Volkswagen says the last of the Bugatti Veyron supercars it made has been sold, meaning all 450 have been accounted for at an average price of $2.6 million a piece.
Keep in mind the automaker may have ended up losing twice that per car, but hey, Volkswagen’s a big company.
Open thread.
Waldo
No sweat — they’ll make it all back on the undercoating add-on.
Xboxershorts
1 Billion 170 Millions dollars.
For 450 cars.
I don’t get it.
different-church-lady
Can I just mention that as someone watching the current modest vehicle slowly descending into rust-bucket status, with no funds for a replacement, I find this article to be thoroughly depressing?
Can I just mention that?
Mustang Bobby
This was fun to watch.
Totalled it out.
Roger Moore
They’ll still say it’s money well spent, since this kind of thing is mostly about proving their capabilities as a car company. That’s what exotic cars are all about.
Buddy H
Nice…
I made the mistake (back in 2009) of buying a 2006 Saturn Ion. Got letters in the mail from GM “some cars might experience ignition problems, but don’t contact your dealer unless you are experiencing problems…”etc. Finally, when the news became to horrible to not notice, they sent me a letter saying I should get the ignition replaced. Which I did. Then the power steering went. Luckily, that was in recall, and they fixed it (If I’d been over 150K miles they would not have fixed it). Now, I got a letter about another ignition problem, and again they’re saying “don’t contact your dealer unless you are experiencing problems”
I’d like to throw a party… invite all my friends. Douse the Saturn Ion in some accelerant, and make a bonfire we can all dance around. Balloon-Juicers are all invited, as well.
Meanwhile, my son’s Honda is in recall for the death-dealing airbag, but he’s in limbo. No replacements are available.
I’d like to see a nationwide light-rail and trolley system. Build tracks over the interstate. Admit Henry Ford was wrong.
Buddy H
There was a time when you felt safe buying a Honda, or passing it down to your kids. Before they started outsourcing their airbags to shady third parties.
Unrelated note:
I wonder if Kristi Capel will ever apologize for calling what Lady Gaga sang at the Oscars “jigaboo music”?
Miss Missouri USA 2006 gets a job on a foxnews Cleveland affiliate and sticks her foot in her mouth. Who could have predicted that?
Keith
It’s an r&d and prestige product
Mustang Bobby
@Buddy H: Honda is taking notoriously long to get the airbags replaced. A friend with a 2002 Honda Accord got the same recall and it took six weeks and several terse phone calls to Honda America to get it done. I got a recall on my 2007 Mustang for the same issue. Took it in on a Tuesday, they ordered the part, had it and did it on the following Friday.
Xboxershorts
@Buddy H: It’s not Henry Ford that was wrong.
It was GM and it’s efforts to shut down light rail and introduce bus systems for public transport that got that ball rolling,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Motors_streetcar_conspiracy
President Eisenhower didn’t help much either.
MattF
@Buddy H: The good news is that my Accord is too old for the airbag problem. Unfortunately, that’s also the bad news.
Buddy H
@Mustang Bobby: The death-dealing airbag is like something out of Monty Python and John Cleese: “The airbag deploys, sending shards of pointed metal into the driver, causing death.”
Buddy H
@Xboxershorts: So screwed again by GM? I read somewhere that the interstate highway system was influenced by the cold war… they wanted roads wide enough to drive tanks on “in the event” of a russian attack.
Roger Moore
@Buddy H:
Two points:
1) Car companies have been subcontracting for a very long time. I doubt that Honda has ever made their own airbags.
2) The airbag thing is not limited to Honda. Almost all the car companies were getting airbags from the same company, so the recall has hit everyone simultaneously. That’s why there aren’t enough replacements to go around.
SatanicPanic
From the article:
WTF? Jeeeeeezus
Violet
Has anyone heard an update on Rikyrah? Apparently she’s in the hospital according to a comment in a thread last night.
Buddy H
@Xboxershorts: well, I thought Henry Ford’s dream was a Ford car for every household. Towards the end of his life he felt pangs of remorse for what his dream had done to downtown USA
MattF
@Roger Moore: There’s an issue, though, in having only one supplier. The fact that apparently every manufacturer had the same supplier is somewhat mind-boggling.
currants
@different-church-lady: ditto. 1991 Volvo wagon here. Great sturdy vehicle, served its tour, but I need it to keep going a little longer. Maybe a lot longer, fingers crossed.
different-church-lady
@Buddy H:
Little did they know that one day the “tanks” would be privately owned.
