Normally we have huge gripes about an awesome concept with poor execution, but this time we can’t bring ourselves to complain. OK, sure it’s not exactly at the top of our list of things to do – nor would we be the ones forking out the cash for it – but we can’t say it’s the most horrible idea in the world. Is it bad? Sure. Is it awful? Maybe. Is the finished product really that bad? Not really.

Starting with a 1999-2002 Mercury Cougar, some aspiring entrepreneur came up with a Bugatti Veyron kit car. It’s clearly a whole lot of fibreglass work to do the conversion, and at the end of the day you’re still missing all the performance the Veyron has to offer, and we’re not even getting into the interior amenities. But hey, if you’ve got $89,000 lying around and you live to fake the funk this kit car may be for you.

Or if you just live in some real rural area where no one would be the wiser, this may be the best investment you’ve ever done.

[Source: eBay via Autoblog]

GALLERY: Bugatti Veyron Kit Car

Rapper and music impresario Birdman is the finest example of the American dream – even someone of questionable literacy can become rich enough to afford a Bugatti Veyron thanks to hard work and capitalize on certain “market inefficiencies” when distributing products that are only available at your local street-corner pharmacy.

Despite Birdman’s love of premium products, the Bugatti Veyron was at one time the domain of only the most obnoxiously wealthy, counting Arab oil shieks, inherited wealth and Simon Cowell as its owners. Bugatti’s CEO even remarked that he did not want rappers to purchase the Veyron, but his plans to control who owns a Veyron have gone awry. Birdman made a video over the summer showing him taking delivery of his Bugatti, decked out in Birdman’s signature all-red colorway, a nod to his supposed affiliation with the Bloods street gang.

Now Birdman has a new single, imaginatively titled “Fire Flame”. The plot is rather de rigueur for the genre, with Birdman rapping outside an awful faux-French Chateau  (dubbed “Stunna Island”), getting his head shaved with a straight razor, literally burning money, sipping Cristal, meeting with Korean and Cuban organized crime figures and most importantly, squiring a legion of breast-implant equipped models in his famous Veyron, with a Louisiana vanity plate bearing the word “Fire” on it.

Once the proletariat are able to obtain a luxury good, it is arguably a commodity, and nobody is more sensitive to that than the people charged with selling Bugattis. We can’t wait to see what they have planned next to ensure this never happens again.

Hit the jump to see the video

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The Bugatti Veyron may not be the best car of 2010, but it certainly wins inaugural award for “most unfortunate color descriptor” with the available “Rape Yellow” paint scheme.

Before angry feminist groups start marching on Molsheim, it should be known that “rape” in this context refers to the flower from which canola oil is made, often known as “rapeseed”. Despite this, it’s still a poor exercise in judgement for Bugatti, as someone had to know that this translates poorly into English. Or they’re simply rich enough not to care. Perhaps it comes in a contrasting interior color called “Consent Black”?

[Hat tip to Autoblog]

Jay-Z is a pretty lucky guy – one of the world’s best rappers, former CEO of Def Jam Records and a multiple Grammy winner worth about $450 million. If that wasn’t enough, he’s married to Beyonce Knowles, the super-talented singer who was kind enough to buy her husband a Bugatti Veyron Grand Sport for his 41st birthday.

Beyonce ordered the car a year in advance and managed to keep the whole thing – including the color choice – under wraps the entire time. Jay’s famous for his love of Maybach’s – namely the 62S he’s known to be chauffered in, but is also seen driving a silver Jeep Wrangler. No doubt the Veyron will make an appearance in at least one of his videos.

[Source: The Sun]

More than 75 percent of India’s population lives on less than $2 a day, but that hasn’t stopped Bugatti from selling their Veyron supercar in the country, where a 110 percent import tax has pushed the car’s price to $3.6 million USD.

“People have more spending power and are getting more aware of owning beautiful things,” said Satya Bagla, head of Exclusive Motors Pvt., the dealer for Bugatti, Lamborghini and Bentley, in an interview with Automotive News.

Ferrari will launch its California supercar in India in 2011, and Rolls-Royce has already begun selling cars in the subcontinent. India’s wealthiest 100 people have a combined net worth of $300 billion, or about one quarter of the country’s GDP. This extreme concentration of wealth means that there is a small, but affluent clientele for luxury goods.

