Bugatti Veyron......
Thread Starter
Joined: May 2003
Posts: 23,329
Likes: 6
From: Norfolk
Bugatti Veyron......
I was browsing the WWW for some info on something (not related to the Veyron) and I tripped over this report and thought it made a good read. Not too fascinating, but worth a glance......
Today's Miami Herald had a very surprising bit of information on its front page:
The only BUGATTI VEYRON in North America is in MIAMI, FLORIDA!
Dates: Tuesday 28 February thru Thursday 2 March (actually, it's been here since Saturday)
Times: 9 AM to 7 PM
Location: Braman Rolls-Royce / BMW
2020 Biscayne Boulevard
Miami, FL
Miami Herald reporter, Nick Spangler takes a
test spin in the 1,001-hp Bugatti Veyron
across the MacArthur Causeway on Saturday
S. Fla. gets glimpse of world's priciest car
BY NICHOLAS SPANGLER
The client currently drives a used Honda Accord that does 0 to 60 in as long as it damn well pleases. He is thinking of upgrading. He wants a $1.4 million Bugatti Veyron. It has the power of 1,001 horses and tops out at 254 miles per hour. It is the fastest, most expensive new car in the world. Only 300 will ever be made, and right now there is only one in North America.
The Veyron was parked at the Braman BMW dealership on Biscayne Boulevard on Saturday -- where it will stay for the rest of this week -- when the client showed up for a test drive. It made the $340,000 Rolls Royce Phantoms around it look like fat cows. It was black and low-slung, with silver mesh intakes and sharp raised windsplits. It was full of menace. The client thought of Darth Vader's helmet, and of the vehicle Darth might choose if he got very rich and moved to Florida.
''We've had around eight or 10 serious prospects come by,'' said Ashley Ellott, the dealership's director of marketing. They were all men and include a Mexican industrialist, a cardiologist from Texas and garden-variety capitalists.
LET'S GO FOR A RIDE
Ashley introduced Pierre-Henri Raphanel, Bugatti's pilote officiel, a former race car driver. Pierre would drive first, just to show what the car could do. Pierre was extremely French. ''A quarter turn of ze key, and zen ze waiting for checking on ze data from the car, and press ze starter,'' he said. ``It cannot be more simple.''
Pierre eased the Veyron out of the lot and down Biscayne. The interior was lined with Alcantara suede dyed the shade of a nice Bordeaux, and the seats, floor and doors were upholstered in matching leather.
''I call it the beauty and the beast,'' Pierre said. ``Even with all the power, it is very relaxing. Even in America, where you have terrible roads. In France it is the opposite: We are spending a lot of money on the roads, but at the end there is no money left to buy cars.''
Pierre took the MacArthur to Watson Island, onto a road next to the Miami Children's Museum. Not many children were around, so it was a good place to do what Pierre did next, which was accelerate to 100 miles per hour in around three seconds, take his hands off the wheel and come to a complete stop in another three seconds.
''You see? It stops in a straight line,'' he said.
The client smiled and said a very, very bad word that would have shocked the children at the museum. Some young men who had seen the performance approached and joyfully unleashed almost two minutes of almost-as-bad words. A sort of motif was developing: All afternoon, young men walked up to the Veyron and swore.
''Do you like it?'' the client said. ``I just picked it up.''
''C'mon bro, I love it,'' said one of the men. ``I can't believe I saw that. I didn't even. . . . Yo, I'm happy for you, bro. Just wear your safety belt.''
The client took the wheel and drove to South Beach. He turned onto Ocean Drive. In no time, the 1,001-horsepower, 16-cylinder Veyron was stuck in traffic, which had, truthfully, been the client's plan all along.
IN THE SPOTLIGHT
Pedestrians stopped walking. They gasped. They took photos. Everybody smiled. At the cafes, they got up from their chairs and watched. ''Is that somebody famous?'' asked a woman in very tight white pants.
