Which cars do Australia’s richest drive?

They say money can’t buy you happiness, but clearly it can buy you some special cars.

The Australian’s annual Richest 250 list was revealed this week, and the humble motor vehicle is a consistent theme throughout, both in terms of building wealth and helping the super-rich spend it.

At number 18 on the list is Lindsay Fox, the self-made transport pioneer whose Linfox trucks are synonymous with Australia’s major highways and arterial roads.

Along with a fleet of 5000 trucks,  Mr Fox, 81, holds the keys to precious metal including the Ferrari F40 and Ferrari 288 GTO, Mercedes-Benz 300SL Gullwing, Porsche RSK and a Jaguar XJ220 – what was once the world’s fastest production car.

Lindsay Fox’s love of cars spawned the creation of a dedicated museum in Victoria – a conceivable idea when your fortune stands at $3.52 billion.

Another man who is well versed on elaborate car collections is Tony Denny (number 228 on the list, $415 million).

Denny made much of his fortune importing cars into Russia through his AAA Autos empire, but is better known in Australian car circles for his Gosford Classic Car museum. The museum, which until recently doubled as a showroom, included eclectic machines such as the Lamborghini Countach and Porsche 911 R until the Australian Taxation Office reportedly forced its closure earlier this year.

Elsewhere on the list, at number 37, 38 and 39, is another car-loving family, the Shahins. Khalil, Samer and Yasser Shahin (all worth $1.84 billion) are joint owners in the Peregrine Corporation, the company behind South Australia’s ubiquitous network of On the Run service stations, among other things.

Sam Shahin, in particular, is quite fond of cars. He reportedly injected $200 million into the incredible The Bend motorsport precinct at Tailem Bend. We’ve visited on numerous occasions and the sheer scale of the place is incredible. There’s also an in-house museum that’s home to uber-elite supercars including the Ferrari LaFerrari and 991.2-generation Porsche 911 GT2 RS.

On the topic of collecting appreciable cars, it seems there’s a fortune to be made in selling them as well.

The Australian’s Richest 250 list includes car retailers such as Nick Politis (number 56, $1.52 billion), Laurie Sutton (number 126, $802 million) and Neville Bertalli & family (number 215, $461 million), along with distributor Neville Crichton (number 237, $396 million), who is executive chairman of Ateco Group – responsible for establishing many of Australia’s mainstream car brands.

Entrepreneur Patrick Grove (number 120, $841 million) used the internet to build his fortune. Grove has many interests, one of those being the Australian-listed iCar Asia, which operates automotive sales portals in Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand.

Finally, we come to number 97 on the list, Ralph Sarich, whose fortune is valued at $978 million. Sarich is now a Perth-based property investor, but made his fortune in the 1980s when he sold the rotary engine design for $500 million.