[Source: Automotive News]

As the story goes, a potential Bugatti Veyron owner wanted to take his (not so) future car out on a test drive. While backing out the $2,000,000 supercar, the driver neglected to check his blind spots carefully and ended up backing into a car just sitting in traffic.

And along with the rear bumper damage, the driver managed to scrape the front bumper of the car getting out of the driveway, clearly having no experience of driving a lower profile vehicle. Of course everything was witnessed by innocent bystanders just trying to take a good look at the exotic. We’re guessing the one who captured this video just couldn’t wait to get it up on Youtube to share with the rest of the world.

Rumor has it that the damage tallied up to $30,000 and one would assume that the test driver would be forking out the bill for it. The extravagant cost to repair the damage is mostly due to the rarity of licensed Bugatti technicians, despite the accident being so small.

[Source: Tampa Sports Car Examiner]

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In the world of crazy conversions, we’ve seen quite a few. Some are horrendous and some are respectable, given the scope of what they did with their project. This one definitely fits into the horrendous pile, even if it’s not nearly as bad as it could be.

This car began life as was a standard BMW 6-Series coupe. But after more extensive modifications to its exterior than Heidi Montag, it’s now a little Bugatti Veyron wanna-be. And while it might pass of as just that to some folks, those who know will just shake their heads in disgust. Truth be told though, the detail and amount of work that’s put into this project is overwhelmingly respectable. For the most part the conversion is well executed, and like we said, it could pass as a Bugatti Veyron to an unsuspecting layman.

We respect the work and the concept, but would we ever be caught dead driving this thing? Um… no!

[Source: GT Spirit]

Video available after the break.

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Barrett-Jackson’s recent Las Vegas auction took on near reality soap opera proportions when a high profile bid went south. The 2008 Bugatti Veyron shown above, arguably the most high profile car to cross the block, drummed up more than $700,000 in bids, but when the gavel came down, the ‘winning bidder’ backed out of the sale, leaving B-J on the hook for the $700,000 price. As a result the buyer was stripped of his bidding credentials and promptly escorted off the property.

“First, he said he didn’t bid, then he said he was ‘trying to help,’” said Craig Jackson, Chairman and CEO of B-J. “The bottom line is, he said he wouldn’t buy it and we booted him.”

With the sale gone south and no apparent other bids, Jackson ended up buying the car himself, but didn’t seem too take aback by the idea, making plans to add the car to his own collection and taking it for a spin around Sin City.

As for the mystery buyer, according to auction insiders he was just a nut who wanted to get himself on TV. What a way to do it. Click on the link below for the video

[Source: SpeedTV]

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Bugatti’s Veyron Super Sport is built more for straight-line speed rather than lapping a road course. That didn’t stop one gentleman from taking the car around the Paul Ricard circuit (which looks like a pretty dull track, to be honest).

In truth, the video isn’t all that exciting. The flat track makes it look as if the car isn’t going too fast, even down the ultra-long straight away. But then again, we wouldn’t risk millions of dollars of car on a simple lapping day.

Hit the jump to see the video

[Source: Autogespot]

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Birdman, sometime rapper and full time president of the appropriately named Cash Money Records (the record label and home to superstar rappers like Drake, Lil Wayne, Bow Wow and Nicki Minaj) recently celebrated his staggering wealth by taking delivery of a $2.5 million Bugatti Veyron at a Dade County low-income housing area.

Birdman, who is known for his love of red cars due to his self-proclaimed affiliations with the Bloods, ordered his Veyron in a predictable red-on-red color scheme with a special red key. Birdman arrived for the delivery wearing an entirely red outfit, and unleashed a string of unintelligible profanities boasting of the superiority of his record labels, his automobile collection, the color red and his status as a wealthy African-American entrepreneur.

If you have an interest in hip-hop, this video is a must see, if only to listen to Birdman’s incoherent babbling as he finally reaches the much lauded “baller status”. Rapper Lil Wayne is also known to have a silver Bugatti, and the close relationship between Birdman and Lil’ Wayne will no doubt be strengthened by their acquisition of these fine automobiles.

