The Grim Reaper of Exotic Cars
There is a weird, almost pornographic subculture that has grown up around pictures of high-level sports cars that have been horribly wrecked, usually at high speeds by a wealthy and usually reckless owner. Wrecked Exotics.com is at the epicenter of this curious phenomenon; it features photos of trashed versions of the world’s finest automobiles–everything from Bugatti Veyrons to Ferrari Enzos to Qvale Mangustas.
This isn’t usually my cup of tea–wrecked cars are a bit macabre for my tastes–but a recent story at Wrecked Exotics caught my eye. Evidently one 73-year-old Florida businessman has destroyed 10 high-profile and exotic cars over the last three years, several in fairly comprehensive fashion.
There’s very little detail in the story, and I can’t personally vouch for its accuracy, but if it’s true … well, I think it’s pretty impressive. Why is it impressive? Well …
- This gentleman apparently has pretty good taste in cars. To own and drive an array of cars that includes a classic Ferrari Dino, a Bugatti EB110, a Yenko Camaro, and even a Model T is pretty impressive and shows a nice appreciation of a variety of cars. Okay, sure, he wrecked them, but still.
- This gentleman apparently can afford to keep driving these cars even has he writes them off every few months. That’s impressive.
- This gentleman apparently doesn’t just drive his mega-buck exotics; he drives them in a very spirited manner, which, given their expense and his age, is pretty impressive. One could perhaps substitute a more negative word for “spirited” there as well.
- This gentleman has apparently survived what look to be some pretty powerful impacts. That’s impressive in its own right.
This isn’t our usual expression of Car Lust, but I’d say he has some mutated strain of the Car Lust disease.
–Chris H.