SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA AND COACHELLA VALLEY CAR NUTS!

SIMON COWELL BUYS BUGATTI VEYRON, ROLLER DROPHEAD COUPE, MCLAREN SLR TO ADD TO HIS COLLECTION

Rolls-Royce has calculated that there are 85,400 people in the world who have the necessary disposable income to buy their cars. The company-aims to do business with 1 per cent of them every year. Simon Cowell already had one (or two) but a few weekends ago in Los Angeles bought one of the first Roller Phantom Drophead Coupes ... and a Bugatti Veyron. (Photo --- Cowell and girlfriend Terri Seymour in a Bugatti Veyron, perhaps a "test-drive loaner;" Cowell took home an all-black model).

American Idol's Simon Cowell, 49, the (creator/producer/) judge on that FOX-TV smash hit which viewers most love to hate, did what untold millions of other transplanted Southern Californians have done before --- Hit a few car lots, kicked a few tires and considered making a purchase or two, perhaps wanting to bring something special home for the girlfriend, so she can make a run to the market when their stock of eggs dwindles.

When his weekend shopping jaunt was over (he had some spare time to shop because the Rugby World Cup precluded taping of his UK TV show, X Factor), the garage at Cowell's a-building Beverly Hills manse was populated by two new models (of cars, that is, not fashion): A Bugatti Veyron and a Rolls-Royce Phantom Drophead Coupe. Cowell dropped somewhere well north of $2 million (with factory options) for the two engines, eight wheels, AM radios and all else which comes with these machines (the ego boost alone has got to be phenomenal ... and worth it).

He's got the cash; no one need hold a benefit dinner for The Young Mr. Cowell. More than two years ago, Cowell signed a "golden handcuffs" deal worth £20 million-a-year (currently USD$39,037,284) with the UK's ITV, making him the highest paid British TV star of all time (quick, name two other highly-paid UK TV stars ... Ha ha! Got you on that one!). (Photo --- Last week, for Mother's Day in Los Angeles, Simon Cowell took his mom to the star-heavy Ivy restaurant on Robertson Boulevard in West Hollywood, which is directly across the street from a business office which we've frequented for many years ... So I can attest that the street is always a 'scene', with star-sightings as guaranteed as anywhere in La-La Land. And Cedars-Sinai Hospital is barely 100 yards around the corner from the famed eatery, which is where celebrities have their kids; they die of old age at St. John's in Santa Monica. Anyway, Cowell and Mum enjoyed arriving in son's black custom-built Rolls-Royce Phantom Limousine, purchased near New Year's, 2008, and equipped with that most showbizzy of optional extras - mirrored privacy glass).

Turns out that Cowell already had quite an auto collection. Cowell's is not in the "Jay Leno mode," that is,   a grouping of classics and collectibles kept in a plain-Jane industrial area near the Burbank (CA) Airport. Leno visits "his garage" almost every day, sometimes twice a day, tuning and working on the cars and motorcycles himself aided by a small crew; no, Cowell's collection is probably more closely-related to what the average Car Nut would purchase if they found themselves on the winning end of the Super Lotto. They're generally stock from the factory, they're new, they have warranties and Cowell doesn't have to employ a full-time gang of wrenches to do upkeep on the the fleet.

He says, "I've got lots of nice cars... six, in fact. It's completely over the top! I absolutely love them. I could have 100 cars and I'd still want more. I love staring at them. I love driving them too. I've got two Rolls-Royce Phantoms, a Range Rover, a Jaguar XKR, an Aston Martin DB9 convertible and a very hot Mini Cooper which I drive more than anything else."

In addition to the newly-acquired Veyron and Roller, Cowell has recently taken-delivery on one of the last of a small run of McLaren SLR coupes, what many call "the ultimate Mercedes-Benz sports car". The USD$683,052 McLaren, as all of Cowell's cars, has instant credibility, inherent high value and immediate cachet. This is not only because of their low production numbers which translates into exclusivity, but also their celebrity connection. In fact, in years to come, Cowell's stable will do very well either at auction or in private sales because the cars are so stock ... We'd expect that all the numbers will "match". (Photo --- Cowell in the Veyron which he now calls his own; fewer than 200 of the cars have been built since production began in 2005).

The style and comfort of the Bugatti Veyron coupe deserves a whooping price-tag. Built by Volkswagen, the car comes with more than 1,000 horsepower being produced by its 16-cylinder engine and a top speed of 253.81 mph (408.47 km/h). The Bugatti concept car at the 1999 Tokyo Motor Show actually had 18 cylinders. Cowell's Bugatti Veyron is truly a stud car. With an excess of 1,000 horsepower, the Veyron - built by Volkswagen, which also owns the Bentley, Audi and Lamborghini car brands - has a top speed of 253.81 mph (408.47 km/h). The car lists for $1,480,584 in US dollars.

For much more on Simon Cowell and his cars, click below!

