Birdman Bought a New $2.1 Million Bugatti Veyron 16.4

by joePA
from: http://www.brobible.com/

I guess if you just dropped over $2 million on a firecracker red Bugatti, you want to snap some pictures of your ballin' ass purchase and show it off for to the rest of the world. That's exactly what Birdman Cash Money Boss did. Photos after the jump via our friends at VladTV.

Top 10: French Cars

From: http://www.askmen.com/

With the release of From Paris with Love, director Pierre Morel (The Transporter, Taken) pairs a rank-and-file U.S. embassy employee, played by Jonathan Rhys Meyers, with a blunt-force FBI agent portrayed by a hairless John Travolta. Given the director and cast, we hope this works for Travolta as an adrenaline-filled segue back to action flicks after dabbling in comedy for the past couple of years.

It’s the same way with the French cars you’ll see in the film or, for that matter, French cars in general. They have massive reputation issues in the American market. Most were econoboxes that trickled over in low numbers over a few odd decades, and odd they were. Even if you liked their interpretation of style, they were typically crude and crabby. Sadly, we were never fully exposed to France’s best stuff. And yes, they have made great cars -- still do, in many cases. Read on and see why these top 10 French cars are welcome additions to our fantasy garages.


10
Renault Sport Spider

© Public Domain

Renault hasn’t been missed after leaving North America over 20 years ago, thanks to the bitter aftertaste of models like the 12, Le Car and Alliance. In the years since, Renault has come back from the brink (thanks in no small part to Carlos Ghosn) and produced cars like the Sport Spider. Built in seriously limited numbers between 1996 and 1999, the mid-engine Spider was a lot like the Lotus Elise in the way it was engineered to maximize the driving experience without being dulled by creature comforts.


9
Bugatti EB110

© Lothar Spurzem/Wikimedia Commons

The Bugatti marque’s brief 1987 resurrection may have had an Italian accent, but the EB110 produced between 1991and 1995 was fully French in spirit and paved the way for much better things in the Veyron we know and lust after today. Like the Veyron, the EB110 was all about extremes: A mid-mounted, quad-turbo V-12 with up to 592 horsepower; a 0-60 of as little as 3.2 seconds; and, a top speed of up to 216 mph. Even now, after almost 20 years, few cars touch the numbers achieved by Michael Schumacher’s onetime daily driver.


8
Citroen C4 Coupe

© EyOne/Wikimedia Commons
Famously raced (and crashed in the 2009 Acropolis Rally) by Sebastien Loeb, the production Citroen C4 Coupe doesn’t come in a rally-inspired street version like Subaru’s WRX or Mitsubishi’s Evo, and it definitely isn’t fit to tumble down Greek mountains. That doesn’t necessarily mean the buzz is killed: Your inner geek would love the tech-heavy interior features and optional hybrid drivetrain configurations -- if only you could get this top 10 French car here.


7
Venturi Fetish

© VenturiFetish.fr
America has the Tesla Roadster, but France has the Venturi Fetish. We trust having “France” and “Fetish” in the same sentence caught your undivided attention, and driving the electric sports car would probably give you the equatorial "tinglies" too. We say probably, as we haven’t personally tested any of the planned 25 hand-built examples of the $427,000 Fetish to confirm. It’s probably a moot point, since the Tesla is presumably a better car in every way, but we maintain “Fetish” is a helluva lot hotter than “Roadster” (just not $300,000 and change hotter).


6
Renault Alpine

© Alex Collard/Wikimedia Commons
What few Renaults came to the U.S. were mostly everyday economy cars. When it did give us something remotely resembling a sports car, it was the unconscionably stupid Fuego. What we should have gotten was the Alpine, the rear-engine coupe that gained prominence through racing success beginning in the early 1970s. The highly desirable A310 variant remained relevant through the mid-'80s, until the 1986 GTA and 1991 A610 redesigns progressively looked like bad fusions of the Camaro and kit car.

