Pics Aplenty: Bugatti 16C Galibier is back... in black — Autoblog

Pics Aplenty: Bugatti 16C Galibier is back... in black — Autoblog



not the Veyron but it's big brother - maybe! it reminds me so much of the classic Bugatti Atlantique...

sad or silly Veyron mishap...

oops!



beside the fact that these guys don't know a Buggati Veyron from a Lamborghini (they really look nothing alike) their response seeing the mishap is much milder than i would have had...

a $1.6 million car, that didn't look like it was going that fast for this to happen (the driver said a pelican flew in front of or into the car) needs to be handled by special driving. Bugatti requires everyone who buy the Veyron to go through a special training before delivery since the car is a 16 cylinder 1000 horsepower auto. i guess the guy wasn't paying very good attention. he probably will have to go to driver's training again...

heads-up from AutoBlog - Bugatti Bird-gate Followup: Driver identity revealed [*UPDATE: Now with actual crash video!]

newest member of the Bugatti family...

the
Sang Bleu

Bugatti Veyron Gran Sport
Sang Bleu
(Blue Blood)

you can check out more photos at Autoblog.


beautiful, just beautiful...

not a Bugatti Veyron...

and it hasn't actually stolen my heart away from the Veyron, but when i first saw this picture i actually had to gasp and take a deep breath...



2010 Pagani Cinque Roadster


check out the full story over at AutoBlog - Droolworthy: Pagani rips the lid off its Cinque for new Roadster model

i drooled after i caught my breath.

oh, and it's cheaper than the Bugatti Veyron. it's only $1.3 million. the Veyron starts at $1.6 million!

Rwoerge, Rwi rwant rwone...

Autoblog has this video with Jay Leno up on it today about the Aptera 2e electric car. at first glance, it reminded me of George and Astro Jetson. after watching this video, Astro and i think we want one just because...

Bugatti Veyron's great-great-grandfather...

Autoblog has this exciting post up today about the "barn find" of the decade. for those of you not aware of what that is, it is the discovery of a classic car that had been thought long destroyed or gone literally found in a barn.

in this case, an original 1937 Bugatti Type 57S Atalante. there were only 17 of these cars made. so, it's really a rare find. it's also in it's original form never having been restored in any way. you can read the entire story here - Barn Find of the Decade: 1937 Bugatti Type 57S Atalante. make sure you check out the full gallery of photos.

after looking at the photo below, try to guess how much this car may be worth. remember, it's great-great-grandson, the Bugatti Veyron, starts at $1.6 million.







ready? the initial guess is that it will go at auction for at least $8.8 Million!

sweet...

automaker "bailout" - my take...

i've been watching this as closely as everyone else, listening to the cries of poor us from the CEO's and hearing the tales of woe on how bad it would be for the economy, and i've decided, in my opinion, it would be best to not give them what they want.

the government has given so much funny money away to the banks, mortgage countries, etc and they can't even tell where it's gone. we're supposed to technically own their assets because it's collateral. i don't think we own anything but pieces of paper.

one of the things that is built into our government is bankruptcy laws. they are there for a reason. they allow companies to take a specific task of reforming themselves into new, more streamlined entities or closing down because it's impossible to make them profitable.

the big three automakers are saying that a bankruptcy scenario would be disastrous. why? disastrous for whom? the economy? how much worse could it get?

the reason i believe they are not interested in going the bankruptcy route is very simple. bankruptcy laws demand court supervision while the restructuring is happening.

we already are aware of some of the waste these companies have incurred. what else would pop-up if the courts were to get involved using outside agents that would scrutinize every aspect of the companies?

the Big Three CEO's are promising to reinvent, revise and restructure a model they say is no longer working. can they actually do that? personally, i don't think so.

well, actually they can, but they have too many expenses put on them that foreign companies do not. number 1 - health insurance. all foreign car makes do not have this as an expense because their companies are in countries with universal healthcare. subsidized by the government? of course, but what is so wrong with that?

exactly what are we getting for the taxes we now pay? i mean directly get?

roads and schools are falling apart. bridges are collapsing. sewer and water conveyance systems are inadequate and too old. energy sources are quickly being used up. the air we breath is slowly killing us. i don't think i need to go on.

the purpose of man establishing a government or organizing a community is to support the overall progress and well-being of himself and the community. instead we are closing in on spending $600 billion in Iraq that in no way really has anything to do with making my quality of life any better. nor yours.

priorities certainly have gone askew.

so, in my opinion, it would be best to let the automakers file bankruptcy, go through court supervised restructuring, and either come out of it better or go the way of the 1948 Tucker Torpedo or the Ford Edsel.

