New Times Takes a $2.5 Million Bugatti Veyron Vitesse for a Spin (and a Burrito)
Categories: Upper Class
As we leave the station, a woman with a shiny purple tiara yells for us to wait. "I want to take a picture!" she says. "It's my birthday. Can I take drive the car around the block?"
"Um, no," Leitzinger says. "Sorry." The woman's boyfriend hangs back, a bit embarrassed. Maybe he could buy her a Bugatti for a birthday gift? "If I win the Powerball tonight," he says.
As I drive us back to New Times HQ, I have one last request.
"Well, that's a first," Leitzinger says as we pull into a Taco Bell drive-thru. I order the cheapest item on the menu: a bean burrito with no onions.
"Are you sure that's all you want?" the dude at the cash register asks when I pull up. "Damn, that's a nice ride!" the teenager says as he hands me a steaming tube of trans-fat-filled lard. "I'd have to sell a lot of tacos to buy that thing!"
Moments later, I step out of the Bugatti and back into my life as a professional journalist whose only flirtation is with poverty.
As Leitzinger pulls away in the car I never knew I always wanted, I count my change. Taco Bell Boy stiffed me 9 cents. I guess he figured that if I was driving that car, I didn't need it.
I shake my head and shuffle inside to fill out an expense report for $1.06.
Follow Miami New Times on Facebook and Twitter @MiamiNewTimes. Follow this journalist on Twitter @MikeMillerMiami.
"Um, no," Leitzinger says. "Sorry." The woman's boyfriend hangs back, a bit embarrassed. Maybe he could buy her a Bugatti for a birthday gift? "If I win the Powerball tonight," he says.
As I drive us back to New Times HQ, I have one last request.
 |
| The author pretends to be a Bugatti owner for a day, and ends up at Taco Bell |
"Are you sure that's all you want?" the dude at the cash register asks when I pull up. "Damn, that's a nice ride!" the teenager says as he hands me a steaming tube of trans-fat-filled lard. "I'd have to sell a lot of tacos to buy that thing!"
Moments later, I step out of the Bugatti and back into my life as a professional journalist whose only flirtation is with poverty.
As Leitzinger pulls away in the car I never knew I always wanted, I count my change. Taco Bell Boy stiffed me 9 cents. I guess he figured that if I was driving that car, I didn't need it.
I shake my head and shuffle inside to fill out an expense report for $1.06.
Follow Miami New Times on Facebook and Twitter @MiamiNewTimes. Follow this journalist on Twitter @MikeMillerMiami.
Email to Friend
Write to Editor
Print Article
