The Spectacular Car Collection of JP Chin.

Businessman and car collector JP Chin with sons TP and TM — Kieffer Carrascal

KUALA LUMPUR—A Mclaren P1. A Lamborghini Murcielago LP 670 Super Veloce. A Mercedes-Benz SLS. A Ferrari 308 GTB. A 1915 Ford Model T. A DeLorean, just like the one Marty McFly drove in the film Back to the Future. Several Porsche 911s. And at least two Bugattis, with a third one on the way.

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These are just some of the cars in the personal collection of Malaysian businessman Chin Jit Pyng, or JP Chin as he is more commonly called. Located in Kota Damansara, in the outskirts of the capital Kuala Lumpur, the massive car collection is housed in what is called the JPM Museo, which is touted as the biggest and most impressive in all of Southeast Asia. The collection is so big that even Chin and his sons Tzer Jinn (TJ), Tzer Pinn (TP), and Tzer Minn (TM)—who help him manage and maintain the cars—don’t even know how many they have exactly.

Malaysian businessman and car collector JP Chin

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“My brother TM told me earlier it was 180,” TJ tells Esquire Philippines during an exclusive visit to the garage here where all the cars are kept. “Garage” may be a bit too simplistic though: it’s a three-story building with several different wings and a mezzanine level, fully airconditioned with a giant elevator capable of transporting up to two regular-sized cars at a time.

“I’m not sure if he has the number correct, because it was a while back (when we counted); the number is probably higher. But then again, the cars are in and out. So, who knows?” TJ adds with a grin.

Who is JP Chin

The Chins’ story is well-known in Malaysia. The patriarch, JP, is the founder of Silverlake Innovation Partners, an information technology company whose main product powers major financial institutions in their home country of Malaysia. Their clients include KWSP Malaysia, Affin Bank, Bank Islam, and many others.

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Chin has passed on his love for automobiles to his three sons, who now help run and maintain the car museum

While the Chins have done very well for themselves today, life wasn’t always so glamorous.

“My grandfather, in his life, never had a new car,” TJ says. “He was always buying secondhand (things). So, in a way, as you can imagine, that is a complete reverse motivation to my father, and to me. (My father) wanted to buy new things. He wants to buy things that he loves.”

JP actually started collecting bicycles and, eventually, motorbikes. When he started working for IBM in the U.K., his first car purchase was an Alfa Romeo Alfasud Ti 200, which, objectively, just looked fantastic.

vintage car, JP Chin car collection — Kieffer Carrascal

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A selection of vintage cars, including a Ford Model T (foreground)

PHOTO: Kieffer Carrascal

“He was married then, but there was no harm having a car that caught women's attention,” TJ says with a hearty laugh.

After JP returned to Malaysia, he started buying more cars, slowly adding to his collection. In the beginning, cars were a practical purchase. When he was younger TJ says the family only had two cars—one for his father, one for his mother.

“As my father became more successful, he had a chance to collect maybe one or two sports cars,” TJ says. “I recall it was around 1996 or 1997; our very first sports car was a Porsche Boxster. After that we had a few more, like Ferraris and so on. So, the collection at that point were things that we can use and things that fulfill a certain dream of ours.”

luxury cars, JP Chin car collection — Kieffer Carrascal

Tractors from Porsche and Lamborghini

PHOTO: Kieffer Carrascal

Later on, JP began looking into purchasing cars as an investment.

“As many people who collect cars will know, those cars are typically depreciating assets,” TJ says. “So when you take over a car, you lose maybe 20, 30 percent almost immediately. But some cars actually appreciate in value over time.”

Deciding on which cars to collect

TJ explains about buying a car if there is a correction value, which can be a bit of a guessing game as far as specific cars are concerned. They may think a car could be worth a lot more in time, but that may not always be the case. But when they turn out to be right and a car does end up becoming worth more than what they paid for it in the long run, TJ says they see that as a win.

Chin purchased most of these classic American cars over a two-month period during the pandemic

sports car, JP Chin car collection — Kieffer Carrascal

“For example, we collect some Porsche GT3 RS,” TJ says. “Those are currently, at least, for now, still appreciating assets. We collect some limited-edition Mercedes-Benz AMG Black Series. We think it's an appreciating asset. At the same time, we also had some modern supercars like Aventador, which maintains its value.