[Source: Nah Right]

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Mansory has just announced the one-of-a-kind Bugatti Veyron Linea Vincero d’Oro as a follow up to their Linea Vincero from last year. And in true Mansory fashion, the Veyron is adorned with some outlandish accents – this time in the form of carbon fiber with copper threads.

Compared to the run-of-the-mill Veyron, Mansory has shortened the hood and modified the fenders. The front has also been revised with LED daytime running lights. Side skirts and a new rear diffuser naturally fit into the package.

Now what makes this model so unique is the gold detailing sprinkled throughout the car. It’s a result of copper threads in the carbon fiber. Plus, the wheels, grille, door handles and fuel cap all get gold colored detailing. On the inside there are even more gold accents.

In the engine bay, Mansory increases horsepower output of the 8.0L 16-cylinder engine through a cold air intake and tuned exhaust system. This takes horsepower from 1001-hp to 1109-hp and torque from 922 ft-lbs to 966 ft-lbs.

We’re sort of glad that there’s only one of these out there. We’d hate to think more than one person would want to do this to a Veyron, never mind be able to afford it all.

Official press release available after the jump.

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Attention hedge-fund managers, rappers and those with family money; Bugatti’s new Veyron 16.4 SuperSport is for sale, and the French/German supercar maker wants to get you into the driver’s seat of one of their supercars for the rock-bottom price of $2.4 million.

In all likelihood, the car is probably sold out, as only 30 units are being produced and there are probably 30 people in Dubai alone who have the money and inclination to get this car. For the rest of us plebes, pictures are as close as we’ll get, unless you attend the ultra-swanky Pebble Beach Concours D’Elegance this August, where the car will be unveiled.

With less weight and a 1200 horsepower W16 engine, the SuperSport will rocket to 60 mph in 2.2 seconds.

[Source: TopSpeed]

The send-off for the world’s most awesome car has to be fitting for something a car that costs in the millions of dollars, (never mind its awesome performance), and Bugatti knows that the final edition of their Veyron supercar has to measure up. Another special edition with different paint and a cool name won’t cut it any more, so Bugatti is apparently working on a final edition of the Veyron, known as the SuperSport.

The SuperSport is expected to live up to its name by packing an extra 20o horsepower, losing 660 pounds and hitting 60 mph in a mere 2.2 seconds, with a top speed of 264 mph. If reports are accurate, only 30 examples will be built, at a cost of $1.8 million USD, and they’ve probably been sold already, even though the car isn’t expected to debut until the Paris Auto Show in September.

[Source: Autoblog]

Haven’t got Dad a gift for Father’s Day yet? Forgo the last-minute dash to 7-11 for usual card and Oh Henry! gift combo and order him a Bugatti Veyron Diamond Edition model car.

The Bugatti Veyron – the most expensive new production car in the world – is the inspiration for this ridiculous expensive dinky car. You can’t even go for a spin and show this bad boy off, as it’s a 1:18 scale model. And even if you could, you’d need a 24/7 security detail to guard it, as it’s made of solid 24ct gold and features 7.2ct single cup flawless diamonds. The work of Robert Gulpen of Munich and Stuart Hughes of Liverpool, this beauty comes with functional steering and operational hoods, certification of authenticity, glass house, aluminum case and photo documentation of the manufacturing process.

Okay, so chances are you won’t be able to afford this little trinket – it runs about £2 million (roughly $3 million), and even if you could, only three will be made (it takes about 2 months to finish, thanks to the intricate work required). Oh well, it’s the thought that counts.

[Source: Born Rich]

Gentlemen, turn up your speakers. The title really needs no further explanation. A Lotus Exige S, Bugatti Veyron and a Ferrari F430 get together and go toe-to-toe on Laguna Seca. There aren’t too many in-car shots, but the ones that do exist show the Ferrari driver shuffle steering (a big no-no among race car drivers) and a not-quite-rapid pace through some of the turns (especially through the Corkscrew). We can understand not wanting to put your Ferrari at risk on an open lapping day, but if you’re going to baby the car, then ditch the race harnesses and the firesuit. A t-shirt, 3 point belt and an SA-rated helmet would be more than enough.

