Mohammed Al Najjar with one of his diecast cars at Geneva International Motor Show. Pics: Salim Matramkot/The Peninsula
Doha, Qatar: A Rolls Royce for a hundred thousand Qatari riyals at Geneva International Motor Show (GIMS)? Yes, you heard it right, but it’s a scale model available on a shelf at a booth in the Doha Exhibition and Convention Centre that is hosting GIMS, which features some of the priciest cars in the world.
The Rolls Royce Cullinan model on display is one of the costliest car models in the booth of Diecast Land, located right outside the main exhibition hall. It’s a proud possession of the owner, Mohammed Al Najjar who says that the model is an 18 times scaled-down version of the actual car and one of the limited editions made by the company.
“This scaled-down model isn’t an average toy. The hand-built piece is a real model of the actual car with leather, engine, flooring and the paint being of the same standards as the original car,” Al Najjar said.
The avid collector said that the car was a limited edition and Rolls Royce released these cars in three colours with 100 pieces in each shade and all of them are sold out. Al Najjar added that he bought the car for QR90,000 a year back and now the price has gone up by another 10,000. “That’s the beauty of these limited-edition models. They are not just a passion but an investment as the price goes up quite quickly,” adds Al Najjar who owns two pieces of the car.
Al Najjar, who is in the real estate business, says that these cars are his passion that began as a hobby with smaller models when he was quite young.
“I search for companies, understanding what the latest models, scales of the cars, staying updated on auctions, news on sale by collectors, daily news about vintage cars and their models. It’s not just about the hobby, it’s also a lot of information,” says Al Najjar, pointing out to each car and regaling stories about them.
Al Najjar pointed out cars used by celebrities such as Paul Walker in Fast and Furious movie, a 007 Car driven by James Bond, the Lightning McQueen in Disney movie Cars, then another model driven by Qatari rally driver Nasser Al Attiyah for one season. The prices for cars start at QR250 with the costliest one being the Rolls Royce for QR100,000
A major part of his car collection is hand-made, and he claims that if one does not stay updated then one will never be able to lay hands on them, adding, “They are all limited editions and sold out quite quickly.”
Al Najjar, who owns around 3,000 such Diecast cars, says that these models are also an investment as the prices increase three to four times. And he does not have a favourite among any of his cars as he is passionate about them all which could be seen from the way he handles them at his store.