Sometimes the client waved to them, as royalty might to the commoners. Sometimes he pretended not to notice, but their eyes had curiousity and envy and love like gravitational force.
Later that afternoon, the client had an epiphany. It happened on the way back across the MacArthur Causeway, after he stopped for a red light. He looked to the car on his right and the one behind. There was not a police car in sight. The other drivers looked back. They knew exactly what he was going to do. He accelerated the Veyron from a dead stop to 120 miles per hour. There was no roar as the gears ran up because the windows came up automatically. G-force pressed the client's head back into the supple leather of his headrest, and when he slowed, the cars behind him had vanished. He realized he had to have this car.
He thought this over as he pulled into the Checkers drive-through. NASCAR combo or a fish sandwich, maybe? No, Pierre wasn't hungry and the client could not bear to eat, so he got a medium Coke. $1.4 million doesn't buy you a drink holder, but some things can be overlooked.
THE FINAL DECISION
The client could not escape buying this car, and that conviction has not changed.
This is problematic in at least two regards. First, Geico, the company that insures his Honda Accord, is unable to offer insurance on any terms for his new vehicle, because of its price. ''Are you going to be keeping the Honda if you get the Bugatti?'' asked Michelle, the sales agent he phoned.
''I don't think so,'' he said.
''Well, we're going to be sorry to lose you,'' Michelle said.
The second, vastly more problematic regard, is money. Just now, he calculated that if he doesn't eat or pay taxes for the next 28 years, he will have just enough to buy the car but nothing left over for gas.
People along Ocean Drive gape in awe as
Spangler cruises past in his somewhat
pricey Bugatti Veyron
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
I particularly like this bit......
Today's Miami Herald had a very surprising bit of information on its front page:
The only BUGATTI VEYRON in North America is in MIAMI, FLORIDA!
Dates: Tuesday 28 February thru Thursday 2 March (actually, it's been here since Saturday)
Times: 9 AM to 7 PM
Location: Braman Rolls-Royce / BMW
2020 Biscayne Boulevard
Miami, FL
Miami Herald reporter, Nick Spangler takes a
test spin in the 1,001-hp Bugatti Veyron
across the MacArthur Causeway on Saturday
S. Fla. gets glimpse of world's priciest car
BY NICHOLAS SPANGLER
The client currently drives a used Honda Accord that does 0 to 60 in as long as it damn well pleases. He is thinking of upgrading. He wants a $1.4 million Bugatti Veyron. It has the power of 1,001 horses and tops out at 254 miles per hour. It is the fastest, most expensive new car in the world. Only 300 will ever be made, and right now there is only one in North America.
The Veyron was parked at the Braman BMW dealership on Biscayne Boulevard on Saturday -- where it will stay for the rest of this week -- when the client showed up for a test drive. It made the $340,000 Rolls Royce Phantoms around it look like fat cows. It was black and low-slung, with silver mesh intakes and sharp raised windsplits. It was full of menace. The client thought of Darth Vader's helmet, and of the vehicle Darth might choose if he got very rich and moved to Florida.
''We've had around eight or 10 serious prospects come by,'' said Ashley Ellott, the dealership's director of marketing. They were all men and include a Mexican industrialist, a cardiologist from Texas and garden-variety capitalists.
LET'S GO FOR A RIDE
Ashley introduced Pierre-Henri Raphanel, Bugatti's pilote officiel, a former race car driver. Pierre would drive first, just to show what the car could do. Pierre was extremely French. ''A quarter turn of ze key, and zen ze waiting for checking on ze data from the car, and press ze starter,'' he said. ``It cannot be more simple.''
Pierre eased the Veyron out of the lot and down Biscayne. The interior was lined with Alcantara suede dyed the shade of a nice Bordeaux, and the seats, floor and doors were upholstered in matching leather.
''I call it the beauty and the beast,'' Pierre said. ``Even with all the power, it is very relaxing. Even in America, where you have terrible roads. In France it is the opposite: We are spending a lot of money on the roads, but at the end there is no money left to buy cars.''