“So we started to be a bit more picky about what we collect,” he adds. “At the same time, while we are moving away from the modern, what we do is we go back to some of the more classic, or some of the more unique pieces that have sentimental value for us.”

The Ford GT 40 that appeared in the film Crazy Rich Asians

PHOTO: PJ Cana

TJ says deciding on which car to add to the collection depends a lot on emotion. It could be a car that he or someone else in the family liked when they were younger.

“There are some vehicles that I wanted to own, and I needed the right time to do it in terms of price. Or for that matter, it may just appeal to you from an aesthetic standpoint. Some cars, they just have sex appeal to people who like cars. You see it, you like it, you want to own it. So that's another choice.

The McLaren P1

TJ Chin's Nissan GT-R Skyline which he drove when he was a professional racecar driver

Nisan GTR, luxury cars, JP Chin car collection — Kieffer Carrascal

Mercedes-Benz SLS and Mclaren SLR

PHOTO: Kieffer Carrascal

“Other times, maybe there’s a story behind the vehicle that is unique and so that makes you want to have it. There're a few pieces in the museum with that kind of background. So, it's very much like that.”

In terms of buying a car as an investment, TJ says they rely on their own gut feel as car enthusiasts. “If it's something that appeals to us as enthusiasts, they most likely will also appeal to other enthusiasts. So naturally they should be investment value. That's how we curate the collection.”

A project car: Suzuki Jimny modified to look (and sound) like a Mercedes-Benz G-Wagon

The cars in the JPM Museo

Visiting the Chins’ garage is an extremely rare privilege. Only friends of the family and friends of friends are granted access to view the cars. The car collection is divided into sections. The first floor has the Japanese cars, including a selection of so-called “kei cars” or compact automobiles. Adjacent to it is the collection of tractors—yes, the farm staple—including a couple from Lamborghini and Porsche.

A Porsche 911

luxury car, JP Chin car collection — Kieffer Carrascal

Then there is a section of vintage cars, including a few Rolls-Royces, Cadillacs, a Ford Model T, and even a replica of the Benz Patent Motorwagen built in 1886, which is widely considered to be the world’s first automobile. There’s also a section on Ford Mustangs.

Up one floor, one of the first cars displayed just outside the elevator is a Ford GT 40 that made an appearance in the film Crazy Rich Asians. Also in this floor is the so-called movies section, with model cars featured in films like Gone in 60 Seconds, the James Bond series, Herbie: Fully Loaded, and, of course, Back to the Future. At the opposite end is a selection of Porsche 911s: a 991, 930, 997, 993, a 930 turbo, and a Martini Edition.

One special car is a Nissan Falken Skyline GTR R34 that TJ used to drive back when he was still a racer. TJ won the 24-hour Nurburgring Nordschleife race in 2004 and came in first runner up at the Merdeka Millennium Endurance Race in 2006 in this car.

An extra engine for TJ's Nissan Skyline GT-R

The Ferrari section

Lamborghinis

PHOTO: Kieffer Carrascal

In the Italy section is a row of Lamborghinis, including a Countach, a Diablo (only 40 units were ever built), and a Murcielago SV (116 units worldwide); and Ferraris, including an F430, an Enzo, and a 308 GTB. The German and British sections also have their own showstoppers, including a Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren, Rolls-Royce Ghost, Aston Martin DB9 and V8 Vantage. A relatively new purchase—a yellow Lotus Eletre, which is a fully electric SUV—has yet to make its way in the permanent collection as it is still currently being driven.

Perhaps one of the most frequently asked questions that JP, TJ, and the rest of the family often gets asked about the car collection is whether they still have time to actually drive the cars. The easy answer is: they try.

“We get quite busy nowadays, and there's also family life to take care of,” TJ says. “In a sense, we have lesser time for ourselves to enjoy the vehicles. For example, in front of me, there's an AMG GTR Black Series. The car just came back from a duty-free island and I still have not found the time to drive it. That's one challenge.”

The collection of off-roaders

TJ Chin says he's looking to collect EVs next

Another challenge is the physical effort of moving the cars from the museum. The Mercedes-Benz SLS that TJ really likes, for example, is located in one corner of the top floor of the museum. Just to get the car out would necessitate moving five to as many as 10 cars, and TJ says he just doesn’t want to burden the staff, only for them to do the same thing all over again when he’s done driving the car and it needs to be put back in its original position.

