Ammon News - Most people have cherished memories of a rust-ridden small hatchback, which smelt like something had died in the glove box, as their first car. These woefully underpowered objects of desire, held together by T-cut and optimism, nonetheless served as a glorious initiation into the pleasures of the open road. So what if your mate had a classy VW Polo while your own wheels encapsulated everything that was worst about the work-shy trade unionists of 70s Britain? It may have been a geriatric Austin Maxi in dog turd yellow, but it still felt bloody fast. Especially with Bon Jovi cranked up on the stereo outside the school car park.

You would have felt distinctly inferior though if you went to school at Harrow and your classmate was the future King Hussein of Jordan. His first car was an Aston Martin DB2. All of a sudden, that body-kitted Fiesta isn’t looking so clever, is it?

In fairness, this was the early 1950s and you wouldn’t expect a future king to drive around in an Austin Allegro. Or even an Austin Princess. But the Jordanian royal family is unique in having a passion for cars that no other monarchy has come close to approaching. In between ruling the country and averting religious Armageddon, King Hussein competed on rallies, races and hill climbs, winning nearly half of all the events he entered. He took part in (and won) his last race aged 61, only three years before he died of cancer in 1999. The people loved him and no surprise – it must have been like having Nigel Mansell as King, except with a real suntan.

When King Hussein died, he had more than 70 cars – most of which have ended up in a museum he had especially built in Jordan’s capital, Amman. The DB2 is there, which he drove in England before he claimed the throne in 1953 aged just 18. So is the Ford Popular he learnt to drive in, no doubt terrorizing the gardeners of Amman’s Royal Palace. To complete the story, the Mercedes G-Wagen that carried him to his grave is also there. It’s a remarkable personal history, told through the medium of cars.

Like most rulers, King Hussein loved Mercs. His favourite was an ordinary-looking 1968 300 SEL 6.3, on the understandable grounds that it twice saved his life during two assassination attempts. The ‘Mabrouka’ as he called it (roughly meaning ‘the lucky one’) wasn’t even armour plated – living proof that old Mercs really are built like tanks.

With Middle East security becoming as sensitive as chronic haemorrhoids, bullet-proof Mercs were ordered as state cars. Shame that King Hussein somewhat defeated the object by sitting on the roof during motorcades, but he always felt that his view was hampered an inch-thick layer of Perspex.

His proper favourites were of course the sports cars. There’s a legendary Mercedes 300 SL ‘gullwing’, of the sort that was changing hands at the height of the classic car boom in the late’80s for close to £1million. It arrived in Jordan brand new in 1955, and predictably the King went racing in it. The same fate awaited a number of his cars, including a 1988 Mercedes 190E 2.3 16v with which King Hussein held the record on the fearsome Rumman hill climb for seven years.

But not even Kings can have everything. He desperately wanted a Mercedes C111 sports car. Problem was that only six prototypes were produced, and the model never went into production. Concieved in 1970, the C111 was a radical departure from the usual Stuttgart taxi – this Mercedes had a knife-like sports car body painted virulent orange and a Wankel rotary engine capable of 300kph. King Hussein wanted one so much that he even made the trip to Germany to drive it. But he only got his wish after his death – 35 years after he drove it, the car Hussein tested now resides in his museum: the only example outside Germany.

Throughout his reign the King kept a house in Ascot, having gone to school at Harrow and completed his military training at Sandhurst. The UK stable of cars was returned to Jordan after his death, including his favourite British Racing Green Porsche 959 that was the fastest road car of its time. Only 200 of these saw the light of day, powered by a 450 horsepower twin-turbo 2849cc leviathan of an engine. The last car King Hussein acquired was a Ferrari F50 (a gift from the sultan of Oman), celebrating 50 years of Ferrari, which he only drove on about three occasions.

But amidst all the exotica, there are one or two vehicles that are refreshingly and incongruously nasty. Take the Ford LTD police car – the Mondeo of its time – that the King used as incognito transport, despite the handicap of a siren and flashing lights. Then there’s the Amphicar, which appears to be the hideous love child of a Land Rover and a bathtub.

But by far the most aesthetically offensive car is a white open topped Range Rover that was commissioned for the visit of Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip in 1984 – complete with the sort of white leather seats that would go down a storm in Chingford. In fact the whole car looks like David Beckham designed it, which is maybe why it was never used again. But watch out for it making a cameo appearance on Footballers Wives.

The link between the Jordanian Royal family and motor sport is now stronger than ever. The current King (Abdullah, Hussein’s son) is a former rally driver and petrolhead who was once co-driven by Welshman Phil Mills – winner of the World Rally Championship with Petter Solberg and Subaru in 2003. Abdullah – married to the glamorous Queen Rania – won the Jordanian Rally Championship twice, in a Ford Cosworth 4x4 that also resides in the museum.

Now, there are several criteria upon which rallies can be judged – commercial and otherwise. But if your monarch is actually a rally champion, can anybody seriously think that your country doesn’t deserve a place on the WRC calendar?

By Anthony Peacock/ Max Rally

** Photo: Saed Al Hajri slides the beautiful Porsche 911 RS SC on the 1984 Jordan Rally. ©McKlein