UTMC

Gotta like the owner of the car wash that, while watching this travesty, swears he'll shut the machine down if the Veryon owner uses the brush

http://jalopnik.com/5825551/cheap-bugat ... d-car-wash

I actually like the idea of the Veyron being "mistreated" like that.

It wasn't built to appease discerning motorists, it wasn't built to make the manufacturer money (they loose millions, literally millions, of serious currency on each unit sold), it was built as a showpiece. It's a rolling billboard, VW actually pays the owners to drive it around (it costs them several millions more to make than what they sell it for).
It's not a racecar with a pedigree, it wasn't made by a company with a geniune history of providing exclusive, outstanding motors for discerning motorists, it wasn't made by madmen with no money in a shed or at the behest of a deranged millionaire (well, okay, it was made at the behest of a deranged millionaire, but he didn't pay for it out of his own pocket as a private project).
It was made by one of the largest corporations in the business, with all the money and resources an engineer could wish for thrown at it so that, at the end of the day, the VW CEO could have something to stick that expensive badge on while he gropes himself about having put a lot of impressive numbers onto wheels.
That's all it is, numbers, large enough to impress, so that the plutocratic über-rich don't have to rely on the common millionaires having any knowledge about cars when they try to impress them.
"Look! I have more radiators than you! And more cylinders! And more miles per hour! I paid more for it than you did - and the company that made it paid even more than I did!! Suck it!"

VW could have poured the resources that went into this into developing some usefull technology for consumer-grade vehicles, or into improving their manufacturing processes to bring prices down, or even that motorcycle project that was rumored about some years ago, but instead chose to give out millions worth of swag to people who could already afford all the toys they wanted.

I've grown ever so tired of what this car represents and the veneration it receives. That veneration wasn't earned by pedigree or racing victories, or even just sheer madness, it was purchased by VW, just as they would purchase superbowl half-time advertisments or leather chairs for the boardroom.

I have tremendous respect for the engineering, and I'm sure it's great fun to drive, but I find it no more impressive than a Boeing 737.
I believe that some machines have a soul. A reflection of the love their makers put into them. The Veyron? How much soul does a major corporation's TV advertisment have?
They didn't even build it to compete with anything, unlike other unobtanium around, or to satisfy any demand other than rich people's narcicissm. They built it to show off, fair enough, but "look what we can do" doesn't mean a heck of lot when you have all the money and state-of-the-art facilities and most talented engineers in the world building a penis-extension for oil-tycoons and hedge-fund-managers.

So let him take it to the self-service car wash. At least the owner (presuming the driver was, in fact, the owner) has enough sense to figure out that he doesn't need the $ 500 full-detailing job just to get the grime off, and maybe the result of the cheap car wash are just right by him.
Maybe he indeed is a moron, but still, what's the worst that he could do?
Scratch a million dollar billboard, that's what. Who cares.

I care.

It's not a billboard, it's a thing of beauty.

Back in the 80s, a buddy of mine got t-boned by a drunk at an intersection. He was driving his beat up 4-cyl Mustang to school, not a bad car, but nothing special. Following the crash, he was in a coma for about a month. When he finally woke up, his parents were so happy that they bought him a Corvette.

(Note: I'm not comparing a Corvette to a Veyron.)

I saw him at a car wash one day, he had the foamy brush and was just scrubbing the daylights out of that pretty black paint. (This was in west Texas, and this car wash in question was frequented by oil field service trucks.) I was aghast. I begged him to stop, take the car home and do it right, but he insisted that this was easier and he didn't feel like fucking with it.

That beautiful car wasn't beautiful for very long.

guitargeek wrote: (Note: I'm not comparing a Corvette to a Veyron.)

Why not? I'd be willing to be that your buddy's Corvette comprised a much larger percentage of his net-worth than the Veyron does to his owner.

I really don't give a shit to be honest. If he's washing it there because he's too busy driving the piss out of it, then I'm delighted by his behavior.

someone took daddy's car for a spin and doesn't want daddy to notice it when daddy gets back from his business trip.

I mean, yeah, avoid the foamy brush, but fuck yeah, wash your own car!
That, to me, looks like a person who's connected to his automobile.
If the rest of that shit is true, then pretty much the only thing he CAN do to take an active role in owning that vehicle is to wash it himself.
Not like he can do any tinkering on it.
What are ya gonna do, install a Tornado-Air, or a Vortec Cyclone air intake in it?

There are enough Veyrons out there sitting in garages 99.9% of the time - the vast majority of 'em, I'm sure.

Nice to see this one being driven on actual streets, even if I think the driver is more than a little cracked to trust his paint to a self-serv foamy brush.