The Rainbow Sheikh and the Emirates National Auto Museum

I spent half a day to visit the Emirates National Auto Museum (ENAM) and now I can definitely say that this is one of the places in the UAE, which are worth seeing. And it’s not because there aren’t many auto museums around the world, but because the exhibits of this museum were private collection of HH Sheikh Hamad Bin Hamdan Al Nahyan , also known as “Rainbow Sheikh”. The collection is one of the largest of the world.

Emirates National Auto Museum entrance and Mercedes monster truck

How to get there.

The museum is located 70 km. / 43 miles away from Abu Dhabi (Corniche Rd) on the E65 road to Liwa Oasis and it takes about 40-50 minutes driving. Explore the map to find Auto museum location.

The road to Emirates National Auto Museum

You can buy tickets at the entrance of the pyramid in which is the museum. Nobody offered us a guide to take us around the museum and frankly, the people who stood at the entrance were not very talkative. The admission price is AED 50 (USD 13.61).

What to see.

The first strange thing that you’ll see is the giant Land Rover (4:1 scale), which as I heard has been a cafeteria in the near past.

Giant Land Rover (4:1 scale)

Around the museum there are two giant caravans. One looks like globe and the other one is the world largest two wheel caravan. With its length of 20 m. , width of 12 m. , height of 12 m. , 8 bedrooms & bathrooms and 4 garages, the caravan is in the Guinness book of records.

Giant globe shaped two wheel caravan

Guinness - world largest two wheel caravan 

You will also see the world largest Willys WW2 Jeep (4:1 scale), the access to which was closed for some reasons, so I don’t have the opportunity to make closer shots. Right next to it , there is an airplane also.

World largest Willys WW2 Jeep (4:1 scale)

Emirates National Auto Museum - refreshment

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ENAM’s collection comprises of cars from entire world. 

Gold plated elements Mercedes 

You will see American, German, Japanese, cars made in UAE and other vehicles, some of them even produced in the last century. Many of the cars are rainbow coloured or have a rainbow logo painted on them and have been customized to meet Sheikh’s requirements.

Rainbow color painted Mercedes Benz 500 SELs

 The most memorable exhibits are: 1885 three-wheeler Mercedes; a huge red truck - replica of a classic Dodge Power Wagon, whose tires are 2.5-meters in diameter ; 8x8 - eight-wheeled Nisan Patrol; 7 Mercedes Benz 500 SELs - painted one rainbow colour for each day of the week and equipped with refrigerators and TV; Rolls Royce Pantome 6 Silver Cloud III, used by HH Queen Elizabeth II, during her visit to Dubai in 1979; 1928 Ford T; some prototypes and military vehicles.

1885 three-wheeler Mercedes

1928 Ford T

Disco car

8x8 Nissan Patrol

Giant Dodge truck

Rolls Royce Pantone 6 Silver cloud

Here is a list of some of the vehicles I managed to record:

Mini Cooper 1972, Italy	Mercedes SL500, 1984
Mini Cooper 1997, Germany	Porsche Boxster,1996
Mini sport 1988, UK	Endurance 1998, Japan
Mini Cooper 2002, UK	The Giant Dodge
Fiat 500	Chevrolet Fleetline 1942
Citroen 2VC6 1990, France	Mercury 1984
Volkswagen Beetle 1991, Mexico	Buick Super, 1956
Volkswagen 1975, UAE	Dodge Viper, 1996
Trabant	Ford Thunderbird, 1964
Smart	Pontiac Trans AM 1972, 1074
Erad Junior 1963, Italy	Nissan Datsun 1977, Japan
Me Baily 1963, Japan	Maserati Shamal 1991, Italy
Ford Ka	Ford Fairline 1955
Ford T, 1928	Rolls Royce Pantom 6, Silver Cloud
Nissan Patrol 8x8 2010, Japan, Modified in UAE	Trucks
Cadillac and other American limousines	American limousenes
Rolls Royce Corniche 1984, UK	Mercedes, 1885
Nissan 1980, UAE	Mercedes, different models
Mercedes S500, 2001	Rainbow Mersedes 500 SELs
Mercedes SE280, 1967	SUVs
	Military Hammers