This is one of the saddest, yet most amusing sights we’ve ever seen. A $1.6 million Bugatti Veyron sitting in a salt water lagoon, door open, in two feet of nasty, corrosion-inducing muddy water. While the site is sad, how the event allegedly transpired is downright hilarious. The unnamed owner of the vehicle, traveling through Galveston, Texas to look at some high-end property, was reportedly talking on his cell phone when a low-flying pelican distracted him. The driver swerved to avoid the big bird, dropped his cell phone, and in the process the front passenger tire hit a mud patch.
A quad-turbo, 16-cylinder engine may be able to get you to 60 mph in under three seconds, but it doesn’t work well with mud, so the supercar made a b-line for an adjacent lagoon. The ultra rare Veyron (reportedly one of 15 copies here in the States) was still running after it rested nearly belt-line high in the salt water, as local news affiliate KHOU reported the 1,000+ hp engine “gurgled like an outboard motor for about 15 minutes before it died.” It probably would have been a great idea to kill power to the engine (and even shut the door) once the Veyron hit the muck, but hey, what do we know?
Hit the jump to watch video of the Veyron as it is extracted from its salty abyss. And if you own a Veyron, let this be a lesson to you that having money doesn’t necessarily mean you have the skill to drive a supercar, especially when you’re on the phone. Thanks to everyone for the tips!