What a funny bird is a pelican;
Its beak holds more than its belly can!
Anon
By PEGGY O’HARE
HOUSTON CHRONICLE
Nov. 12, 2009, 11:09PM
It was a great day for the brown pelican Wednesday, being taken off the endangered species list, but the driver of a rare 2006 Bugatti Veyron EB — one of only 15 in the U.S. — may be wishing he had never set eyes on one of the ungainly creatures.
That’s because a low-flying pelican startled him as he was driving on the Interstate 45 feeder in La Marque, causing him to veer off the road and land the million-dollar car in 3 feet of water that reached up to the door handles.
The Lufkin man, whose name La Marque police refused to release, is a collector of exotic cars and had purchased the Bugatti just last month from a Jonesboro, Ark., dealer, who offered it for sale for $1.25 million.
Now, the wayward driver has become something of a celebrity, with his phone ringing off the hook. He told the Texas City wrecker driver who towed his car that California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger called him Wednesday, along with several other celebrities.
“He said he was getting so many calls that he finally stopped answering his phone,” said wrecker driver Gilbert Harrison of MCH Truck and Auto, which is storing the mudcaked sports car.
The Bugatti Veyron, made by a Volkswagen subsidiary, is the fastest and most expensive production car in the world, capable of reaching 253 mph, said Elite Autos owner Shelby Smith, who sold the car. The vehicle has 1,001 horsepower and is almost entirely electronic.
HOW MANY VERYONS ON SALE IN THE WORLD