As you drive through the desert towards Liwa and the Rub al Khali, you can’t help but notice the top of a pyramid glistening in the distance. Desert and pyramids: it seems a logical enough connection, even if it’s not what you expect from the UAE
This pyramid is actually a giant hangar, and it’s home to the Emirates National Auto Museum – more than 200 vehicles in all shapes and sizes (including some extraordinary outiszes). It’s the amazing private collection of HH Sheikh Hamad bin Hamdan al Nahyan.
Sheikh Hamad bought seven Mercedes 500 SEL saloons in 1983, and then had a styling firm paint them in each colour of the rainbow. The Mercs have fully colour-coded interiors and are fitted out with fridges, telephones and televisions – the colour scheme even extends to coordinated prayer beads and M16 rifles in gun racks in the boots.
Before you even step foot in the museum, the selection of otherworldly creations dotted around the pyramid give some indication of the bizarrely eclectic collection awaiting you inside.
The most striking of these is the famous Globe replica trailer – built to a scale of 1:1,000,000, this fully-functioning mobile home reportedly has nine bedrooms inside it and parking for four cars.
Facing the Globe on the other side of the car park is Al Houdaj, the world’s largest motor home. Looking more like an apartment block on wheels, this aluminium-clad behemoth is fitted out with eight bedrooms and en-suite bathrooms, balconies and even a huge roof terrace.
The museum is free to the public and is actually open seven days a week, 9am to 6pm. The entrance, which is guarded by a huge converted Mercedes monster truck, often appears to be closed; but you just need to find someone to open it for you – there are three shops and cafes surrounding the pyramid (including a café inside a giant two-storey Land Rover) where you can ask for the attendant.
As you walk through the doors in to the pyramid’s dimly-lit interior, the first thing your blinking eyes see is an unfeasibly large replica of a 1950s Dodge Power Wagon. Towering over everything else on display and undoubtedly the centrepiece of the collection, this pick-up truck is more than four times the size of the original and weighs over 50 tons. It comes complete with full-sized kitchen, air-conditioned bedrooms, bathroom and lounge with all mod cons and even a patio area in the flat-bed. The entrance to this self-contained apartment is up a flight of stairs that come down from below the engine bay.
What is even more amazing is that it is not a static display piece. The world’s largest pick-up truck is registered to be driven on the roads of Abu Dhabi and does actually move – it had to in order to enter the Guinness Book of Records.
Rows and rows of vehicles surround the monster Dodge, arranged either side of a meandering track that leads you around the hangar and which is marked out like a road.
The exhibits really do range from the ridiculous to the sublime: a one-off Lamborghini 4x4 and a stunning yellow Plymouth Prowler are closely followed by a selection of minis and a bog-standard Renault Clio. An extensive collection of American classic cars in one corner sits next to a regal Rolls Royce, which was apparently used as Queen Elizabeth’s transport on her last state visit to the UAE. A dozen Hummers of different ages, colours and sizes dominate one of the side tracks, contrasting nicely with a selection of Jeeps and Land Rovers, both commercial and military.
Other highlights of the collection are toy cars (tiny Fiat bambinos and Citroen CX2s), tanks, a very early Model T Ford from 1908 (in black naturally), a futuristic moon-buggy designed by the Sheikh himself (he is something of an expert in 4x4 design) and, of course, the seven signature rainbow Mercedes.
For anyone remotely interested in cars, the museum really is worth the drive. For anyone else, it’s simply gob-smackingly entertaining – a veritable pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.
How to get there
The museum is a 45-minute drive from the centre of Abu Dhabi. Take Airport Road (2nd Street) in the direction of the airport, and when you get on to the mainland look for the E11 turn-off (signposted Tarif). Come off the highway at Junction 306 and head towards Hameem. Follow this road for about 30 minutes and you’re there – you can’t miss the huge pyramid in the middle of the desert on your left hand side. Drive past the giant rainbow gate and follow the signs for the car museum.
Rainbow Trivia
World’s largest sofa: Not content with the world’s largest truck and the world’s largest motor home, the Sheikh also apparently owns the world’s largest couch – a staggering 3.5 metres high and 9 metres wide. The cushions are so far off the ground, we reckon a set of step ladders would be needed to clamber on.
Signature Island: He has carved his own name (Hamad) on his private Futaisi island just off the coast of Abu Dhabi – the letters are 500 metres high and filled with sea water.
Dead Poets Society: The Sheikh is a devotee of classic Arabic poetry and can quote large verses of famous Arabic inscriptions. He is especially fond of the famous Arab poet Al Mutanabbi, to whom he has created a replica castle with many of his poems carved into stone tablets on the internal walls.
Medical philanthropist: His wide range of philanthropic interests also include medicine, in one case, supplying a complete kidney stone operating theatre to the Renal Failure Unit at Rabat Hospital, a public hospital in Morocco, where he continues to fund the staff.
Jon Muller
