.
He had Mercedes absolutely customise seven S-Class automobiles, every rainbow-colored with interiors matched to the outside/ Picture: Instagram
The extravagant order earned him the nickname “Rainbow Sheikh,” a title that has caught for many years
As an alternative, it favours the distinctive, the outsized, and the traditionally curious, with many autos personalized to eccentric extremes. His autos embody:
- The world’s largest Hummer H1, standing greater than 21 ft tall, absolutely drivable and fitted with stairs, a kitchen, a rest room and visitor house throughout two storeys.
- A Mercedes W128 mounted on monster-truck wheels.
- Dhabiyan: A large 10-wheeled monster truck, primarily based on an Oshkosh M1075 navy truck, that includes a 15.2-liter Caterpillar engine.
- Outsized Automobiles: A duplicate Dodge Energy Wagon (eight occasions bigger than the unique) that homes a house-like construction, and a, 10-times bigger reproduction of a Jeep.
- A number of classic
Mini Coopers , replicas of the 1885 Benz Patent Motorwagen, and traditional American Buicks, Chevrolets and Cadillacs. - The “Mercedes Large Foot”, an excessive customized construct, and a motorhome formed like a large globe, constructed at one-millionth the scale of Earth.
His largest automobile is a completely drivable Hummer H1, standing over 21 ft tall with two-storey dwelling house./ Picture: ThrottleStop
The Emirates Nationwide Auto Museum additionally homes Dhabiyan, a 10-wheeled monster truck primarily based on an Oshkosh M1075 navy automobile/ Emirates Nationwide Auto Museum
His urge for food for scale has earned him formal recognition. Guinness World Information lists him as holding the most important assortment of 4×4 autos on the earth, numbering 718.
He holds a world document for 718 4×4 autos, showcased largely on the Emirates Nationwide Auto Museum and Sharjah off-road museum.
Museums, islands and the legacy of extra
A lot of the Rainbow Sheikh’s assortment is housed on the Emirates Nationwide Auto Museum, the pyramid-shaped museum in Al Dhafra that accommodates greater than 200 autos. The seven rainbow-coloured Mercedes S-Class automobiles are displayed there collectively, alongside off-road behemoths and customized one-offs. He additionally constructed a second museum in Sharjah devoted particularly to off-road autos and experimental designs created beneath his path.
A lot of his assortment is housed within the pyramid-shaped Emirates Nationwide Auto Museum in Al Dhafra, Abu Dhabi/ Emirates Nationwide Auto Museum
His style for spectacle has prolonged past automobiles. In 2011, employees carved his identify into the sands of Al Futaisi Island, a largely uninhabited island close to Abu Dhabi, creating waterways seen from the air. Alongside the extravagance, a number of stories have famous his philanthropy, notably in healthcare, the place he funded a whole kidney-stone working theatre for a public hospital in Morocco and continues to assist its workers. Three a long time on, the rainbow Mercedes order stays the defining story of Sheikh Hamad bin Hamdan al Nahyan’s automotive legend: not due to pace or rarity, however as a result of it demonstrated a stage of customized demand so excessive that, if the accounts are correct, one of many world’s greatest carmakers stopped every thing else simply to maintain up.
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