[Source: Motor Authority]

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Since 99% of us will never actually see a Bugatti Veyron, we’ll have to make do with various substitutes; photographs, sound clips, magazine articles and the like. More incredible than merely seeing one in the flesh is seeing what awesome feats the Veyron can accomplish. Fortunately, a National Geographic doucmentary available on Youtube will let you see firsthand just what the car can do.

We all know the statistics that have been constantly thrown around; 0-60 in 2.5 seconds, a top speed of 253 miles per hour, 1001 horsepower. But one of the most incredible things is seeing how the car brakes. Watch in Part 2 of the clip as the Veyron slows down from some absurd speed, to a complete stop in a matter of seconds. Yes, the Veyron is capable of making going slow cool, but you already knew that based on how many owners drive their exotics slowly, to make sure everybody sees how rich and fabulous they are.

The real stars of the documentary are undoubtedly the engineers, a diverse team of some of the brightest minds in the fields of automotive, metallurgical and aerospace (yes, aerospace) engineering, brought together by Volkswagen to create the world’s most impressive car. We strongly suggest not skipping any of the four parts, and watching the whole thing to get a true appreciation of how the Veyron came to life.

[Source: TopSpeed]

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The Bugatti Veyron might be faster, the Pagani Zonda more eye-catching and the Ferrari Enzo more extravagant. Nevertheless, the McLaren F1 is still regarded by most enthusiasts as the greatest car ever made, bar none. The F1 was the physical manifestation of the dreams of Gordon Murray, a savant engineer whose personal quirks ingrained in the car’s design. There’s no radio, because Murray hated listening to the radio, but there’ is a top-notch hi-fi for your own music. The engine was a BMW V12 that had more in common with an F1 engine than the opulent 12-cylinders that powered the 750iL and 850i luxo-barges. The driver sat in the middle of the car, and the engine was lined with gold, for better heat dissipation.

With the 20th anniversary of this monumental car approaching, McLaren decided to honor the F1′s owners with a dinner at the company’s headquarters in Woking, England. 21 McLaren F1s made an appearance, and with less than 100 cars in existence (and roughly 70 of those registered for road use), it was possibly the largest ever gathering of McLaren F1s.

Hit the jump to read the McLaren press release.

[Source: Autoblog]

Gallery: McLaren F1 Gathering

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Chances are, if you’re reading this, you will never even glimpse the top of the motorsports pyramid that Michael Schumacher was sucessfully climbed – 7 times over. But if you have roughly $745,000, you can own a well known piece of Michael Schumacher memorabilia - his Bugatti EB110SS.

Before the Veyron, and having Volkswagen to subsidize them, Bugatti made a car called the EB110, a great supercar in its day, that was hampered by Bugatti’s chronic insolvency. Michael Schumacher famously bought this bright yellow EB110SS in 1992, and while he kept the car for over a decade Bugatti went bust three years later in 1995.

Packing an F1-esque 3.5L V12, but fitted with four turbochargers and all-wheel drive, the 600 horsepower EB110 is a real man’s supercar, but tips the scales at over 4000 lbs. Schumacher’s car is an EB110SS, of which only 31 were produced, so while $745,000 is a lot of coin, the provenance of the car(it was owned by most successful racing driver of all time), combined with its awesome performance and low mileage (less than 5000 miles) makes this car, dare we say….a bargain?

[Source: World Car Fans]

If you want the performance of a Bugatti Veyron in an all-American package (that’s one tenth the price), look no further than Hennessey Performance Engineering’s HPE1000, a $65,000 upgrade for the Chevrolet Camaro SS.

The stock 6.2L LS3 engine is discarded in favor of a 7.0L LSX variant, and a complete twin-turbocharger system is installed. The LSX is essentially re-built as well, with new pistons, cylinder heads, crankshaft, intake manifold, exhaust and fuel management system. All of these systems, along with your choice of heavy duty manual or automatic gearboxes are necessary to handle the absurd 1000 horsepower the car lays down through the rear wheels. Helping to control the tsunami of power are KW Variant coilovers, Brembo brakes, Pirelli P-Zero tires and an HPE CarbonAero bodykit.

For the $125,000 price tag, Hennessey claims that “…you’ll be able to do burnouts at 100 mph!”. Only two questions remain: where do we sign, and do you accept organs as payment.