Amir Khalid
I never thought much of the Bugatti Veyron anyway. Top Gear libertarian lout Jeremy Clarkson may love it to bits because its two goshdarn V-8 engines make it the most powerful substitute willie that ever came out of a car factory. But there are many sports cars that go plenty fast and look way prettier. I’d much rather look at a picture of a Lotus Elise.
I saw Boyhood recently and loved it. But a Salon article said that it’s set in a demographically implausible version of Texas: there is not a single Latino or other nonwhite character of any prominence. (I remember one nonwhite character, Samantha’s college roommate; she appears in one brief scene and is never named.) Now that I come to think of it, it does seem odd.
Betty Cracker
@Buddy H: Looks like she did apologize, but it was one of those bogus “I’m-sorry-if-I-offended-anyone” dealios, so I’m not sure it counts. From the context, it’s pretty clear she had no idea what the word meant. It’s also obvious she’s as dumb as a bag of toenail clippings and unqualified to hold a job on teevee, which at the very minimum should require the brains not to just babble unknown words into a microphone. Yeesh.
BGinCHI
Yes, it was me.
No, you can’t ride in it.
chopper
somebody parked a new vette in front of my house yesterday. went to walk the dog and took a look and it was a new z06. crazy fast fuckin car, that one.
Roger Moore
@Xboxershorts:
If you read that article more closely, it should be clear that the conspiracy to shut down the streetcars was a lot more complicated than a conspiracy to destroy competition. Part of the reason that GM et. al. were able to buy up and streetcar companies is that those companies were unprofitable and available for a song. The extent of their decline had been masked by WWII, when using public transportation was considered patriotic, but they were already in severe trouble before they got bought out. If the streetcars had been a healthy business and riding them had been as popular as everyone made it out to be, they wouldn’t have been up for sale in the first place.
srv
As much as I liked the Veyron, I thought it was more practical to settle on two LaFerraris, one for the US and one for Europe for the same price. Flying the Veyron back and forth all the time would just be too logistically complicated.
I know, I know, there are some people who would buy two Veyrons, but that would just be so gauche.
Tripod
Honda is notorious among suppliers, and a smaller concern than Toyoter, GM, VW, etc. The supplier is probably just taking care of their larger margin customers and sticking it to the PITA.
Betty Cracker
@Amir Khalid: RE: “Boyhood,” there is the Latino guy who was doing some work on the house and was advised by the mom to pursue his education. He turns up later in the film to thank her for inspiring him, thus validating her ability to influence people. I’m not sure if there were other Latino characters in the film (I don’t remember), but even if there aren’t, I’m not sure that’s unrealistic demographically. Texas is indeed ethnically diverse, but it wasn’t a story about Texas; it was a story about a family, and people of all colors tend to self-segregate.
Karen in GA
The Bugatti Veyron. Mouse ears optional.
By the way, here’s how Iggy’s day went.
Bobby B.
Bring back the Kübelwagen! I mean the Thing!
Buddy H
@Betty Cracker: So she probably heard people in her family using the term all her life, and didn’t comprehend that it was a racist slur. Cute.
I saw the youtube clip. Her black co-anchor’s reaction was priceless. Kept smiling through it all, but was obviously wondering “do you know what the f you just said?”
Xboxershorts
@Roger Moore:
Oh, I knew the “conspiracy” allegation was shaky, but GM’s actions are well documented. Did they lead it? Or respond to the trend they saw? Even today, that’s impossible to nail down. GM was found guilty but they were only fined, like, a dollar….
And Bus transport just never has been as popular as personal vehicle or light rail.
And the thing about Eisenhower, the Interstate Highway system gave life to urban flight and suburban sprawl that made rail expansion more expensive and difficult.
Buddy H
@Roger Moore: My son has a graphic novel; a collection of old SPIRIT comics by Will Eisner. One of them is called “The Last Streetcar” People were aware of how their world was changing, and it filtered into a comic book.
