All Entries Tagged With: "BUGATTI"
Poetry By Bugatti
by Gunnar Heinrich ::: YouTube ::: Bugatti Galibier 16C Concept Video
HERE on ADLX, we’re all about embracing the automobile as something more than an appliance or some mere time travel device that gets us there faster than by our own two hooves. Cars are art. And it’s right to celebrate the art of the automobile de temps en temps. Bugatti, whose founder was came from an Italian family of sculptors, painters, and architects, represents the apogee of automotive art. Not that there haven’t been more tantalizing cars than the 2009 Galibier 16C Concept. There have. But this video showcasing the Galibier’s curves and the Brit whose V.O. promises the sun, moon, and stars for our imagination, represents a remarkably refined way of pitching Bugatti, the car. The video recalls Jonathan Price’s sophisticated presentations for Infiniti in the 90s.
Kudos, Bugatti.
London Calling: You’ve Left Your White-on-Chrome Bugatti Out Front
SPIED by a reader, this Mayfair Veyron was perfectly positioned in front of Claridges. Naturally.
Thanks, John!
Extraordinaire! Bugatti Drives Royale Through Paris
By Gunnar Heinrich | YouTube
FEARFUL, yet compelled, I watched.
There’s nothing quite like viewing someone pilot the world’s greatest and most exclusive automobile (only six exist and prices at auction ranged recently from $8 – $20 million) - around one of the world’s most treacherous roundabouts – l’étoile de Paris.
It doesn’t help our nerves to watch as careless Parisian mopeds crowd this 21 foot long chariot like flies swarming a legendary thoroughbred.
Caroline Bugatti shows plenty of, how shall we say, chutzpah!
C’est belle, sa rêve!
Bugatti Royale May Share Platform With Bentley
The next Bugatti may have a Flying B under its bonnet
By Gunnar Heinrich | IMG via CAR
ETTORE Bugatti famously spoke of Bentleys as “fast trucks”.
Funny, that off-hand remark.
Rumor has is that Sr. Bugatti’s namesake company – the world’s most exclusive marque – will produce a successor to the original Type 41 Royale sometime before 2018; the kicker being that the hyper-chariot may share platforms with the next generation Bentley Arnage.
According to CAR, Volkswagen’s top brass see platform sharing as the only way to ensure that ultra-low volume Bugatti actually turns a profit.
How ironic then that Bentley’s best may one day provide the pedestal on which Bugatti builds its next colossus de luxe.
Surprise! Family Finds Fortune In Reclusive Uncle’s Garage
It’s a big surprise…
By Gunnar Heinrich | IMG Bugatti Trust
ONE family in the UK is set to have a strong fiscal start to their new year.
After passing on in 2007, the “reclusive” Dr. Harold Carr of Newcastle bequeathed the contents of his locked up garage to his family. It hadn’t been opened in years and no one had any clue as to what was stored there…
This Week @ Coys: Exotic Dreams Revisited
Fuel for a young imagination.
By Gunnar Heinrich | IMG via RapidCars.com
WHEN the eighties turned into the nineties, there were three 200+ mph supercars that diverted my attention from grammar school studies and fueled my passion for cars.
They rank as follows: Bugatti’s EB110, the McLaren F1, and the Jaguar XJ220.
Of the three, the Bugatti was my favorite for being a) Italian - molto bene! b) blending luxury with exotic performance and c) all-wheel drive.
IMHO back then, the true blue EB110 would’ve been the perfect choice for replacing the family Volvo in taking yours to and from school.
Indeed, yours was taking practical considerations into account.
The all-wheel drive would ensure that I’d make it to class on snow days; a selfless act of sacrificing liberation from school.
The EB110′s four turbochargers, performance shoes, and decisive lack of ground clearance didn’t factor in my assessment.
Time rolled on, our Volvo 740 (not-so-good in the snow) was replaced by a 940 (truly dismal polar performer) and then an 850 (damn near unstoppable), and history forgot the first and last of the super three to remember only the McLaren – a stripped down bullet that like the XJ220 wasn’t sold Stateside.
Back then, American emissions standards barred entry. And since then, we’ve all grown more practical and pragmatic. Or have we?
120…220…250…When 300?
By Gunnar Heinrich
FORCE. Sheer. Force.
