As part of an epic road trip to the very south of the UAE for a separate story, we passed by the Emirates National Auto Museum, some 30 minutes outside Abu Dhabi.
Owned by Sheikh Hamad bin Hamdan Al Nahyan – better known as the Rainbow Sheikh – this pyramid of automotive curiosities houses a very, very broad mix of vehicles, from the humdrum to the frankly insane. There aren’t many words that can accurately describe the collection inside, so we’ll let our camera do the talking…
The welcome car – a Mercedes monster truck at the building’s main entrance.
A selection of Minis are the first exhibit. Can anyone help ID the badge on this rally-inspired little nipper?
Baja-style Beetle.
Chrome ahoy.
Yellow-eyed Merc.
On the Prowl…
Power Wagon wheels. Don’t fancy trying to source replacement tyres..
Chevrolet Fleetline. Why can’t modern American cars look this good?
Best factory hubcap ever?
Golden Buick.
SQUAAARK!
Wheel and tyre porn.
Some serious work went into this gullwing door conversion. Not entirely sure it was worth it…
Brightwork a-gogo.
Old-skool American hood ornaments are awesome.
A taste of New York in the desert.
Massive Truck is Massive.
Mmm, stately.
The start of the Rainbow Sheikh’s signature Mercedes collection.
The Sheikh has a collection of cars in every colour of the rainbow, and each one is completely covered in its chosen hue, inside and out.
Yes, even the wheels.
…and the headlight wipers.
A Daimler Ferret. Sure, why not?
No moon buggy is complete without sequined seats.
The Force is strong in this one.
Maybe the shiniest Unimog ever.
Tyre inflation system. Can’t help thinking however, that any terrain likely to puncture tyres will destroy the system in seconds…
Big wheels on Merc saloons seem to be a common theme in the collection.
Lamborghini’s SUV – the rather rare LM002.
Yellow, clean and one of our favourite vehicles in the collection.
Willys Jeep – one of quite a few.
Intriguing wheel and tyre choice…
Sizable caravan. Author shown for perspective.
Looks like a regular Jeep, right?
Wrong.
For more info on the Emirates National Auto Museum, check out the rather basic website. Or do what we do and turn up in the hope that it’ll be open.
No Comments
helena
I do live in Ajman, sometime in February a lot of people visited this place including ME. But unfortunately it was closed then I got a number from the website but for how many months they kept on telling me that it was still closed. As of the landline, no one ever picks it up. Sent an email but no response. Visited the site once again a few minutes ago, contact details has been removed. Try 02-6676999 LUCKY YOU if someone will answer the phone. And I read from one of the comments from other post that now they are charging 50AED per adult and free for children when I did not see any signage saying that there is an entrance fee. SO it is kinda frustrating, and sad thing is I do not think that SOMEONE from this country really cares. I called Etisalat to ask for their number thinking that it might be changed, can you believe it doesn’t exist in their system? First I said ENAM then told her Emirates National Auto Museum. It sucks really
Ali A
whre is it, can we visit?
elwehbi
You won’t find many stranger collections, that’s for sure. Great shots guys!
Brian McKay
That’s a good look at a whacko collection. Thanks for it. I’d never seen a Chevrolet Fleetline.