their are too many car models as it is...

wow...

from Autoblog.com - Mirror-finish Bugatti Veyron marks new pavillion at Autostadt







you don't know how moist i am with this one...


and i dropped my jaw all the way to the floor!

finally...

some news about Bugatti Veyron. it's been a little dry for a long time. rumor has it that next year will be the last year of production for the Veyron, so everyone is anxious to find out what they will do next. a sedan? a rocket engine? it's anyone's guess.

but today Autoblog.com reported that there is going to be a new Veyron model early next year. well, actually, the combining of two of the existing models - my two favorites.



the Gran Sport



and




the Sang Noir


you can read the story here: Bugatti developing Veyron Grand Sport Sang Noir edition! woot! woot!

one of my close friends lives right around the corner from the dealer in Chicago that handles Bugatti sales. there has been a Sang Noir in the the window for a few weeks now.

and yes... it makes me moist every time i see it. the Sang Noir is my top favorite.

Frod + GM + Chrysler...

there are reasons they are all in trouble and they may be in talks for merging with one or the other or the other...

i don't think Henry Ford himself could have foreseen these problems.


Here is something you car buffs probably didn't know.

The 3 Goldberg brothers, Norman, Hiram, and Maxwell invented and developed the first automobile air-conditioner. Didn't know that, did ya...

On July 17th, 1946, the temperature in Detroit was 97. The 3 brothers walked into old man Henry Ford's office and sweet-talked his secretary into telling him that three gentlemen were there with the most exciting innovation in the auto industry since the electric starter.

Henry was curious and invited them into his office. They refused and instead asked that he come out to the parking lot to their car.

They persuaded him to get into the car which was about 130 - turned on the air-conditioner and cooled the car off immediately.

The old man got very excited and invited them back to the office, where he offered them 3 million dollars for the patent.

The brothers refused, saying they would settle for 2 million but they wanted the recognition by having a label 'The Goldberg Air-Conditioner' on the dashboard of each car that it was installed in.

Now old man Ford was more than just a little bit Anti-Semitic, and there was no way he was going to put the Goldbergs' name on 2 million Ford cars.

They haggled back and forth for about 2 hours and finally agreed on 4 million dollars and that just their first names would be shown.

And so, even today, all Ford air-conditioners show on the controls the names 'Norm, Hi, & Max'.

There, now ya know it.... See, you're never too old to learn. So keep cool!!!


i don't know about the truth of this story, but ingenuity is something U.S. automakers have been missing for years.

the bottom line...

if anyone has any doubts about the disaster of the last eight years, this is the only information you need...






any questions?


I have one. How is the Mcpain economic plan going to help out?

The McCain Plan to Cut Oil Company Taxes by Nearly $4 Billion

The centerpiece of Sen. John McCain’s (R-AZ) tax plan is two huge tax cuts for Ameri-can corporations. As president, McCain would cut the corporate tax rate from 35 per-cent to 25 percent and allow corporations to deduct immediately all of their investments in equipment and technology. Reducing the corporate tax rate alone would deliver a $3.8 billion tax cut to the five largest American oil companies, according to a Center for American Progress Action Fund analysis of those companies’ financial statements....

The McCain plan would deliver approximately $170 billion a year in tax cuts to corporations, including some corporations that are very large and profitable. Just one of the proposals—cutting the corporate rate from 35 percent to 25 percent—would cut taxes for five largest U.S. oil companies by $3.8 billion a year (see table below). The five corporations analyzed—ExxonMobil, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, Valero Energy, and Marathon—are the five largest oil companies as ranked by Fortune Magazine. All are members of the Fortune 50. Together, they earned $80 billion worldwide in 2007

You can read the entire report at The American Progress in Action.org

any more questions?

weekender...

What do you do when you find a dirty car?

(A) Write 'WASH ME?'
(B) Write naughty words?
(C) Doodle?

or









This is artist Scott Wade.







See what he does with dirty cars by carefully and artfully removing portions of the dirt. According to his website, Dirty Car Art, he lives very close to a dirt road in San Marcos, Texas. Check out his site. It's really neat


so, get out there. get your car washed or wash it yourself this weekend. you don't want Scott sneaking up and...

wait a minute. can you sell this stuff?

what would it do to the Blue Book value of your car?



hmmmmm.......................