Nothing halts a car from progress quite like the aerodynamic and gravitational anchors of Mother Nature.
And to consider that in one century, what seemed like supercar speed for one car – the Jaguar XK120′s 120 mph top speed – managed to amount to a standard rate of progress for the Jaguar XJ220′s 213 mph some forty years later.
The 9FF GT9 (pictured) a modified Porsche 911 that eclipsed the world’s fastest supercar – the Bugatti Veyron’s 253 mph record – is one of nine high flying exotics that grace a special edition of CAR magazine called, appropriately enough, “Supercars.”
The 9FF GT9, along with Koenigsegg’s CCXR boast 254 and 258 mph, respectively. The next car down after the Bugatti is the 219 mph Pagani Zonda Cinque. Which gives us some perspective.
There’s now a laundry list of car companies big and small that are producing 200+ mph machines. From the luxurious Bentley Continental GT to the Chevrolet Corvette ZR1.
This begs the question, how much longer ’til 300 is the standard for extreme performance?
Just How “German” Is Lamborghini?
By Gunnar Heinrich | IMG by BusinessWeek
OR Bentley and Bugatti for that matter?
Catching up with the latest on “German” auto news as I’m prone to do over at the respectable German Car Blog, I continually find myself questioning the site’s self described focus of “delivering news and opinion about Audi, Bentley, Bugatti, Lamborghini, VW and Porsche.”
Apparently, BMW and Mercedes-Benz aren’t German enough for inclusion which leads one to suspect the obvious – the blog really just covers the marques associated with the VW-Audi Group.
Fine, but back to the “German” point. Does foreign ownership of a nameplate dictate nationality?
Did anyone claim Aston Martin, Jaguar, Land Rover, or Volvo as American brands just for being members of Ford’s Premier Auto Group? Or might we have really thought Lamborghini as made-in-the-USA when Chrysler owned the raging bull?
I think not. So why insist that the British Bentley, the Franco-Italian Bugatti, or the Italian Lambo as Teutonic? As a concept, it seems oddly foreign.
[Linked: German Car Blog]
iBugatti 3G
By Gunnar Heinrich
RECENTLY yours upgraded his mobile means of communication to iPhone 3G.
I didn’t wanna do it. Sure the new iPhone was priced $300 less and was somehow faster thanks to the 3G network. But I wasn’t completely sold even after I walked out of the AT&T store with order receipt in hand.
I liked my old iPhone with its handsome aluminum backing and three more hours of battery life just fine. Moreover, when I opened up the little hatch at the top of the old phone to release the sim card – the little chip read “3G”.
Huh, I thought. So, why is the new one “3G” when the old one already possessed the technological means to go just as fast but was inexplicably married to the so-slow-it-hurt Edge network?
Just one of life’s (convenient) mysteries of commerce, I reckon.
But not as “mysterious” as Bugatti’s latest endeavor which has been to refit the Veyron in limited edition packages.
In the last year or so, Molsheim has released the Veyron Faubourg par Hermès, Pur Sang, Sang Noir, and now Targa Editions all with price tags that range up to $1 million more than the “standard” $1.2 million Veyron.
That’s a good deal of money for a little added carbon fiber and saddle leather on a car that mets out the same performance as the vaunted original.
Could it be that short of producing a new model, like a family friendly crossover (just kidding), Bugatti has to actually make money to justify its existence to the impatient suits who’ve been left with Ferdinand Piech’s most costly halo project?
If that were true, Bugatti might consider taking a page from the book of Apple and produce a product that costs less than the original. It tends to draw more suckers… um… customers; both new and returning.
[Linked: MotorAuthority]
Bonhams & Butterfields: ADL To Greenwich
By Gunnar Heinrich
WE’RE off the Greenwich Concours D’Elegance this Sunday to cover good and the great offering at the Bonhams & Butterfields classic car auction.
FYI on Bonhams, the British auction house is the largest automotive auctioneer in the world beating out Sothebys and, yes, Coys (take that Barrett Jackson).
Among the beauties up for bid; a 1971 Mercedes-Benz 220SE 3.5 cabriolet ($100K-$150K), 1954 Buick Skylark Convertible ($125K-$175K), and a 1934 Bugatti Type 57 “Double Cabriolet Stelvio” ($250K -$350K).
Tap the link to see a full list of what’s on the block.
[Linked: Bonhams]
