$1.25 MILLION car ends up in salt marsh-pelican and dropped cell phone blamed

[underpants]

Man distracted by bird drives Bugatti into marsh

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091113/ap_on_fe_st/us_odd_lagoon_bugatti

LA MARQUE, Texas – A man blamed a low-flying pelican and a dropped cell phone for his veering his million-dollar sports car off a road and into a salt marsh near Galveston. The accident happened about 3 p.m. Wednesday on the frontage road of Interstate 45 northbound in La Marque, about 35 miles southeast of Houston.

The Lufkin, Texas, man told of driving his luxury, French-built Bugatti Veyron when the bird distracted him, said La Marque police Lt. Greg Gilchrist. The motorist dropped his cell phone, reached to pick it up and veered off the road and into the salt marsh. The car was half-submerged in the brine about 20 feet from the road when police arrived.

Gilchrist said he doesn't know if the car was salvageable, but in his words, "Salt water isn't good for anything." He says the man, whose identity hasn't been released, was not injured.

A 2006 Bugatti Veyron was recently offered for sale in Jonesboro, Ark., for $1.25 million.

[Schema Thing]

1. In Sure Ants

[gmoney]

3. Duh maz

[underpants]

4. Maybe it was the denim shorts

[gmoney]

16. I think that shot is a tow truck crew guy

there's video on youtube of them pulling the car out of the marsh, and this guy got to attach the straps... fun? Not...

[hippywife]

2. Pelican. Yeah right.

It was the reaching for the cell phone that did it. Bank on it.

[hobbit709]

5. More money than brains.

There are people in Lufkin who can afford a car like this? Who knew.

[rurallib]

12. could be parked next to the double wide.

:evilgrin:

[mopinko]

17. i wondered for a second if it was my ex, who lives in lufkin.

he doesn't have that kind of money, but he is crazy/stupid enough to borrow it if someone would lend it.

[sarge43]

6. Up and down the Gulf Coast birds are laughing their asses off.

"Way to go, Jack!"

[Haole Girl]

7. I'm sure speed had nothing to do with that

:eyes:

[Orrex]

8. DUer slackmaster found a YouTube video of it

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=7019026&mesg_id=7019044

No pelican in the video, as far as I can see!

[underpants]

10. HA!

I am posted this on the facebook page where I saw this

tooooo funny

I didn't see no pelican

[MorningGlow]

9. May Jeremy, James, and Richard beat him with a tire iron for his negligence

:rofl:

[kentauros]

23. Maybe they'll cover this story in a Top Gear ep

:D

Of course, I'll expect to hear plenty of jokes and insults about Texas...

[MorningGlow]

24. They might--the new season is on now

Starting tonight (yay!) and they film from week to week, so their "news" segment is always current. Will keep an eye out for it, that's for sure!

[flvegan]

25. I'm DL

the torrent right now!

TOP GEAR IS BAAAAAAAACK!!!!

[MorningGlow]

26. Me too!

My accelerator says it's still going to take three hours. DAMMIT. x( Sometimes I hit it just right and it downloads in 15 minutes. Other times not so lucky. Watching a TiVo-ed rerun (the race in Japan) right now but IT'S NOT THE SAME!

[flvegan]

27. Hopefully it'll speed up for you as more folks finish

and start seeding. Mine says 20 minutes left until done!!!

[MorningGlow]

28. Hope so. CAN'T...WAIT--!

MG spontaneously combusting --> :nuke:

:bounce: :bounce: :bounce:

[newcriminal]

11. Even if you have all the money you could want,

why would anyone pay 1.25 million for a car?

[Orrex]

13. Maybe he traded in his "clunker" Countach for it?

Seriously. Unless the car can make .5 past light speed and has an olympic-sized pool inside, I can't see what would justify the cost.

I mean, I'm sorry if he's compensating for something, but...

[sarge43]

14. It fulfilled his need for a meaningful relationship.

It didn't care if his one and only pickup line is "Great rack, baybee."

[Mopar151]

46. I can tell you that most "car guys" would'nt

There are a very few classics that command these sorts of prices - but they have history, provenance, and exclusivity.

Vintage racing is what God is gonna take up, soon as he gets some money together... but to the vintage racers who have that sort of boodle to throw around, the fun potential is much better with several cars, along with a "toterhome" and a multi-car trailer with a shop.
I did a little "shopping" $300K buys this showboat

$52K for this, HSR & PCA legal, complete

89K for this bullet
Practically new race car. SCCA, NASA, HSR, & SVRA eligible. Best of everything & no expense spared restoration.


Pick up a sweet ride for cruising to dinner
$29k, Niiice!

Buy all the tools, equipment, food and lawn chairs, you still havent spent half a Bugatti!


And so it goes... No, you can't drive race cars this radical on the street - but if you drive an ultra-performance car like the Veyron at more than a small fraction of its capabilities on public roads, you should be jailed if you pass the psych exam.

[jobycom]

48. If I had it, I'd spend it.

Why not? What other point is there to money?

And yeah, I'd donate and feed the poor and all that, but you said "all the money you could want."

[phasma ex machina]

51. Playing a round of "See what I got?" A whole lot of people are certainly looking at him now. nt

[flvegan]

15. Luckily the guy owns an exotic repair facility.

He's also the owner of the Ferrari Enzo Eddie Griffin wrecked a couple years ago.

[Bertha Venation]

18. Aw, gee. Poor fucking baby.

I have zero sympathy.

[merh]

19. .

[XRubicon]

20. Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWzkMXcRII0&feature=player_embedded

[qnr]

42. The speeding wasn't as obvious in the next/slow-motion video. n/t

[kentauros]

21. Slow-mo video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zeQ2mrAXqpM&feature=related
I see no bird flying by and I hope this video is used by his insurance company against him...