[Source: InsideLine]

Volkswagen patriarch Ferdinand Piech is no stranger to grandiose projects, having overseen the Volkswagen Phaeton uber-luxury sedan, as well as the Bugatti Veyron hypercar. While Jeremy Clarkson of Top Gear lamented that the worst part about driving a Veyron is that after it was over,  he’d never be able to experience it again, it looks like there will be another opportunity.

In a speech given at a university in Vienna, Austria, Piech let it slip that engineers were working on an all new car that will develop 1200 horsepower. According to the poorly translated report, vehicles like the Koenigsegg CCXR have stolen some of the Veyron’s thunder by garnering ratings in excess of 1000 horsepower, and Bugatti is eager to take back the crown.

While power is a nice thing to have, a lighter curb weight would improve all facets of the vehicles performance, including acceleration, handling, braking and fuel economy. We hope that some weight reduction is in order for the next Bugatti, as the Veyron was anything but svelte, even if it was an awesome feat of technology.

[Source: TeamSpeed]

A Bugatti Veyron that appeared on the BBC hit show Top Gear was owned by a man recently sent to jail for pretending to be a member of Kuwait’s royal family and bilking retired nurses out of their pensions.

Koroush Pour operated a leasing firm in the upscale Kensington district of London. According to the UKPA, Pour operated what is essentially a Ponzi scheme, using other people’s money to cover various debts and financial obligations. Pour managed to defraud banks and other clients out of $875,000 before he was caught.

[Source: UKPA]

A 20-year-old Dutchman borrowed his father’s Bugatti Veyron, only to have the car seized for going 50 mph over the speed limit. Michel Perridon, the director of Trust International BV, a former sponsor of the now defunct Spyker F1 team, leant the supercar to his son last Thursday, shortly before the car was taken by police. Perridon’s son was clocked going 100 mph in a 50 mph zone. The man also had to forfeit his license as a result of the speeding charge.

Dutch police have begun implementing aggressive campaigns against speeding, and vehicle seizures are an increasingly common method of punishment. While highway speeds are limited to 75mph, the 50 mph limit applies to most roads in the country. It was unclear if and when Perridon will be able to get his car back, which is known as the first Veyron in the Netherlands, and valued at $2.4 million (including taxes).

[Source: Elsevier via Jalopnik]

Scott Rothstein was once a prominent South Florida lawyer, famous for his humble roots, flashy lifestyle and philanthropy. But after a suicide attempt and a failed escape to Morocco, Rothsetin turned himself in after federal agents exposed his 1.2 billion dollar Ponzi scheme.

Now, the United States government has seized his assets and is auctioning off an assortment of exotic cars owned by Rothstein and a number of shell companies. The list ranges from the very mild (two Pontiac G6s, a Ford Expedition) to the highest echelons of supercar-dom (two Bugatti Veryons, a Ferrari F40).

If you have the funds, and are looking to score a deal on some serious machinery with, shall we say, interesting provenance, take a peek at the list below and get in touch with the appropriate arm of the federal government.

[Source: Dupont Registry]

Full List After The Jump:

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Ron Dennis, the man in charge of McLaren Automotive, recently slammed the Bugatti Veyron calling it “a complete piece of junk.” McLaren, for those who don’t know, held the record for the world’s fastest production car with the McLaren F1 from 1992 until the launch of the Bugatti Veyron in 2005. The McLaren managed 243-mph in the F1, which was topped by 10 mph by the Veyron. McLaren has also just released a new model, the MP4-12C, which is designed more as a true exotic than an all-out supercar.

Dennis wouldn’t be the first person to attack the looks of the Veyron, calling it “pig ugly,” but his criticism is more than just aesthetic. In an interview with Arabian Business, he said the car “doesn’t go around corners,” and even spoke frankly about an unnamed (cough, Top Gear, cough) BBC program in which the two cars drag raced each other in Abu Dhabi. The shootout had to be rigged says Dennis to make the Veyron look as fast as it does. “We had to do that whole thing about ten times before it [the Veyron] managed to get off the line cleanly and catch us up. Because every time they dropped the clutch it bogged down and we were gone.”

Watch the video after the jump and be sure to give us your opinion:

[Source: ArabianBusiness]

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