Buddy H
@different-church-lady: And they want the roads privately owned. At least the Koch libertarians. And you think the tolls are bad now??
Amir Khalid
@Betty Cracker:
Ah yes, I remember him now. But even he has only those two very brief scenes. Aside from him and the college roomie, I don’t remember any nonwhite faces — such as among Mom’s students, or their neighbours or co-workers or Mason and Samantha’s schoolfriends.
Tripod
VW is as bad as GM in manufacturing junk.
srv
@Bobby B.: College roommate had one of those. His future wife had an AMC Pacer. Never really thought about how weird that fact is before.
Walking for my monday morning latte, I saw a Subaru Brat in pretty decent shape.
Violet
@Amir Khalid: The farther out suburbs and exurbs of the big cities in Texas are very white. It’s possible for the kids to have a circle of friends that would be only white. Neighbors could easily be only white depending where they live. Mom’s students–less likely a classroom would be exclusively white but it would depend on the school.
Tree With Water
It’s like cocaine. If you can afford that car, it’s god’s way of telling you that you have too much money.
Buddy H
My son drives the Saturn ION. I just happened to borrow it one morning for a quick errand. When the power steering went, I could barely turn the wheel. Not a pleasant feeling. I’m glad it happened when I was driving.
I thought volkswagens were reliable, but that their parts and maintenance could be very expensive. At least that’s what I was told. I always sort of yearned for a vw bug, but never owned one.
mai naem mobile
@Amir Khalid: i haven’t seen Boyhood so i don’t know about the income level of the family in the movie. I,however,don’t find it surprising that there wouldn’t be a non white in the movie. In AZ which I’m pretty sure is similar demographically to Texas there are several very white areas in the metro Phoenix area. There are parts of Scottsdale which have apartments which are more expensive than central Phoenix but not crazy expensive where a frugal lower middle class person could afford to live. These are in the very white areas with middle class/upper middle class.homes in the same neighborhood.
Paul in KY
@Amir Khalid: I thought it was/is an ugly car.
Paul in KY
@Betty Cracker: I call shenanigans on her not knowing what it meant or the connotation.
Paul in KY
@Karen in GA: That coffee table does look tasty…
Paul in KY
@Buddy H: I’m sure that when her cracker relatives said ‘jigaboo’, it was said in the nicest & most joyful way possible.
PurpleGirl
@Roger Moore: Every so often some one suggests privatizing the NYC subway and bus systems. What thye forget is that the subway did start out private and became the City’s responsibility because it couldn’t make a profit. There were still a couple of private buslines into 2000 but the City took them over because they were subsidizing them because, again, they couldn’t make a profit on their own. I consider government run-transportation to be a public good. (Please note that for medical reasons, I don’t drive a car and depend on other modes of transportation.)
Buddy H
@Paul in KY: She seemed joyfully clueless in the clip I saw of her using the word. I wonder if she knew the implications of what she was saying, would she have done it on tv, with a black co-anchor?
Personally, I think she’s racist, and this slip was a window into her soul. People on local news affiliates babble like idiots to fill the time between car dealership commercials, and sometimes reveal more about themselves than they mean to.
Calouste
@Buddy H: Volkswagen parts being expensive is rather funny considering they were well known for squeezing every last cent out of their suppliers. And apparently their customers.
Violet
@Paul in KY: Her “apology” was ridiculous. Said she didn’t know the meaning of the word or that it was even a word. How do you say that on air when you don’t even know it’s a word? WTF? And use it to describe something? How are you describing something with a word you don’t know what it means or that it’s even a word?
Terrible. She should just have apologized unreservedly for her terrible judgment.
Karen in GA
@Paul in KY: Little-known fact: the “E” in IKEA stands for “edible.”
Buddy H
My older son drives a 2002 honda with a bad airbag, and my younger son drives a 2006 Saturn ION. I worry that they inherited my “low wage earner” gene.
Tripod
@Roger Moore:
No really, Sam Insull was beloved by the progressives of his day.
@Xboxershorts:
And Bus transport just never has been as popular as personal vehicle or light rail.
Lulz. The lowly bus is the most utilized mass transit vehicle in this country, and on the entire fucking planet.