“What we do is pick maybe a few vehicles that we maybe drive once in a while, just to get a feel of it,” he says.

The facade of the JPM Museum

Adding new cars to the collection

We asked TJ if he knows the value of the entire collection. He answered that, just like figuring out the actual number of cars that they have now, arriving at a definitive valuation of all the cars is next to impossible. Because the cars go in and out, new cars are coming in and others are let go or sold, the value fluctuates wildly. What TJ is sure of, at least, is that they’re looking to add more units to the collection. And that’s where electric vehicles (EVs) come in. The collector revealed that he actually just placed an order for a new Tesla and is quite excited about the Seal-U (Sealion 6) from Chinese EV brand BYD.

German and Italian cars setion

“I find it interesting that a lot of people who love automotive are not really into EVs,” he says. “For me, maybe because I'm in the software business, I'm actually quite supportive of EVs. That's the reason why, between BYD and Tesla at this point, I felt Tesla had a unique user experience that I wanted to try.

“But the challenge with EVs is that you are not too sure yet if the prices have reached a point or a level where it doesn't deteriorate further,” he adds. “We used to have a Posche Taycan. I loved that car. I think it’s one of the best driving experiences I’ve had next to a Bugatti. We sold it just before the price started to drop. So, in a way we were happy that we had the experience and, at the same time we managed to recover some of the purchasing price into it.”

A selection of Mercedes-Benz cars

Still, the family isn’t completely turning their backs on ICE (internal combustion engines) just yet. TJ says they still receive offers from sellers from all over.

“But we take our time to figure out if this fits into our collection for our personal use cases,” he explains.

Four Bugattis

Perhaps the jewels in the Chins’ car collection aren’t actually in the JPM Museum…yet. Located in a private facility in neighboring Singapore are two units of Bugatti hypercars—a Chiron and a Divo. To give you an idea just how special, and incredibly expensive, these cars are, only 40 units were ever made of the Divo, and one costs a cool $5.9 million (about P334 million). Meanwhile, production for the Chiron ended after 500 units, and each one was sold for $3.3 million (P187 million). JP said they put in an order for two more Bugattis; the third one is due to arrive later this year, while the fourth is scheduled for delivery in 2026.

Chin's Bugatti Divo is located in a private facility in Singapore

PHOTO: Kieffer Carrascal

Bugatti Divo and Chiron

Bugatti, luxury cars, JP Chin car collection — Kieffer Carrascal

Sharing space with the Chins’ Bugattis in Singapore is another very special car: a Porsche 918 Spyder. We crossed over to Singapore from Kuala Lumpur for an exclusive glimpse into the three cars, and each one is just as eye-popping and breathtaking as one would expect.

Will the Chins ever complete their collection?

“Unlikely,” TJ says. “Like in many dynamics of human relationships, you always have a check and balance. In most families, the general idea is that children want the car and the father will be more conservative about it. But in this family, it’s the other way around: the father is more passionate, the children are more prudent.

“I suppose everything has a phase,” he adds. “So for example, in the instance of EVs, I cannot yet find a practical reason that I need an EV car. Nevertheless, because of the excitement on the BYD Seal U, I suddenly want to collect a few electric cars. I feel that they are going to be generally quite similar to (ICEs) in terms of their driving dynamics. But nevertheless, the car has to have an appeal in me that I want to collect a few. Because of that reason I'm quite sure that there will come a time that I will also be less rational about cars that I want to add to our collection.”

A peek inside the Bugatti Divo interior

Chin is set to add to his Bugatti collection with a third unit coming later in 2024

TJ also mentioned how he and his brother TM differ in their approach to cars.

“TM is very passionate in terms of restoring Porsches,” he explains. “So when you think about it, I'm looking forward, towards more modern automobiles, and he's looking back, in the more historical context. Because of that, I'm sure we will find interesting cars to collect, to restore, and to keep in our collection. So, in that sense, I don't imagine that we will be ever done with the collection. If anything, we are hoping that we can find the financial and economic power to continue this particular family hobby.”

The Esquire Philippines team flew to Kuala Lumpur and Singapore onboard official airline partner Cebu Pacific.

Nearly 200 Cars and Counting: The Spectacular Car Collection of JP Chin Needs to Be Seen to Be Believed

Who is JP Chin

Deciding on which cars to collect

The cars in the JPM Museo

Adding new cars to the collection

Four Bugattis