Another version of the story from The Houston Press: A $2 Million Car, A Pelican And A Lagoon

[qnr]

35. It was one of those 1.25 million dollar transparent pelicans. n/t

[BrklynLiberal]

39. Someone just HAPPENED to be videoing it? Why?

[qnr]

40. Because you don't see a 1,250,000 car every day? Cameras are pretty ubiquitous

these days.

[BrklynLiberal]

45. Guess you are right.

Saw the video of the towing as well.

[Odin2005]

22. Dumbass!

[Mopar151]

29. Pretty much sums it up.

If this yutz "owns" it, it ain't his money....

FYI, car dealers often finance their inventory with "floorplan" lending - they pay interest only, until the inventory sells. I know a small dealer who floorplanned a bulldozer, dug a pond with it, then sold it.

[pitohui]

30. go pelican, go

that's funny, sorry

[Spider Jerusalem]

31. Anyone stupid enough to use a phone behind the wheel is too stupid to drive a car like that.

[petronius]

44. That's pretty much my take - I'd have sympathy for this guy if it was a bird

or some other external factor that caused him to lose control, but when people create their own distractions my sympathy goes right out the window...

[sakabatou]

32. Ha-ha!

[DU GrovelBot]

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This week is our fourth quarter 2009 fund drive. Democratic Underground is
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[flvegan]

34. Begging so Admin can buy a Bugatti, Grovelbot?

[Mopar151]

37. I don't think Admin is dumb enough to want one n/t

[flvegan]

43. Dumb enough?

While not the best track car, the Veyron is brilliant in almost every single category. For the money, I could do better, but to say it's dumb to want one is...stupid.

[Mopar151]

49. Trouble is, with a thing like that

You become it's servant

[flvegan]

50. Anything looming towards the outer boundaries of performance

will cause that. Track car, exotic, high-tech tuner drifter, 1/4 mile built, Bonneville Salt Flat competitor...

That bone stock factory '67 Corvette 427/435? If you think for one minute you aren't her slave, you're an idiot.

[Mopar151]

52. Has to do with the MAF and the cost of ownership.

that's MORON ATTRACTION FACTOR. I've spent a good share of my life around high-performance cars, and I don't have all the whys - but it is only flashy street legal cars (and lifted trucks)that attract legions of idiots. Track-legal safety equipment seems to be a turn-off for these pinheads, as does lack of a keyed ignition switch. Anythiing that has ever been on episodal TV, or cheezy movies (particularly Fast 'n Furious) is big. They are easy to spot, too - they all call nitrous "noss" (Nitrous Oxide Systems reportedly paid a million for product placement in Fn'F). The nickname around real nitrous racers seems to be "spray", FWIW.
And they want to drive it, without training of any sort, real fast, on the road with civilians - even if they cannot figure out how to work the clutch. Or cruise McDonald's to impress clueless friends. And it's not just the great unwashed - I've overheard yuppies, in a $$$ B&B, chortling over how neat it would be to drive mikey's Turbo Carerra 4 - even though neither one can drive a stick! Some of your examples work, others don't - they don't "get" Bonneville cars, Maxton, or the Texas Mile, and most track cars leave 'em fairly cold. The tuner cars they get, 'cuz of F'n F. Most of the drifters I've met seem to have been dropped on their heads as a child -Rhys Millen and Tanner Foust are exceptions to this. The Vette kinda fits, but anything on 22's will draw 'em right away from that. I'm not so big on Vettes - I've lost 3 friends to them, and a lot of them are s*^%boxes with a nice wax job - when I was a GM dealer mechanic, we called them "Plastic Impalas"

The cost of ownership thing... If you want to drive an exotic every day, you need at least 2 ! These hothouse flowers need lots of tending, at $100+ an hour. Insurance, registration, excise tax, depreciation, security, maintainence, detailing.. Joe 6-pak (aka Admin) would be bankrupted by one in months if you gave it to him!

[flvegan]

54. Moron Attraction Factor?

Okay, so appreciating pushing the realm of performance is moronic. An odd, unexpected thought from someone with "Mopar" in their username.

The Veyron, the Zonda, the Koenigsegg, the Ultimate Aero...all moronic attracting "legions of idiots" I'll make a note of that.

BTW, if one can afford...well, any of the above, they have more than "at least 2" to get them around. "Cost of ownership" is something that owners of that sort of hypercar don't even think about.

I personally don't consider the Fast 'n Furious crowd to be anything more than a child demographic with no bearing on the conversation about how why choosing a Veyron is "stupid" so to speak. If you dangled the keys to a Veyron to some 20 year old with an Evo FQ400, I'll bet they choose driving the Bugatti.

[Mopar151]

56. Sorry, ace, but I'm done here

I know where i've been, what I've seen, and who I've talked to. Your heaping on the snark does'nt change that.

[BrklynLiberal]

36. Guess having a lot of money does NOT necessarily make you smart.

[Mopar151]

38. Look at post #29 n/t

[BrklynLiberal]

41. Here is video with voices of guys taking it.. They thought it was a Lamborghini.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=spM6PzX5yRo&feature=related

[friendly_iconoclast]

47. Q: "What did it sound like when it hit the water?"

A: "DOOOOUUCHE!"

[dugaresa]

53. so Bugatti's don't have Bluetooth?

tsk tsk tsk

[krispos42]

55. See, now, if he's been going full throttle he could have skipped right across to the other shore

It does like 250 miles per hour. Actually at that speed you should probably be measuring things in terms of the Mach number, so it was doing Mach .3 or so. This is only about 30 MPH slower than the maximum speed of a B-17 bomber.


Well, if he can afford one of those, he can afford another one.