Amir Khalid
@mai naem mobile:
The family’s income level varies over the 12 years, depending on Mom’s job and that of her spouse at the time.
Betty Cracker
@Buddy H: Years ago, I was in a fairly large group meeting with a clueless but well-meaning person who used the word “pickaninny.” Twice. OMG, it was painful. From the context, I’m pretty sure she meant to say “picayune,” which isn’t something you hear every day in that setting either. But gyad, how embarrassing.
wrb
@SatanicPanic:
“VW, the world’s second-largest automaker, is working on a new Bugatti supercar and is testing at least three different concepts for a successor to the Veyron, including one with an engine as much as 25 percent stronger than the 1,200-horsepower motor of the Grand Sport Vitesse”
Sounds ideal for towing the ‘dozer or the horse trailer
wrb
@srv:
“I know, I know, there are some people who would buy two Veyrons, but that would just be so gauche.”
I was wondering why the net is full of 10-year old Bentleys and Aston Martins with only like 20,000 mile on them (yes, they tempt me)
Found that VW, which owns both Bentley and Bugatti, had don a study:
the average Bentley buyer owned something like 8 cars while the average Bugatti buyer owned something like 15 cars and 3 jets. A body can only drive so many miles.
boatboy_srq
@Mustang Bobby: The last Honda that I thought truly worth owning was the ’91-’95 Civic. My family were diehard Honda fans. Honda North America has been driving us away for 20 years, first with cr#ppy designs and now with stuff like this.
@Buddy H: @different-church-lady: That, and emergency airstrips for USAAF (USAF) use in time of invasion (pity nobody took that into account when designing any plane more recent than the A-4 or the Harrier). Pity that the DoT/DoD bigwigs authorizing the plan took the Autobahn design specs for speeds and access controls – and halved them (or worse) for build quality and expected lifespan.
@Xboxershorts: People forget that there was a concerted PR campaign on from 1950 onward, pushing for better transit (read: bigger and better roads). There may have been reduced popularity for the Red Car and other public trans options, but more than a little of that came from living with the first traffic jams and hearing and seeing (TV and radio) spots pushing for bigger, better roads with “write your Congressman” thrown in for good measure. Result: city, state and federal candidates running for better road systems; fewer public trans officials holding on to public office; and a public bombarded with advertising both for cars and for roads (and none for public trans options). “Unpopularity” has ugly connotations, but lack of popularity – and rising popularity of personal transport – no doubt contributed. I’m not sure it’s the same thing as “not popular, and losing money [not, BTW, an argument that’s especially effective for other public services], so easily sold off.”
Roger Moore
@Xboxershorts:
It seems pretty clear to me that they were following existing trends rather than creating them. I don’t know about the national picture, but I have a fair idea about how things were going here in the LA area, and the streetcar companies had been in long-term decline since the late 1920s.
The Red Car/Pacific Electric system was originally built by Henry Huntington to support his real estate developments; he understood that nobody would want to move into one of his neighborhoods if they didn’t have a way of getting to work. But that wasn’t a sustainable basis for the system. They were getting their capital subsidized by the real estate development, and that subsidy evaporated once the development was built. Fares were only enough to cover operating expenses and a bit of profit but couldn’t cover capital expenditures like replacing rolling stock. And the fares were set by the PUC, so they couldn’t raise them to cover capital expenses.
After Huntington died, interest in further developing the system evaporated, but further development along the major routes continued. That created problems for system efficiency because the lines weren’t grade separated and didn’t have any kind of special right of way where they intersected roads. That meant that increasing car traffic slowed down the street cars, and they lost what could have been a critical advantage over auto traffic.
Of course the Depression made everything worse. A lot of businesses were failing, and the street cars were in trouble, too. They did some system rationalization, shutting down unprofitable lines, but reducing the system size is very dangerous for any network, because it devalues the surviving parts of the system. While that was happening, California was building the first freeways, which both competed with the street cars and caused major congestion right were they dumped traffic, which was close to the hub of the street car system. As I said above, the street cars had a brief renaissance during WWII, when public transportation was patriotic, but it was just a temporary respite.
