Forget The Budget BMW 8-Series: This One Was The Sultan Of Brunei's

Often, when we post used cars from the classifieds, we offer you a budget alternative to some kind of weapons-grade new model with a matching price tag. This is not one of those times.

After we saw Tyler Hoover’s latest deep-water plunge earlier this week, we had to turn to the used listings. He has bought a V12-powered BMW 850i for just $7500, and we can only hope for his sake that he makes enough money from his YouTube channel to pay for the inevitable mechanical endgame zeroing in on his wallet.

If you’re wondering what the entry point for an 8-Series in the UK is, think around the £8000 mark. That buys you a leggy 840ci from the mid-1990s, while £9000 buys you by far the cheapest of the mere three 850s that we could find across the eBay, Auto Trader and Pistonheads classifieds. Unfortunately, the nine-grander has previously been written off.

The one we’ve picked is over four times the price of that. At £36,995, this very rare piece of BMW history for sale with Hawkstone cars of Shropshire is not exactly pocket change for most of us, but it is a bit special. Its first owner was none other than the Sultan of Brunei, who ordered it in this special Maldives Blue Metallic. The seller says this is believed to be the only right-hand drive 850i in this colour. Looks good to us.

Now registered on a UK plate with two further owners on its history books, it’s said to be in ‘stunning’ condition… for the year. We’d expect a few marks, then. The seller claims it has a unique spec, including Electronic Damper Control, Dynamic Drive Package and multi-spoke split rims.

There’s an extensive history file and a full main dealer service history. Inside, light grey leather seats and a mid-grey dashboard are secondary to the totally driver-focused console and instruments. Wrapping around the driver’s seat, they speak of a car that, despite being big enough to carry the Death Star around in its boot, is all about the drive.

Our 1993 car is powered by the 5.0-litre M70 V12 that lasted until 1994. It has just 296bhp, which for a car of this size doesn’t seem like a lot today. You could get it with a six-speed manual gearbox, but with a boulevard cruiser like this, why would you even? The Sultan ordered his with the four-speed automatic that suits the laid-back engine better.

Some 20,000 were made, but not that many in right-hand drive, and only this one has sat in the same collection as (reportedly) over 300 Ferraris, 20 Koenigseggs, 11 McLaren F1s(!) and 600 Rolls-Royces. If you have the money, and the desire, this has to be the 8-Series you buy.