5
Citroen 2CV

© Pinkdylan/Wikimedia Commons
If you’re unfamiliar, the Citroen 2CV is to France what the original VW Beetle is to Germany, with a universal cult following to match. Ever the ugly duck, the Citroen 2CV delivers in character what it lacks in performance (which, in both respects, is considerable). The 2CV seems to have approximately 12 moving parts, including the wheels and engine. Drag racing anything faster than a glacier is not recommended. On the other hand, you’ll never have so much fun going slow as you will in this top 10 French car.


4
Peugeot 205 GTI

© Christoph (CrazyD)/Wikimedia Commons
When you think of hot hatches, GTI is a given. But do you think Peugeot? You ought to, because this top 10 French car was arguably as fun as the better-known VW hot hatch. The original 205 GTI of the 1980s had a 1.6-liter engine that thrived on revs and was very tossable, with great balance for its time despite the front-drive layout. Though Peugeot was still in the U.S. at the time, rumors of the 205 GTI being offered here never came to pass.


3
Renault R5 Turbo

© Public Domain
For as much as the French grumble about doping, the R5 Turbo stands as a stark contradiction. Based on the humble R5 (marketed as “Le Car” here in the States and intentionally absent from our review), this car is a juiced-up rocket compared to its muse. The clackety, front-mounted four-cylinder was ditched along with the rear seat for a 158-horsepower, 1.4-liter turbo in its place -- making the car mid-engine, rear-drive and ridiculously fun in the process.


2
Citroen DS

© Joe Mabel/Wikimedia Commons
Yes, the DS is runner-up on our review of the top 10 French cars (the same Citroen featured recently in our Top 10: Creepiest Cars feature). We believe “looks like a slithering amoeba” may have been said -- we meant it in a good way. Like the 2CV seen earlier, the DS’ design is partly why the car is so cool. Surprisingly good handling and innovation factor in too. The DS represented that a French car could be timelessly avant-garde.

1
Bugatti Veyron 16.4

© Bugatti
Forget top 10 French cars, the Bugatti Veyron 16.4 is among the best cars from anywhere. It’s overkill in every possible respect, and we are completely taken by it. And for once, let’s not regurgitate the Veyron’s stats. We all know what it can do, how it does it and its cost. What’s most noteworthy is how the Bugatti embodies exclusivity, performance, style, and technology. Take a good look, because after the Veyron, we’ll never again see a car this extreme.

This article is sponsored in part by From Paris with Love, in theaters February 5th (What's this?)

Bugatti pulled from lake after 73 yrs to be sold at auction

Legend ... the car was at the bottom of a lake for 73 years

BNPS

Legend ... the car was at the bottom of a lake for 73 years

BNPS

Rare ... the Bugatti will be sold at auction

BNPS

Slideshows

Lifting gear ... legendary car sees daylight after seven decades

BNPS

By JOHN COLES

From: http://www.thesun.co.uk/

A LEGENDARY car that lay at the bottom of a lake for 73 years is set to fetch more than £80,000 at auction — the same as a brand new luxury motor.

The rare Bugatti was dumped in the water in 1936 by a frustrated Swiss official because the owner had abandoned it without paying the import tax.

In all its glory ... in this shape, a Bugatti can be worth up to £200,000

The value of the car was less than the money owed and the customs officer was compelled to destroy it.

He drove it over the Italian border to nearby Lake Maggiore — and pushed it into the deep waters.

Folklore

The story became part of folklore in the nearby town of Ascona as locals debated whether the car actually existed.

Thirty years on the truth emerged when a keen diver rediscovered the Bugatti lying on its side 160 feet down at the bottom of the lake.

From then on members of the local diving club regularly visited it and last year decided to raise it and sell it for a local charity.

Incredibly there was still air in the tyres and traces of the original Bugatti blue paint on the bodywork.

It is believed that 20 per cent of the vehicle is salvageable and collectors and museums are likely to be keen to buy it.