FWIW, though, the long distance street car network actually survived for a fair while after WWII. It was mostly the local neighborhood networks that were replaced by buses at first. The most popular long-distance routes survived for over a decade after the war. And not all of the old rights of way were paved over. Several of them survived as unused rights of way and were eventually bought by the LACMTA, which is putting in new track in some of them and turning them back into part of the public transit system.
The Moar You Know
I started driving right when VW had gone over to all water-cooled engines.
Great cars save for the electrical systems. Seriously. Drove my 75 Scirocco into the ground. But electrical is the absolute worst to fix and the most expensive.
Bowed out after my second Volks. Could afford the car but not the upkeep. Small truck driver ever since, not that anyone makes a legit “small” truck anymore.
Roger Moore
@Tripod:
I think he was talking about popularity in terms of how much people like it, not how much they use it. Buses are the least attractive form of public transit- lowly, as you say- which means they’re the option of last resort. Unfortunately, public transport is often seen as the method of last resort in general, so that’s what people wind up using when they have no choice.
Buddy H
@Roger Moore: Several of them survived as unused rights of way and were eventually bought by the LACMTA, which is putting in new track in some of them and turning them back into part of the public transit system.
Good to hear that.
It’s nice to have a choice in transportation, rather than being compelled to own a car, and endure the dishonest mechanics, tail-gating tractor trailers, and gas prices (which have nowhere to go but up).
JustRuss
@Roger Moore:
Sure, but how many people outside of the industry associate Bugatti with Volkswagen? Ford just released their latest Ford GT supercar, the thing has “Ford” baked right into the name. And it’s powered by the same (OK, extremely modified) turbo-V6 you can get in your new Explorer. That’s how you play the game to win.
Shakezula
So exclusive Bloomberp couldn’t show a full picture of the thing.
I’m a fan of exotic cars but that’s a shit ton of money for a vehicle that probably has to be shipped back to the factory for servicing.
Amir Khalid
@JustRuss:
Audi and Porsche are also connected to the Volkswagen group, as I recall.
trollhattan
VW learned their lesson with the ill-phated Phaeton, which by all accounts was a wonderful luxury sedan that sold in tens due to the overreach of what they could offer with the “VW” badge on the grill. Basically the same car sells quite well today rebodied and badged “Bentley.”
grandpa john
anybody else here drive a Smart Car besides me?
lurker dean
@Violet: there was a post that she’s doing better. hopefully that continues!
3ChicsPolitico @3ChicsPolitico · 2h 2 hours ago
GM! Thank you all 4 ur prayers. Prayer changes things! Rikyrah is doing better.I panicked whn she didn’t answer phone. She was taken 4 tests
trollhattan
@Amir Khalid:
canuckistani
I’m going to buy 4 Veyrons and use them as the wheels in a monster vehicle I will build out of 2×4’s and lawn chairs..
Roger Moore
@Buddy H:
There are also at least a few old rights of way that have been paved over but could probably be revived if they went somewhere that justified putting in a new line. For example, Huntington Drive used to have a major Red Car right of way that has now been turned either into a huge median or extra traffic lanes. That old right of way could be reclaimed if it made any sense as a light rail route.
Amir Khalid
@trollhattan:
I kind of wonder why they need a Bugatti badge when they own both Lambo and Porsche. In fact, I remember wondering why they needed to own Lambo (did they buy it off Suharto’s son?) when they had Porsche.
NobodySpecial
@Buddy H: VW parts aren’t necessarily the worst part of the thing. I own a 2003 Passat, and when the transmission went out at 65,000 miles last year (I don’t drive much), the biggest thing was they don’t make that style of 4Motion trans anymore, so anything I got was going to be used and cost a grand. The biggest thing was the 18 hours of labor at $85/per, because there’s exactly two places to take it within 50 miles of my house and one’s a dealer.
Paul in KY
@Buddy H: I think the ‘joyful cluelessness’ is the delivery style (ditzy blonde) that they are told to use & practice on.
Paul in KY
@Violet: Excellent points all, Violet.
Paul in KY
@Karen in GA: I did not know that…
Paul in KY
@Betty Cracker: See with those 2 words you could tell she probably meant ‘picayune’. Here, the slur is said in connotation (slurwise).
trollhattan
@Amir Khalid:
Don’t recall the details of what occurred at the time, other than the industry was imploding and brands were being folded or sold at bargain-basement prices. e.g., That’s how Tata became the proud owner of Jaguar and Land Rover.