NEW LOS ANGELES GADGET AND POSSIBLE LAW/TAX FIT OUR AUTOMOTIVE TIMES

Speaking of Los Angeles legends ... I'm watching the Dodgers beating the Giants at Dodger Stadium, and it's just turned into a rainout. A rainout in LA!? Those usually don't happen until July ... or August. (Photo --- You might recognize Los Angeles City Hall as the "Daily Planet Building" from the old Superman TV series; nothing magical about it, but both interiors and exteriors of it have been seen in hundreds of films and TV shows).

And now, two auto-related news stories out of (where else?) Los Angeles, the world's Capitol of Cars and, also no coincidence, legislation which attempts to manage, control and charge for them all. One story tells of a proven way for California drivers to help pay our way to cleaner air, our second story is about a gadget which reminds the owner when a car payment is due.

Both of these tales of woe are courtesy the Los Angeles Times and KTLA/TV5, the first commercial TV station west of the Mighty Mississippi ... These one-time legends of news and purveyors of sport both suffer from having the same incumbent owner, a slumlord from Chicago called Sam Zell, who created some sort of financial dodge which puts the holdings of the former Tribune Corporation into the hands of the employees, at least the ones left after Zell finishes his corporate slashing and burning. (Photo --- Sam Zell).

But Angelenos, never fear; Zell apparently hates Chi-town as much as he loathes LA ... He's already announced the impending sale of not only the Chicago Cubs (also a former Trib property) but their Wrigley Field, too, where they started playing in 1916. The gum-making Wrigley family, who also owned the team and the stadium at one time, also owned most of Santa Catalina Island, just "26 miles across the sea" from Los Angeles, as the Four Preps sang in 1958, and those very same baseball Cubs wintered for many years on Catalina Island, honing their baseball, uh, skills, we guess you'd call them ... In 1936, Ronald Reagan, as a young radio announcer for WHO in Des Moines, Iowa, traveled to Catalina Island to cover the Cubs during their spring training. While there, he took a screen test and was offered an acting role. How different our world might have been but for the Wrigleys ... But enough of the past! Here's the latest "auto news" from So Cal:

A Riverside County company is cashing in on the subprime credit crunch.

Murrieta-based, Sekurus, sells a device that will disable a driver's car if a payment is missed.

The so-called 'On-Time' device is actually a little box mounted underneath the dashboard that forces high risk car-buyers to make their payments on time.

A light on the plastic box flashes when a payment is due. If the payment isn't made the vehicle won't start. The next step is a visit from the repo man.

Sekurus has sold 250,000 devices at up to $250 each. Most are purchased by finance companies or dealers who cater to car buyers with troubled credit histories.

The privately held Sekurus has grown at a 30% rate in recent years. Revenue goal this year: $20 million.

For the next story, click on the link below:

80-YEAR-OLD WOMAN VERSUS RANGE ROVER: ROVER WINS

While we search the newswires every day for the car, truck, motorcycle and motor racing stories we think you'll find most useful and entertaining, sometimes a story jumps off the screen, grabs us by the throat and pummels us into submission all the time screaming, "This could only happen in Southern California!"

Which is exactly what happened with the story below ... How could we possibly resist posting this story, and thanks to it, creating a new site section entitled, "Only in So Cal". And we think the following is a great story with which to kick-off (pardon the pun, which you'll 'get' after reading the first line of the piece, which we found on the KNBC/TV4 website) the new section:

An 80-year-old Corona (a city about 30 miles east of Anaheim, CA) woman who tried to turn off the idling engine of a Range Rover was hospitalized after the vehicle slipped into gear and ran over her legs Monday, authorities said. (Photo - The daunting interior of a Range Rover; could an 80-year old woman lean into the vehicle, engine idling, and turn the key while it's in the ignition?)

The Range Rover then continued into the street, where it managed to strike both sides of a parked vehicle (now you don't see THAT every day, do you?)  before plowing into a tree. The crash was reported at 9:35 a.m., and happened at a home in a gated community on Reserve Drive at Trilogy Parkway, said California Highway Patrol Officer George Foard.

The engine apparently had been started by the victim's 50-year-old daughter, who then got out of the Range Rover and went into the home, Foard said. He said the vehicle had not been put properly into the "park" mode and slipped into gear as the 80-year-old woman leaned into it.

Foard said that the Rover ran over both her legs, cutting the flesh down to the bone. The vehicle then rolled backward down the driveway and hit a parked vehicle belonging to a woman who was waiting to take the 80-year-old woman on an errand, he said.

After hitting one side of the other vehicle, the Range Rover continued into the street, where it did a U-turn  and then struck the same vehicle on its other side, Foard said. The Rover then went up the driveway and struck a tree, he said.

The victim was taken by ambulance to Inland Valley Medical Center, the CHP reported. The woman in the other vehicle was not injured, authorities said. (end of story)

Now ... Could we make these things up? Our best wishes to the injured woman. She must have imagined that she's a lot taller than she is, in order to reach into an idling Range Rover from the driver's side open door, then try to reach either over or under the steering column tunnel to try and turn the key ... And if she reached in from the passenger's side, then she was really not hitting on all eight, as the saying goes.