James Knight, of auctioneers Bonhams, said: "We've offered a few things in our time in the motoring department, but nothing like this.

"Sometimes we get cars that have been hidden in barns for years, but never have we had one that's spent 70 years at the bottom of a lake.

"The story as we know it is that in the late 1920s or early 1930s the car was taken to Switzerland by its French owner.

"The import duties and taxes were not paid and the owner just left it. The car was ten or 11-years-old by then and not worth as much as the money owed.

"Eventually the customs official got fed up and pushed it into the lake. He was legally obliged to destroy it and rolling it into the lake seemed the best way.

"The story entered local folklore and in the 1960s a diver called Ugo Pillon decided to try and find it, and in 1967 he located it on its side about 50 metres down.

"From then on divers from the local club dived on it just as a curiosity.

"But recently one of the diver club's members was attacked and died and a foundation was set up in his memory to help combat juvenile violence.

"The club decided to raise the car to sell it and donate the money to the Damiano Tamagni Foundation."

The Type 22 Bugatti, built in 1925, had four cylinders, a 1.5 litre engine and reach almost 100mph. It was a touring two-seater with no roof and was very lightweight.

Later versions of the car were made in France, but this was known as a Brescia Bugatti, after the Italian town where it was manufactured.

The sale is on January 23 at the Bonhams Retromobile sale in France.

j.coles@the-sun.co.uk

Low-flying pelican results in Bugatti Veyron Hydro Edition

by Chris Shunk

Click above to watch the video after the jump

This is one of the saddest, yet most amusing sights we've ever seen. A $1.6 million Bugatti Veyron sitting in a salt water lagoon, door open, in two feet of nasty, corrosion-inducing muddy water. While the sight is sad, how the event allegedly transpired is downright hilarious. The unnamed owner of the vehicle, traveling through Galveston, Texas to look at some high-end property, was reportedly talking on his cell phone when a low-flying pelican distracted him. The driver swerved to avoid the big bird, dropped his cell phone, and in the process the front passenger tire hit a mud patch.

A quad-turbo, 16-cylinder engine may be able to get you to 60 mph in under three seconds, but it doesn't work well with mud, so the supercar made a b-line for an adjacent lagoon. The ultra rare Veyron (reportedly one of 15 copies here in the States) was still running after it rested nearly belt-line high in the salt water, as local news affiliate KHOU reported the 1,000+ hp engine "gurgled like an outboard motor for about 15 minutes before it died." It probably would have been a great idea to kill power to the engine (and even shut the door) once the Veyron hit the muck, but hey, what do we know?

Hit the jump to watch video of the Veyron as it is extracted from its salty abyss. And if you own a Veyron, let this be a lesson to you that having money doesn't necessarily mean you have the skill to drive a supercar, especially when you're on the phone. Thanks to everyone for the tips!

Gallery: First Drive: Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Grand Sport

Photos copyright ©2009 Drew Phillips / Weblogs, Inc.
[Sources: KHOU; YouTube]

Bugatti Unveils The Grand Sport Sang Bleu At Pebble Beach

By Nelson Ireson

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December 31st, 1969 The Bugatti Veyron Sang Noir is still one of the most iconic of the limited-edition Veyrons, but today it gets some in-brand competition: the Bugatti Veyron Grand Sport Sang Bleu. Just as the Sang Noir followed its name to a black-on-black theme, the Sang Bleu uses blue carbon fiber to invoke its namesake color. Designed as an homage to the marque's heritage during its 100th anniversary celebrations, the Sang Bleu is also far more exclusive than the 15-car Sang Noir run, since it's a one-off exercise. Accenting the blue carbon fiber is a wide expanse of polished aluminum along each front fender and door. Bugatti calls this approach a 'new dimension of « Art – Forme – Technique »', the company's core values statement. The alloy wheels are inspired by the rims of the Grand Sport Roadster, and feature a Midnight Blue and Diamond Cut two-tone finish. Inside, the car gets a Pebble Beach-special design, with Gaucho leather trim accenting the exterior's materials. Like all Veryons, the Sang Bleu features a potent 1,001-horsepower W-16 quad-turbocharged engine and all-wheel-drive powetrain. It shares the rest of its technical specification with the Grand Sport on which it's based. Stay on the lookout for live shots from Pebble Beach, coming shortly. Until then, enjoy the official studio image gallery below. [Bugatti] Bugatti Veyron Grand Sport Sang Bleu