RR and Bentley were broken up and IIRC Bentley was the relatively unwanted second prize–BMW ended up with Rolls. I simply don’t recall how VW ended up with Lambo, but today there’s crossover with Audi (R8 is more or less a rebodied Gallardo). Hard to keep up, to be sure.
Paul in KY
@grandpa john: One of my coworkers drives one. A loveseat on wheels, says I.
Buddy H
@NobodySpecial: That’s what I hate: when you’re dependent on a car, and something snaps inside it, and a smirking mechanic tells you it’ll cost thousands. I sent a check to my older son because he needed something fixed, while I was writing the check I wondered if they were bullshitting him.
Even AAA is in the scam business. My wife couldn’t start her car. AAA guy came and told her she needed a new battery; offered to sell her one on the spot, and install it. She declined, he got the car started again. When I took her car to a mechanic he said her battery was fine.
It’s like if we were all dependent on horses for transportation, and all the vets were shady: “Your horse needs a lung and liver transplant.”
Calouste
@Amir Khalid: Porsche is a mass producer compared to Lamborghini. They make about 100 times as many units.
Jay C
@Shakezula:
No: IIRC, when you buy a Veyron, Bugatti/VW sends a service team out to you. Whee ever you are.
@Buddy H:
Also: Eisenhower’s attitudes about road systems are said to have been very much affected by a publicity-stunt cross-country convoy he was part of in 1919. A collection of miscellaneous trucks and other vehicles drove from Washington DC to Oakland: it took them 56 days . I guess Ike figured that we HAD to do better than that…. though I have heard that the “military” rationale for building the Interstates was tacked on to the legislation to get public-works-averse Congresscritters to vote for it – as a “Defense” measure.
Buddy H
@Paul in KY: She apologized by saying she didn’t even know it was a word. So supposedly she was doing a Bill Cosby and just constructing nonsense syllables? I doubt it.
She still has a job. Got a brief scolding by her boss, back to work the next day. No harm, no foul!
Roger Moore
@trollhattan:
As I remember it, VW didn’t do their homework when they bought Rolls, because it turned out that the Rolls Royce trademark was actually owned by the aircraft engine company and only licensed to the automaker. When VW bought the automaker, they somehow didn’t wind up getting those rights, which were sold to BMW. So VW wound up with the Bentley name and the completely obsolete factory, but not the Rolls-Royce name.
Buddy H
@Jay C: He should have taken the train.
Bex
Texas governor and attorney general trying to “unmarry” the lesbian couple granted a license because one was diagnosed with cancer. IANAL. Can they do that?
trollhattan
@Roger Moore:
Vaguely recalled there was some kind of monumental screwup but not the details. I’ll bet certain parties were…displeased in that unique German way.
Might be apocryphal but supposedly the Sultan of Brunei was once half of RR’s sales. China has a big share, today. Lucky them.
trollhattan
@Bex:
Texas? Who knows? They’d better not accept any invitations to visit a fertilizer storage facility.
Tree With Water
@Roger Moore: Interesting history of LA transportation. A old friend’s uncle had been killed by a street car on Market Street in San Francisco long before he was born (circa WW2). Throughout high school we-his-friends would occasionally make sport of that death, assuming his uncle must have been blind drunk and careless to have suffered such a grisly fate. Imagine my surprise decades later upon seeing film footage of Market Street circa WW2. The boulevard was wall-to-wall tracks, with streetcars running east to west and rolling willy-nilly. Having seen it, I came away amazed that people weren’t been killed by the dozens back then, maybe the score. Step off a streetcar and make a sudden move in the wrong direction and your ass got run over, case closed.
trollhattan
@Tree With Water:
I’ve seen similar film, only from earlier 20th century when horse-drawn wagons were mixed with the trolleys while pedestrians basically played Frogger while crossing. It looked mindbogglingly dangerous yet was clearly “business as usual.”
Amir Khalid
@trollhattan:
Yep, that sounds hard to believe. The Brunei royal family, maybe.
PaulW
Now if Chrysler can bring back the PT Cruiser with a more powerful engine at a reasonable (under $19,000) price I will be happy.
