Bugatti Bird-gate Followup: Driver identity revealed [*UPDATE: Now with actual crash video!]
Bugatti Veyron of Andy House from Lufkin, Texas - Click above to view video
As we've already reported (stop tipping us on this!), yesterday a Texas man lost control of his Bugatti Veyron and ended up driving into the two-foot shallows of a nearby salt marsh. The driver claimed a kamikaze pelican that flew too low was to blame for the Veyron's bath. The Lufkin Daily News has now identified that driver as Andy House, the owner of Performance Auto Sales in Lufkin.Perhaps too coincidentally, the company restores wrecked exotics for resale, which makes this whole situation seem like something akin to a mortician offing his own family members to drum up business. Unthinkable, for sure, and we hope it's not the case here as we'd hate to discover later that this Veyron was sacrificed as a publicity stunt.
Apparently a lot of people have been trying to reach Mr. House to discover exactly what happened. We're not sure what the connection is, but the group of interested callers is said to even include California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. We don't think the car has been terminated, but it might be a while before it's back.
*UPDATE: Now with incredible one-in-a-million video footage of the actual crash after the jump – and no, we don't see a pelican, either. However, we do hear explicit language, so this one is NSFW.
*UPDATE 2: Video working again.
[Sources: Lufkin Daily News; YouTube]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 6)
mdwsta4 10:04PM (11/13/2009)
here's the video of it. huh, it was a lambo? ha!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32yyvmlGOdo
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xpolarx 8:46PM (11/13/2009)
Thanks for the footage. I didn't see any f***ing birds, man. I hope that guy goes down for insurance fraud...hard.
erik1080 9:10PM (11/13/2009)
Driving and texting, perhaps?
Either way, that guy's a total idiot...
TedCorp 9:16PM (11/13/2009)
Great post. Looks like this will become quite a scandal.
RX-8 10:28PM (11/13/2009)
I never tought anything would top Dietrich and the wrecked Enzo.
Name: 11:01PM (11/13/2009)
Sorry guys, but at 00:15 he hits something small and white right when he veers off the road. No, not a Pelican, but play it a few times and you see it. Nonetheless, all that does is knock him down from King Moron to Lord Moron du Bugatti.
RWD 11:20PM (11/13/2009)
@Name: I see nothing... And I keep trying because I really want to believe that something external, however small, caused this.
Although personally, it would have taken an albatross crashing through the windshield and hitting me in the face to let me crash that particular car into a lake.
Jimbo 11:55PM (11/13/2009)
I'm not seeing anything either, even on the high-quality video.
2001 altima aka Jessica 12:02AM (11/14/2009)
@xpolarx
I know nothing about insurance and what kind of money the person would get for wrecking a car that expensive, but wouldn't it be cheaper to sell the car and get like 1.5mil (whatever a Veyron goes for) than to try to get insurance fraud. I wanna know if he will get more money if he gets insured than just selling it?
(not a d-dag comment.. Just a question, please answer)
xpolarx 12:17AM (11/14/2009)
@ Jessica
I obviously don't know the status of his claim, but what was reported yesterday was that he left the engine running until it died. Any intelligent human being knows that you should turn off the engine immediately after a wreck...no matter what. See, water damage alone wouldn't total a car like that...water damage plus a hydrolocked engine on the other hand, probably would. In this market, the resale on even a Veyron has been impacted to the point that the insurance would probably pay out more than the resale. It's basically the same as someone torching his house for the insurance.
Of course, this guy also has a supercar restoration company, so it sounds like he's working it from both angles: total the car, buy it from the insurance company, rebuild it in house and make a killing. There are just too many sketchy pieces to this puzzle for it to be an 'accident.'
Aki 3:48AM (11/14/2009)
Name: the white rock (or whatever it is) is on the shoulder, no way he should hit it. Plus, even if it were on the road a little he's on a flat straight road, he shoulda saw that coming a mile away.
James 10:16AM (11/14/2009)
Texas car wash...with a view.
recharged95 2:28PM (11/14/2009)
"Looks like this will become quite a scandal."
When is any exotic car crash NOT a scandal?
_Jon 2:14PM (11/17/2009)
@xpolarx:
I agree that he is probably trying to setup some form of insurance payment.
But I disagree that the first reaction would have been to shut off the engine. That car has a push-button start / stop and in a panic situation (even if it was intentional), the adrenaline of being in water in a car may cause a person to not think about shutting off the engine - just about getting out.
The engine is probably a significant portion of the vehicle's value.
Mahoro 8:44PM (11/13/2009)
Some people just have more money than brain......
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ImSteevin 8:43PM (11/13/2009)
This reeks of scandal.
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Tony 11:15PM (11/13/2009)
I'm just taking a guess that you're into Superfastminis, check out their AWD version.
Rob 11:25PM (11/13/2009)
Yes - I would expect the driver to be balloon boy's dad.
Paul 10:13AM (11/14/2009)
absolutely its insurance fraud.
1) Drive your own car into a lake, take it to your own company to repair.
2) send a bill larger than the damage to the insurance company.
3) Profit.
4) Get sexed in the butt in prison.
The Hit 12:39AM (11/15/2009)
Shall we call this "Bugatti boy"
Just to get a break from the [whatever]-gate snowclone...