The £7m number plate

[Mickey]

How much would you pay for this Number Plate
Source http://www.metro.co.uk/news/article....&in_page_id=34
Sunday, February 17, 2008

And today I bought...: Saeed Khouri shows off the most expensive car number plate in the world

It would buy you 269 nights in the world's most expensive hotel suite, 440kg (972lb) of gold or 67 bottles of the priciest wine ever sold.
On the other hand, you could blow £7.1million on a number plate.
Determined to massage his no doubt modest ego, an Abu Dhabi businessman has parted with the princely sum for a number plate bearing just the figure '1'.



'I bought it because it's the best number,' said Saeed Khouri, 25, whose family made its fortune in property development. 'I bought it because I want to be the best in the world.'
The sum bid at the auction in the United Arab Emirates smashes the previous world record of £3.47million ... paid by Mr Khouri's cousin for a '5' number plate. Mr Khouri said he would have paid whatever it took to land his dream plate, which was among 90 auctioned off, raising a total of £12.24million.
The money will go towards building a rehabilitation centre for road accident victims.
In Britain, where personalised number plates are often derided, the most expensive plate – 'F1' – sold for nearly £500,000 last month.
Bradford businessman Afzal Kahn, a keen Formula One fan, bought the 104-year-old plate from Essex County Council, which was also raising money for a road accident charity.
Even Roman Abramovich, the owner of Chelsea FC, was prepared to spend just £285,000 of his estimated £11billion fortune on the 'VIP 1' number plate

[LFC Muppet]

I have been pondering over buying 1 to flog on in about a years time.

It is £495 at present, but unsure if it will make me fortunes.

[Nibb]

I bet thats going straight on his Saxo!

[Mickey]

I bet thats going straight on his Saxo!

Dont be daft he is loaded

Itll go on his Fiat UNO

[Freddy]

Redistribution of wealth should be looked into if someone can happily pay £7m for a fucking car plate.

[honestDave]

Redistribution of wealth should be looked into if someone can happily pay £7m for a fu(king car plate.

hahahaha, you've no idea how rich the "rich" are in the Arab oil states.

The place where the auction for this number plate took place is the Emirates Palace Hotel in Abu Dhabi. I stood outside once and took lots of pictures. When we drove pass this place, we were told (incorrectly) that it was a palace, only to find out it was a hotel later on – so you can imagine what sort of a hotel this is. The sheer size and decadence, opulence of this place makes Buckingham Palace look like a small outhouse. I was told that the main meeting /ballroom itself in that hotel cost US$3 billion..

There is simply too much money sloshing around over there and the hotels have so much marble, gold and other expensive materials that you get the feeling that they couldn’t decide on what to use, so everything was used. OTT to say the least

Dubai is next door is basically a huge construction site in a desert with so many buildings and roads being constructed. Sure people are making plenty of money, but not very pleasant to live in as it's a monster construction site.

For every 10 people, only one is local, the rest are foreigners. Even walking from the hotel retaurant to the lobby, there are 5-6 members of hotel staff wishing you a "have a good day Sir". Completely over the top but I guess that what they consider as good service.

BMWs, Mercs, Porsches, Ferrari are the norm over there. 1 litre of petrol is 7 to 8p. Water is much more expensive. There are loads of other exotic cars including Enzos, Carrera GTs, and the Bugatti.

[liveseytowers]

Just wait until the oil dries up. I do enjoy watching some car vids from over there though.

[jackdaniels]

My mate is working in Dubai at the minute and he is sending me photos of exotic cars every week, there are sooo many out there! The fuel is cheap but he said his local shop is 60km round trip so he has to travel far for his late night munchies and ciggies.

[DB]

To be honest i think he's a 'grade A' cunt

[theodotcom]

When I was over there in october, the first day we stepped out of the hotel the first thing I saw was a bugatti veyron. After that the amount of ferraris, lamborghinis etc was just ridiculous.

[Soulassassin]

And theres people in this world starving.....

[wizard1974uk]

He must have been watching the HSBC advert

[liveseytowers]

My mate is working in Dubai at the minute and he is sending me photos of exotic cars every week, there are sooo many out there! The fuel is cheap but he said his local shop is 60km round trip so he has to travel far for his late night munchies and ciggies.

Get em posted then Its always good to see pics of exotic cars!

[Clubber Lang]

I was told that the main meeting /ballroom itself in that hotel cost US$3 billion.

I somehow doubt that this is true.

On the numberplate, it's his money (or his family's) so he can do with it what he likes. It was an auction so someone was obviously bidding against him, he paid what it was worth to him.

I love Dubai and i'm going back in July for the 3rd time in just over 3 years. I'm not loaded but I love going there and living in luxury for a couple of weeks.

[4me2]

I'd like to know how hes going to attach it to his camel's rear end ?

[Freddy]

On the numberplate, it's his money (or his family's) so he can do with it what he likes. It was an auction so someone was obviously bidding against him, he paid what it was worth to him.

Thanks for stating what happened.

[Ganty]

I'd like to know how hes going to attach it to his camel's rear end ?

Gum Arabic?