Paul in KY
@Buddy H: They (her bosses) wanted her to say that (IMO). Probably that was bandied about in preshow staff meeting, etc.
boatboy_srq
@trollhattan: Lambo was sold, first to Chrysler then to Malaysian investors (@Amir Khalid – any dirt here?), and then to VAG. Chrysler didn’t really seem to know what to do with the brand, and chances are the investors didn’t either, so bringing it under VAG is probably a good thing.
The RR/Bentley thing is a far better deal than whoever now owns ARG got: at least they can still use the Bentley name, and the investment since the buyout seems to be paying off. The Rover marque went with Land Rover to Ford, so the new cars are struggling to find a new name (the first one, Roewe, according to SAIC is to be pronounced “ROH-veh” but IIRC the characters used for that combination actually come out “RONG-wei” – and heck if I’d drive a “wrong way” car!).
Porsche is a good, but mass-produced exotic, so it doesn’t really fit the same class as Bugatti or Lamb; chances are Bugatti and Lamb wound up under the same umbrella because they were both good deals and good opportunities to do slightly different things at comparable production rates.
rikyrah
Good Afternoon, Everybody.
I’m home. I’m out of the hospital. They checked off all the big serious stuff on the bad list, and I have to go see my primary doctor tomorrow. I need to rest and not let things stress me out. For the first time stress has manifested itself in my body and affected me….guess it’s part of getting older.
Thank you for all your prayers. I felt them.
trollhattan
@rikyrah:
Good to have you back! Best wishes for a speedy recovery.
Buddy H
@rikyrah: Welcome home
Mnemosyne (iPhone)
@Buddy H:
I’m still confused as to what makes Rodgers and Hammerstein “jigaboo music.” Because, what, black people are the primary audience for stage musicals like “The Sound of Music”?
I kind of believe her that she didn’t know what the word means, because it’s just a nonsensical comment as a racial slur in that context. She probably heard her relatives complain about “jigaboo music” so many times that she thought it just meant music they didn’t like. That, of course, would be due to the fact that she’s an idiot.
trollhattan
@PaulW:
Random question: Every PT Cruiser I see has a “Special Edition” badge on back. Just how special can that be?
Mnemosyne (iPhone)
@rikyrah:
Phew! Glad to hear you’re feeling better.
Amir Khalid
@boatboy_srq:
No Malaysian ever owned Lambo. That was Tommy Suharto, a son of the former president of Indonesia. The only European sports car makers I know of that have Malaysian ownership are Lotus (owned by Malaysian carmaker Proton, itself owned by conglomerate DRB-Hicom) and boutique outfit Caterham, bought a few years ago by AirAsia boss Tony Fernandes.
Buddy H
@Mnemosyne (iPhone): Miss Missouri USA 2006 gets a job on a foxnews Cleveland affiliate – I can call her an idiot, but I’m certain her salary is many times what I’ve ever made in my life.
For kicks, read her twitter page… lots of people giving her shit. It’s beautiful.
Buddy H
@Mnemosyne (iPhone): That, of course, would be due to the fact that she’s an idiot. From a racist family.
boatboy_srq
@Amir Khalid: In-ter-es-ting. Thanks for clarifying.
Paul in KY
@rikyrah: Glad to hear you are getting better. Please take care of yourself.
Karen in GA
@rikyrah: Glad to hear you’re home! Kick back, relax, do what the doctors tell you, etc. Here’s to a quick recovery.
boatboy_srq
@Mnemosyne (iPhone):
[Cough. Choke. Sputter] WHAT!?!? Wow. The musical (cultural, philosophical, literal) illiteracy of some people never ceases to amaze.
Roger Moore
@Bex:
They almost certainly can do that. They’re going to argue that the marriage was never valid in the first place. My gut feeling is that this will get sorted out when the Supreme Court rules on marriage equality later this year. If they rule that there is a 14th Amendment right to marriage equality, that couple’s marriage will turn out to be valid, even if the woman who is sick dies in the interim. If the Court rules against equality, Texas will win and their marriage will be annulled.
askew
I’ve got to be honest. I’ve never heard of the word jigaboo in my life and had to google it to see why it was offensive. So, I can buy that she heard someone say that word and didn’t know what it means. That doesn’t excuse her shitty apology though.
