Malaysian tycoon Chin Jit Pyng, or JP Chin as he is more commonly known in his hometown of Kuala Lumpur, can pinpoint the exact moment when, as a young boy, he decided he would one day amass a car collection of his dreams.
Ranking well on the likeability factor, the 66-year-old businessman has an affable, easygoing air about him – and quite a knack for storytelling.NOT JUST ANY TOM, DICK OR HARRY In the history of Chin’s car collecting, the Divo represents the current “hypercar season”, which began three years ago when he received delivery of the Bugatti Chiron. And he has since booked his third Bugatti: The Bolide, a track-only hyper sports car touted as a pur sang powerhouse with a 8.0-litre W16 engine, to be delivered in 2024.All show horses, of course, as Bugatti only produces left-hand drives and therefore can never be legally driven on Singapore roads.
“It was amazing,” he said, recalling the experience. “People say this is the fastest car in the world and so it must be very intimidating to drive. I have the Ferraris and McLarens and I know how aggressive those cars are and not everybody can drive them. But when I jumped into the Chiron, I was amazed at how easy it was to drive.”“Getting the car to 250km/h was no sweat and you don’t feel it. My son managed to clock 355km/h on the Portugal highway, breaking my record.
It all began with a humble beetle. The first vehicle in Chin’s enviable collection was a 1970 Volkswagen Beetle, which he acquired in 1986. It wasn’t expensive nor impressive, but what it had was character. “It was a fantastic car. I fell in love with it and went to the dealer and traded in my Ferrari and just took the car home,” he recalled.
On work days, Chin is chauffeured in either his Bentley Flying Spur or Rolls-Royce Ghost, and when he drives himself, he often opts for – believe it or not – his made-in-Malaysia Proton X50 or Proton X70.
It’s midlife crisis, lah.
So he boasted about committing an illegal offence on Msia highway 😂 and the police has been sufficiently greased