Pierre took the MacArthur to Watson Island, onto a road next to the Miami Children's Museum. Not many children were around, so it was a good place to do what Pierre did next, which was accelerate to 100 miles per hour in around three seconds, take his hands off the wheel and come to a complete stop in another three seconds.
''You see? It stops in a straight line,'' he said.
The client smiled and said a very, very bad word that would have shocked the children at the museum. Some young men who had seen the performance approached and joyfully unleashed almost two minutes of almost-as-bad words. A sort of motif was developing: All afternoon, young men walked up to the Veyron and swore.
''Do you like it?'' the client said. ``I just picked it up.''
''C'mon bro, I love it,'' said one of the men. ``I can't believe I saw that. I didn't even. . . . Yo, I'm happy for you, bro. Just wear your safety belt.''
The client took the wheel and drove to South Beach. He turned onto Ocean Drive. In no time, the 1,001-horsepower, 16-cylinder Veyron was stuck in traffic, which had, truthfully, been the client's plan all along.
IN THE SPOTLIGHT
Pedestrians stopped walking. They gasped. They took photos. Everybody smiled. At the cafes, they got up from their chairs and watched. ''Is that somebody famous?'' asked a woman in very tight white pants.
Sometimes the client waved to them, as royalty might to the commoners. Sometimes he pretended not to notice, but their eyes had curiousity and envy and love like gravitational force.
Later that afternoon, the client had an epiphany. It happened on the way back across the MacArthur Causeway, after he stopped for a red light. He looked to the car on his right and the one behind. There was not a police car in sight. The other drivers looked back. They knew exactly what he was going to do. He accelerated the Veyron from a dead stop to 120 miles per hour. There was no roar as the gears ran up because the windows came up automatically. G-force pressed the client's head back into the supple leather of his headrest, and when he slowed, the cars behind him had vanished. He realized he had to have this car.
He thought this over as he pulled into the Checkers drive-through. NASCAR combo or a fish sandwich, maybe? No, Pierre wasn't hungry and the client could not bear to eat, so he got a medium Coke. $1.4 million doesn't buy you a drink holder, but some things can be overlooked.
THE FINAL DECISION
The client could not escape buying this car, and that conviction has not changed.
This is problematic in at least two regards. First, Geico, the company that insures his Honda Accord, is unable to offer insurance on any terms for his new vehicle, because of its price. ''Are you going to be keeping the Honda if you get the Bugatti?'' asked Michelle, the sales agent he phoned.
''I don't think so,'' he said.
''Well, we're going to be sorry to lose you,'' Michelle said.
The second, vastly more problematic regard, is money. Just now, he calculated that if he doesn't eat or pay taxes for the next 28 years, he will have just enough to buy the car but nothing left over for gas.
People along Ocean Drive gape in awe as
Spangler cruises past in his somewhat
pricey Bugatti Veyron
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
I particularly like this bit......
Pierre took the MacArthur to Watson Island, onto a road next to the Miami Children's Museum. Not many children were around, so it was a good place to do what Pierre did next, which was accelerate to 100 miles per hour in around three seconds, take his hands off the wheel and come to a complete stop in another three seconds.
''You see? It stops in a straight line,'' he said.
''You see? It stops in a straight line,'' he said.
BOLLOCKS 
PassionFord Post Troll
Joined: May 2004
Posts: 2,909
Likes: 1
I liked this bit..
Can't imagine many NHS cardiologists being able to afford one of these 
''We've had around eight or 10 serious prospects come by,'' said Ashley Ellott, the dealership's director of marketing. They were all men and include a Mexican industrialist, a cardiologist from Texas and garden-variety capitalists.
Trending Topics
Thread
Thread Starter
Forum
Replies
Last Post
MadMac
General Car Related Discussion.
12
Dec 29, 2010 11:26 PM
