It looks like His Majesty Ibrahim Ismail Sultan of Johor is One Of Us (ONE OF US). If it’s got wheels or an engine he’s into it, and he’s just set a new Mack Trucks record for “most expensive rig” they’ve made for anybody, drenched in an epic paint job of Malaysian patriotism.
ABC Australia says the actual price of the Sultan’s truck has been kept secret but it “smashes the previous record of [$350,000 US] for a customized rig.” Of course they’re talking about Mack Australia’s record and, it’s just for a cab. A full truck and trailer setup can get more expensive than that, even without all that gold farkle dangling off it.
Speaking of tinsel, Sultan Ismail’s Super-Liner has “a six-camera CCTV system, two flat screen TVs, a stone-topped kitchen area, barbecue, double bed and seats with 72,000 stitches of gold thread” per ABC’s report.
Can you even count to 72,000? And would you say “yes,” make it up to about 57, and then quit? Probably.
The Super-Liner is an Australian Mack model powered by an MP10 16.1 liter inline six-cylinder engine. In its most powerful tune it cranks out 685 horsepower and a hulking 2,300 pound-feet torque.
As you can see here, a Super-Liner can haul a metric shitload or ten imperial craploads of whatever you want.
Looks like a good one costs a well-heeled truckers under $200,000, making the Sultan’s about twice as expensive as what’s generally considered the nicest big rigs on Australian roads, or twenty-four times what the average Johorean citizen earns in wages in a year. Malaysian Insider tells us that Johor has the highest median income of the country’s five states, or still about the equivalent of $1,200 a month.
“This is my dream,” ABC has the Sultan saying, and the truck will be used to tow his (undoubtedly epic) boat, because who among us hasn’t dreamt of a wildly patriotic Malaysian big-rig with 72,000 of anything towing around an enormous boat?
Seems that the Sultan actually is a gearhead though. He’s credited with founding the “Kembara Mahkota Johor,” a motorcycle tour he and his noble-blooded brethren take around the state’s districts to get some fresh air and mingle with the proles.
No, really.
Images via Mack
Contact the author at andrew@jalopnik.com.