UPDATE: i didn't find out if the Blue Book value would go up, BUT i did get the car washed. now it's your turn...

the reality...

i know i've been going on and on about the BV [see, i'm not even going to write it all out] for the last few days and, if you've been following along, you probably have figured out why.

what the reality is that my lease was coming to an end and i needed to make a decision about what to do. i've looked at all kinds of cars, made all types of considerations in my head, and driven too many recently that it gets confusing.

in the end it came down to financials [i want to buy rather than lease this time] and what i know best.

i have been driving the Infiniti FX35 for three years now and had a G35 before that. they are unbelievably reliable cars. if the payoff on the lease wasn't more than what the FX is worth with the wonderful economy that Tsar George and Dick Rasputin have put us into, i would consider buying out the lease. actually i did consider it. as it is, that's not the best thing with the economy. if you've been reading the news, Chryseler has already decided to stop leasing and Ford, GM and Toyota are on the brink of announcing they may also. another reason to buy this time.

so, when taking everything into consideration, i decided the best thing was to pick a car that would be extremely dependable in the long run and may be a car i would decide to keep for the long run. with the standard warranty of 4 years or 60,000 miles and the extended 7 years or 100,000 miles, i choose to stay with Infiniti, only the smaller EX35.

here's the one i picked:





the color is called Dark Currant and the interior will be in a Chestnut leather. it will take a few days for delivery because they have to ship it in from another dealer.

when i texted my godson about it, his response was

Sweet!

i agree...

you have got to see this...

i realize that i tend to go on and on about the Bugatti Veyron. i am obsessed, i agree. i have always been obsessed with exotic cars. well, any car for that matter.

if you remember the first post i did on the Grand Sport a couple of days ago [Grand Sport debut], i mentioned that if you take the targa top off and leave it home the car comes with an umbrella if it starts to rain?

well..., it literally is an umbrella! below is a short video that autoblog.com posted of how you use it if you have to...





it really is an umbrella!!!

what a $3.19 million auction looks like...

the first Bugatti Veryon Grand Sport sold for that amount. the actual price was $2.9 millions plus the auction fee and an amount to go to charity. you can read the entire story over at autoblog.com -

watch the actual auction below





oh, that wasn't the highest price paid at the auction. of course, it was for another Bugatti - a 1937 Bugatti Type 57SC Atalante Coupe for $7,920,000!





you can check out the story of the entire auction at Anamera

four Veyrons...

no waiting...





and it looks like the one in the back is a Pur Sang


i think i would have wet my pants if i had been there...

no, i know i would have

Grand Sport debut...

The Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Grand Sport debuted yesterday in Monterrey. Though the Sang Noir is still my favorite [i recently saw one in person and couldn't pull myself away from it], this easily would be my second favorite. It's stunning. When you take the hard roof off, the speed is automatically limited to 80 mph. Other wise, it will top out at 224 mph with the roof on.

Oh, what happens if it starts to rain and the roof is at home? It has a little canvas roof that pops out like and "umbrella." Cost? $2.05 Millions. Remember though, every single piece of the car is hand-made. Read the entire story over at Autoblog.com.








of course i'm moist...


i have to tell you, though... i would settle for this without hesitation -



1963 Corvette Stingray
in silver


most fun driving i've ever done...


original cost: $4,037.00.

price of one recently sold: $79,995.00.

that's for a 45 year old car! the 2005 Infiniti FX35 that i'm currently driving barely cost half as much!

and what to my wondering eyes did appear...

i was just thinking that i haven't had a Bugatti Veyron post in a long time. since the Sang Noir there hasn't been a new model in a while. well, they must have been saving it for a special reason.

autoblog.com just posted a couple of pictures of the new Bugatti Veyron Grand Sport. Look Ma, no roof! First pics of Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Grand Sport, and it is grand...







it's the targa style coupe about which there have been rumors. the first one is going to be auctioned at the Pebble Beach Concourse d'Elegance on August 17th.

starting bid? $2,250,000. Bugatti is only making 80 of them, so you better find some spare change...

and, yes, as always before, i'm moist...

the best lawn tractor...

Yep, it's a Porsche!

Found it over on Autoblog.com (one, if not the, favorite blogs i peruse daily) and instantly thought of my friend, Ed. He just retired from teaching high school, lives in one of the top suburbs in Chicagoland, and has at least an acre of land.

Sent it to him, but I haven't gotten a response yet. I did send a copy to his son, and this was his reply:

Dad i see a good retirement gift for yourself. The wheel might not fall off every other year.

oops!

it's not a Bugatti, but Ed's tastes are much simpler than mine...

Bugatti Veyron Sang Noir...

In homage to the 1934 , Atlantique 57S Bugatti has another limited edition of the Veyron - the Sang Noir. It means Black Blood.

ominous...

and yes, as with all the others, i am moist...