Friday, January 20, 2012

Emirates National Auto Museum

Out in the middle of the desert, is a giant metal and fiberglass pyramid known as the Emirates National Auto Museum. The pyramid shaped building houses the personal car collection of Sheikh Hamad Bin Hamdan Al Nayhan (The Rainbow Shiekh). Sheikh Hamad is the same person that carved his name into his private island off the coast of Abu Dhabi in letters two miles across and visible from space.

His collection of over 200 cars varies from the luxurious to the bizarre to the completely custom. The crown jewel of the collection is a 1950's Dodge Power Wagon that is 8 times the size of the original. The Dodge is so large that there is a 4 bedroom apartment inside the cab and truck bed.

The Sheikh got his nickname from his love of bright colors and penchant to paint rainbows on his cars.  In 1983 he acquired seven Mercedes 500 SEL, one for each day of the week, which the firm Styling Garage in Germany painted in the colors of the rainbow, complete with matching interior. The vehicles also included gun racks on the inside of the boot lid which held several M16 rifles. The guns were also painted to match the cars.

The museum is such an odity that it's a must see.



















1 comment:

  1. And all so tasteful - one could say, a restrained elegance.

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