Matt Armstrong has made a career rebuilding what everyone else in the world considers impossible. The YouTuber with over 5 million subscribers has rebuilt crashed Lamborghinis and Rolls-Royces, basically building a channel out of transforming write-offs. But his latest project, and potentially his first ever hypercar rebuild, is the one that finally defeats him. Armstrong recently flew to Miami to inspect a wrecked Bugatti Chiron Pur Sport belonging to content creator Alex G. This particular car is one of only 60 ever made, originally priced at $3.6+ million when new. But what Armstrong finds when he inspects it turns out to be too much even for his appetite for high-risk rebuilds.
This Bugatti Chiron Pur Sport has had quite the journey upto this point already. Alex G has pulled squats on the rear carbon fiber wing, cracking it in the process, and finally crashed it a while back. The crash itself was almost comical.
Alex G managed to plow the hypercar into the back of a tiny Japanese mini-truck, probably worth less than $4,000. The result left the Pur Sport with significant front end damage and minor cracks in its carbon fiber chassis tub.
Armstrong arrived hoping he could salvage the project. He thought repairing the existing tub was possible rather than replacing it entirely. Then he started calling around for parts prices. What he discovered made even this seasoned supercar rebuilder pause. The headlights ring in at roughly $174,000 for a pair, crafted out of expensive carbon fiber themselves. Carbon fiber fenders match that eye-watering figure, at $200,000 for each front fender. A single section of the carbon hood costs $58,000. The horseshoe grille surround that Bugatti is famous for will set anyone back $93,000. To put that in perspective, those headlights alone cost more than a used Lamborghini Huracan. The total cost of replacement parts estimated by the insurance company totals over $1.7 million!
The financial nightmare didn’t end with parts prices. After Bugatti inspected the vehicle, the insurance company declared it totaled. More critically, Bugatti refused to sell repair parts to anyone wanting to fix the car independently. The French manufacturer insists on performing all repairs in house at their facility in France.
The Pur Sport is now headed to a Copart auction once again. Armstrong ended his video asking viewers whether he should still pursue the project. The response was overwhelmingly negative. His audience wants to see him rebuild cars himself, not ship them overseas to professionals to do the job. With monthly payments of $70,000 still haunting the owner Alex G, despite the wreck, this crashed Bugatti Chiron serves as an expensive tale of caution about the true cost of hypercar ownership, especially if something goes wrong.