Bugatti Veyron Grand Sport Sang Bleu

Enlarge Photo

The Bugatti Veyron Sang Noir is still one of the most iconic of the limited-edition Veyrons, but today it gets some in-brand competition: the Bugatti Veyron Grand Sport Sang Bleu.

Just as the Sang Noir followed its name to a black-on-black theme, the Sang Bleu uses blue carbon fiber to invoke its namesake color. Designed as an homage to the marque's heritage during its 100th anniversary celebrations, the Sang Bleu is also far more exclusive than the 15-car Sang Noir run, since it's a one-off exercise.

Accenting the blue carbon fiber is a wide expanse of polished aluminum along each front fender and door. Bugatti calls this approach a 'new dimension of « Art – Forme – Technique »', the company's core values statement.

The alloy wheels are inspired by the rims of the Grand Sport Roadster, and feature a Midnight Blue and Diamond Cut two-tone finish. Inside, the car gets a Pebble Beach-special design, with Gaucho leather trim accenting the exterior's materials.

Like all Veryons, the Sang Bleu features a potent 1,001-horsepower W-16 quad-turbocharged engine and all-wheel-drive powetrain. It shares the rest of its technical specification with the Grand Sport on which it's based.

Stay on the lookout for live shots from Pebble Beach, coming shortly. Until then, enjoy the official studio image gallery below.

[Bugatti]

Bugatti Veyron Grand Sport Sang Bleu

Bugatti Veyron Grand Sport Sang BleuGallery

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World's Fastest Production Car for Sale on eBay

By Chuck Squatriglia

The car — the actual car — that unseated the Bugatti Veyron to become the fastest production car on the planet is for sale on eBay, and the winning bidder not only gets an insanely powerful sports car but a nifty commemorative watch and key fob.

Shelby SuperCars is making room in the garage and selling Ultimate Aero chassis No TT-02, the car Chuck Bigelow drove through the traps at an average of 256.18 mph on Sept. 13, 2007. That eclipsed the Veyron by 3.63 mph to become just the 26th car in history to hold the Guinness world production speed record.

Shelby calls TT-02 "a piece of automotive history" and says "it is sure to remain valuable and sought-after by future generations." Bidding stood at $155,000 when this was posted, but the reserve hadn't been met.

Given that the Ultimate Aero costs something north of $600,000, the reserve on this record-setting ride is probably in the seven-figure ballpark. That kind of money gets you more than a 1,183-horsepower car, though. Place the winning bid and you also get a framed Guinness World Records certificate for your wall, a commemorative watch and key fob and the wheels and tires used during the record run for your ... whatever. We'd probably make them into a coffee table.

TT-02 has 1,345 miles on the odometer. Power comes from a 387-cubic-inch V-8 with twin turbochargers putting out 14 PSI of boost. Interior appointments include a 10-speaker stereo system, a DVD player and, of course, a navi system to help you find a few places to open 'er up.

Before making its record-setting run, Shelby SuperCars tested the car in the wind tunnel at the NASA Langley Research Center — that's where the photo above was snapped — and determined the car would be aerodynamically stable up to 273 mph. That's purely academic though, as it seems highly unlikely anyone would actually hit that speed.

Twenty-six cars have held the record. Ferrari leads the way with six titles, followed by Mercedes-Benz with five.

Photos: Shelby SuperCars. The company didn't provide anything bigger. More pics in the auction listing and at WorldRecordCarAuction.com.