McLaren in Iraq owned by Uday Hussain..

[mini magic]

May 16, 2004

Uday was Rolls's best customer
Nick Fielding



SADDAM HUSSEIN’S eldest son Uday amassed one of the world’s most extraordinary collections of prestige cars, stealing some and evading United Nations sanctions to buy many of them abroad.
He owned 18 Rolls-Royces, including Corniches, Silver Wraiths, Silver Spirits and Silver Shadows, each worth up to £250,000 at today’s prices. There were also three Bentleys, at least 22 Mercedes-Benz cars, three Jaguars, a Lamborghini Diablo VT worth more than £180,000, four Bugattis, three Aston Martins and four Cadillacs.



The hoard included several Ferraris, one of them a 348 Barchetta, half-a-dozen Porsches, a Lotus Esprit, a Maclaren, Maseratis and dozens of Dodges, Toyotas, a Mini Cooper convertible and a Land Rover Discovery that Uday used for hunting.

The extent of his obsession has been described by Dhafir Mohammed Jabir, his former personal secretary. Jabir has told how Uday, who was killed with his brother Qusay in a gun battle with US forces in northern Iraq last July, was forced to hide many of the vehicles in secret garages and warehouses because his father disapproved of such conspicuous spending.

On one occasion, after a family row in October 1995, Saddam ordered the destruction of almost 50 of Uday’s vehicles stored in an underground car park in the presidential palace in Baghdad.

Some of Uday’s cars were greatly modified. One Mercedes had 150 changes from the standard and a Rolls-Royce had been given new bodywork so that the back resembled a Mercedes.

Two other Mercedes saloons had war scenes painted on the doors. One car, Jabir claims, was capable of changing colour quickly to confuse pursuers.

Some vehicles, particularly the Rolls-Royces, had been stolen from Kuwait in the wake of the Iraqi invasion. Uday sent a team to ferry them to Baghdad.

“Cars were part of every minute of Uday’s life and he used to spend most of his time trying to search for types and models and ways of obtaining them. It became an obsession,” said Jabir.

“Any transaction, whether commercial, political or diplomatic, would partly have to involve cars.

“If Uday was involved with a visiting dignatory, he used the occasion to try to get a car. He always found a way of doing it. Often he would choose a car for the evening according to the colour of his suit.

“When the Emir of Qatar gave him and Qusay a car each, Uday told his brother to hand his car over. It was the same with his business deals. There was always a car involved.”

Documents reveal that Uday would use any means to pay for his vehicles. On a catalogue for the American-made retro marque Excalibur, he wrote a note to Jabir: “All the cars in this catalogue should be bought as per the address on the last page. Payment should be agreed either against oil, euros, cement or any other products that can be exported through Jordan or via our transporters.”

Alongside a small skull-and-crossbones, Uday had written threateningly: “Don’t come back unless you bring the contract with you.”

Uday eventually took delivery of at least five Excaliburs, including a white Phaeton with a wooden dashboard and air conditioning and one each of the red, white and metallic black limited editions which in 1995 cost up to $80,000 (£46,000) each.

Alice Preston, 59, who recently bought the Excalibur Automobile Corporation in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, from receivers after it became insolvent, said she had seen paperwork documenting the supply of the Excaliburs to Iraq.

The papers reveal that the cars were initially supplied to a dealer in neighbouring Jordan who sent them on to Baghdad. In addition to the price of the cars, Uday paid up to $20,000 each to have them air freighted to Jordan and a further $2,500 to cover packing and transport within the United States.

“He had so many cars,” said Jabir, “that some were never driven. Sometimes we would go out and after a few miles we would break down because the car had been standing unused for so long that there was moisture in the exhaust or the tyres had perished.”

Despite the sanctions, Uday’s frenetic buying went on almost until the last days of the regime. In January 2001 he imported a Bentley Azure convertible at a cost of more than £230,000 from a dealer in Jordan.

“He would send people abroad to negotiate with car companies and to oversee modifications,” said Jabir. Porsches would be converted by companies such as Gemballa and AMG, making them capable of speeds of up to 175mph.

What happened to the cars after the fall of Saddam is unclear. Some were probably destroyed during bombing raids and at least three, including a Rolls-Royce and a Porsche, were found buried after they had been looted.

US troops gave a pink-striped Rolls-Royce to the Baghdad police to be used as a wedding vehicle when officers got married. In October Iraq’s finance ministry announced that the rest of the cars would be put up for auction.

Last night a spokesman for Rolls-Royce said the company had not exported any cars to Uday. “They were probably supplied by agents in the region. We have no control over how they sell the cars,” he said.


Mr. B, do you know anything about this?

They should really spell the name right too . I don't know where this came from, it was from another forum

[cabrio92]

Hello,

this story is unbelievable ! Thank you minimagic to share this with us.

It is hard to say if it is true and where is the McLaren !

Ciao
Phil

[Peloton25]

Originally Posted by mini magic

I don't know where this came from, it was from another forum.

It came from the London Sunday Times. You'll see the article on this list, but you won't be able to read it there without a login and password.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/section/0,,176,00.html

Interesting to say the least, but not the least bit surprising.

>8^)
ER

[drPhibes]

http://www.wreckedexotics.com/newpho...0411_001.shtml

[mini magic]

Damn!

[MalkaJB]

drPhibes beat me to posting the link from wreckedexotics.com. Oh well.

And to quote Will Smith from his rapping days, "Sometimes parents just don't understand." LOL

[McLaren Mike]

All this exciting new mclaren info...pretty funny i reckon...
-Mike

[mini magic]

i want a pic.


wheres mr b?

[Peloton25]

You want a pic of what? The F1 that Udday supposedly owned based on an article that didn't even spell "McLaren" properly? Seems like the writer did some real fact checking there...

>8^)
ER

[Mr. Bernoulli]

MacLaren? Colour changing car? WMD?

[Thorst13]

WHAT is on the link from wreckedexotics????
I can't get it to work, is there a crashed Mac or what??

[Peloton25]

The link isn't working for me now either, otherwise I would simply rehost the photo. I did see it earlier and thankfully there was no McLaren F1 in the shot. I recall one of the cars was a Diablo, and another a Ferrari 348 or 355. There was something else in the background - could have been one of the above mentioned Excaliburs actually. Anyway, the caption said it was a photo from Uday Hussein's garage after it had been looted.

>8^)
ER

[Thorst13]

I would like to see that pic. if you could be so kind to re-posy it Peloton?

[tvrfreak]

Originally Posted by Mr. Bernoulli

MacLaren? Colour changing car? WMD?

LOL!!!

[teflon]

The title claims Uday was Rolls Royce's best customer and he only owned 18.

I question the credibility of this article with a claim such as that and the author's inability (as noted above) to correctly spell "McLaren".

The Sultan's brother is credited w/largely keeping Rolls & Bentley alive during the late 80's/early 90's and he isn't their biggest customer? Right.

Greg A

Greg