Betty Cracker
@Mnemosyne (iPhone): Not that it makes use of the slur any more appropriate, but I think she was saying Gaga’s typical fare is “jigaboo” music, and therefore the departure from same was surprising.
Zandar
@rikyrah: It’s good to know you’re okay hon.
Peale
@MattF: I think I remember reading about that in 2008. It was the case to bail out the industry. If GM and Chrysler failed, unable to pay their parts suppliers, those suppliers go under and then the other manufactuers wouldn’t be able to find parts to complete their products and would need to close at least temporarily. That’s how a failure of GM would have ended up costing 2 million jobs.
wrb
So was Zigaboo Modelest (best damn New Orleans drummer of all time- Funky Meters, Prof Longhair etc) insulting himself with his name?
boatboy_srq
@Betty Cracker: Makes you wonder what she thinks of the Beatles, Bee Gees, Righteous Brothers, Buddy Holly, Elvis and the rest of Gud Auld Rock’n’Roll. And wasn’t jazz “praised” in similar fashion back in its day? Plus ca change…
Violet
@rikyrah: Glad to hear you are okay! Was worried. Rest up and best wishes for a speedy recovery. And then implementation of whatever stress reduction plan works for you.
ThresherK
Tangentially related from earlier this week when we were chatting about cars:
The pissah about the Bugatti is that nobody is going to be putting this car in a museum for anything but its audacity.
Contrast that to the Art Deco exhibit at the MFA in Boston, featuring this Auburn Boattail Speedster. It was even more amazing in person than in the photos.
ThresherK
@rikyrah: Good to hear.
Tripod
@Roger Moore:
It wouldn’t matter. “Like” is a matter of class (and race) signaling. Those that make those arguments want a segregated system regardless of modality.
Mnemosyne (iPhone)
@Tripod:
As someone who used to take the bus to work every day, “like” also has to do with the perception that trains and other transportation modes that have separate rights-of-way are less likely to get caught in traffic, causing one to miss one’s connection.
If buses were running on separate streets than cars, they would probably be more popular, but I can tell you from experience that being caught in a traffic jam while on a bus is just as annoying as when you’re in your car, especially if you’re standing.
We’re experimenting with buses that have separate rights of way in Los Angeles — you can google “Orange Line Los Angeles” for more information. In a city that has massive traffic congestion, it makes sense to try and remove some of that traffic from the streets rather than adding buses to already crowded streets.
Ruckus
@rikyrah:
Good to hear you are doing better.
Stress is that silent thing that you don’t even know is sneaking up behind you with a baseball bat, getting ready to smack you high and hard. Gave me high BP and a heart attack and of course at the time I had no health care insurance. Luckily I survived and got care and am doing much better. Take care and learn how to de-stress as much as you can. There are some real good ways to do that, you just have to find one that works for you. Good luck.
burnspbesq
@Amir Khalid:
And now in even worse shape than QPR.
boatboy_srq
@Mnemosyne (iPhone): Grade separation works wonders – both for schedules and for safety. Anyone pushing light rail without it is selling a crock and hoping nobody will notice. Also one more reason that the underground/elevated debate is thinly-disguised Otherism on parade: elevation is cheaper but noisier, so it’s easy to campaign against (“Do you want all that noise pollution in your neighborhood?”), and underground, while less unpleasant to see/hear, is a lot more expensive so easier to fight because of the expense.
Pogonip
@rikyrah: Get well soon!
Sad_Dem
@ThresherK: Ah, the boattail speedster. Now that is a beautiful car. The Veyron, for all its superlatives, is ugly. Not just not beautiful but ugly. It should be good looking, as most supercars are.
TriassicSands
Fortunately climate change is a hoax, and 1,200 HP cars are the only way to go. If there’s one thing the world needs it’s more “supercars.”
Fort Geek
@Mustang Bobby: I don’t have trouble keeping my $1500 car on the road.
Hope he had “accident forgiveness” on his insurance. Won’t be getting that Allstate Safe Driver check, though.
Fort Geek
@trollhattan: Those are the ones still running! *rimshot*
Cervantes
@Amir Khalid:
Technically, Audi bought it, off him and the investment wing of your Royal Malaysian Police.