Steve 96C4S

So I met my Boxster owning uncle in York, PA tonight and finally got to drive his 07 Seal Grey, chocolate brown interior, w/ brown top Boxster. That car is a GAS with it's short shifting shifter and wonderful handling. I was blown away by it, wanting one myself. He keeps the top down even in the winter when it's snowing lightly. He's hard core.

So back to the Bugatti story. Turns out the insurance on it is... are you ready for this? Can you even guess?

$17k per month. He's shipping it back to England to get the windshield fixed and some other reasons I can't remember right now (see the pics below). He told my uncle that the license plate was VERY expensive (what isn't on this car?) The "L2" license plate was outrageously costly to get. No more info on that though. He did get access to the car eventually and took these pics. There's more to the story than I knew at the time I started this post.

So my uncle's daughter is in real estate in Miami and works with a successful real estate agent in South Beach who sold his friend this house. The guy that bought the house is a billionaire and owns the Bugatti, which he said my uncle could drive, but apparently he wasn't around when my uncle stopped by. Instead of driving it he merely got to sit in it! Oh well...

Here's the owner's house:


The cracked, $60K windshield


Odd interior on a 2.2 mill car


The top to the car


He also owns this maxed out Escalade


Funky wheels




My cousin, her friend and the wild lights on the car


Cool license plate. I think it's his England plate


The real estate friend, not the owner


My uncle in car heaven, for him...




Some may not like the looks, but my uncle LIVES for convertibles


His says his next car will be a Ferrari Convertible or the Porsche 918. I can't imagine him ever parting with his Boxster though as he loves it so much.


Looks like a futuristic car


His daughter (my cousin)




Getting ready to be loaded up on the truck


The truck driver and the real estate guy


Almost ready


All buttoned up


Cheap thrills for the truck driver


Bugatti in the house, folks.


It may not be beautiful to all you guys, but I think it's pretty damn cool in white


Up, Up and away

My uncle said that when he drove it up on this, it had so much torque that the piece of wood spun away at one point


Bye bye




I thought you'd get a kick out of these additional pics, today. It was a labor of love of cars posting them. We spent the day today at the hot rod show in York PA with the largest collection of hot rods in the country. We saw one lone VERY early 356 or something even predating a 356. It was really tiny. If you ever get to York PA next year for this show I'd highly recommend it. Even if you're not a hot rod guy like we weren't, anyone would enjoy seeing these beauties. It's going on tomorrow June 6th. Here's pics of the 07 show...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4HMpHDXJYU



Cheers,
Steve R

payam972

atleast it has some 993-esque hips...

boulderbobo

she's yummy

AOW162435

The whole windshield thing still boggles my mind.


Andreas

Steve 96C4S

Yes, and here's another crazy factoid for you -

If want to change the tire you must send the rim/tire to Bugatti as they will exchange it with a new rim/tire. Bugatti will not let you take the rim/tire to a wheel shop.....Kinda wierd huh?

AOW162435

That's the kind of proprietary-bull****-exclusivity reserved for the ultra-rich. No thanks.


Andreas

Canyon56

+1

It's also the kind of proprietary-bull****-exclusivity that smart marketing people do to make the ultra-rich feel ultra-special while taking their money.

timothymoffat

^^^Agreed. I also think it's VAG doing their best to recover some of the development money for the car. When it comes to "Supercars", everyone should have stopped trying after the Mclaren F1 (though the CGT runs a close 2nd).

AOW162435

Well said.

Word.


Andreas

KMASS993

These cars are really over the top. I remember watching Top Gear and hearing that the wiper stalks were made out of Magnesium and cost $14K a piece. I know someone that had a one off special edition commissioned. The car was literally flown to his doorstep, Bugatti does not screw around. I've seen it in person and must say it is amazing. It's one of three that he currently owns.

Canyon56

They make Porsches look pretty small in comparison. When I went to my local body shop to get clear corners, turbo ducts, and a bumperette delete done, my poor old 993 looked tiny squished in between a Veyron and a Phantom.

Steve 96C4S

Your local body shop has some wild cars in there! What a picture! ... not something you see every day The Veyron and Phantom with a 993 squeezed between).

Mark Harris

What was the owner of the Civic having done?

944CS

I'm going to go ahead and say, that's the kind of proprietary care needed for a 2 ton car capable of 220+mph, everyday.

Bugatti needs to uphold it's reputation. Their first filter is the cost of the car. If you can afford that car then you can pay the price for the correct tires. Z rated tires don't cut it for this vehicle. Next, tire and wheel balance are extremely important in a car capable of these speeds, not to mention the fact that it is a luxury car. If it were a $45k Infiniti you would expect the thing to ride perfectly, what do you expect in a $2 million Bugatti? It's just their way of controlling the quality of their product, which has extremely high capabilities unmatched by other models.

Steve 96C4S

Good points and ... the Bugatti would have to be pretty big to accommodate that 1000 HP engine! By the way, one of the Denver Nuggets just bought one.


The Veyron features an 8.0 litre W16 engine with sixteen cylinders in two banks of eight, equivalent to two narrow-angle V8 engines mated in a "W" configuration. Each cylinder has four valves for a total of sixty four, but the narrow staggered eight configuration allows two overhead camshafts to drive two banks of cylinders so only four camshafts are needed. The engine is fed by four turbochargers and displaces 7,993 cubic centimetres (487.8 cu in), with a square 86 mm by 86 mm (3.4 in × 3.4 in) bore and stroke.

The transmission is a dual-clutch direct-shift gearbox computer-controlled automatic with seven gear ratios, with magnesium paddles behind the steering wheel and a shift time of less than 150 milliseconds, by Ricardo of England rather than Borg-Warner, who designed the six speed DSG used in the mainstream Volkswagen Group marques. The Veyron can be driven in either semi- or fully-automatic mode. A replacement transmission for the Veyron costs just over $120,000. It also has permanent four wheel drive using the Haldex Traction system.

It uses special Michelin PAX run flat tyres, designed specifically to accommodate the Veyron's top speed, which reportedly cost $25,000 US per set.[2] The tyres can only be removed from the rims in France, a service which reportedly costs $70,000. Kerb weight is 2,034.8 kilograms (4,486 lb).[2] This gives the car a power to weight ratio, according to Volkswagen Group's 1,001 metric horsepower (736 kW; 987 bhp) figures, of 446.3 bhp per ton.
The car's wheelbase is 2,710 mm (106.7 in). Overall length is 4,462 mm (175.7 in), width 1,998 mm (78.7 in) and height 1,204 mm (47.4 in).


The Veyron's hydraulic rear spoiler in the extended position
The Bugatti Veyron has a total of ten radiators.
4 radiators for the engine cooling system.
1 heat exchanger for the air to liquid intercoolers.
2 for the air conditioning system.
1 transmission oil radiator.
1 differential oil radiator.
1 engine oil radiator.
It has a drag coefficient of 0.41 (normal condition) and 0.36 (after lowering to the ground),[4] and a frontal area of 2.07 square metres (22.3 sq ft).[5] This gives it a CdA ft² value of 8.02.
[edit]Engine output
According to Volkswagen Group and certified by TÜV Süddeutschland, the final production Veyron engine produces 1,001 metric horsepower (736 kW; 987 bhp) of motive power, and generates 1,250 newton metres (922 ft·lbf) of torque.[6] The nominal figure has been stated by Bugatti officials to be conservative, with the real total being 1020 bhp or more.