WhileLamborghiniownerscancountonteams

of eliterepairmentoarriveata moment’snotice,

thosewithhypercarsfromtrulyboutiquemanufac-

turersmustrelyalmostentirelyontheskillsand

resourcesofjustonesmallshop.Thebrandsmay

beobscure,buttheircultfollowingsattesttotheir

brilliance—andtheprestigeofowningtheirpre-

ciouscreations.�H.E.

64

T

here’snorulethatsaysyou’vegottobea great

drivertoowna supercar.Oftentimes,quitethe

oppositeis true.Witnessthechronicleofcrashes

onwreckedexotics.com, the TMZ stories breath-

lessly divulging which celebrity ride got mangled

in L.A. traffic, or the cover of the New York Post blaring news of

Tracy Morgan’s Bugatti bang-up in Midtown Manhattan in June.

But for the lucky few who do own such high-powered

machines, the considerations that go into preserving their

car from dings and dents are myriad. And they’re not, unfor-

tunately, limited to perfecting their own driving skills. Just ask

Kris Singh. In 2016 the Miami-based investor was hit while

driving his $3 million Pagani Huayra down Collins Avenue.

The culprit? An Uber driver.

“Itsoundedlikea slap,andthenI startedspinning,”says

Singh,whose720,000Instagramfollowersgeteyefulsof

hiscollectionofmillion-dollarsupercarsfromKoenigsegg,

Lamborghini,Ferrari,andMcLaren.“Herana stoplight

duringrushhour,andI wastheunluckypersonhehit,”Singh

says.“IthoughtI’dblowna tire,butwhenI lookedback,the

wholewheelwashangingoffthecar.If I’dgothitanyharder

andhoppedthecurb,peoplecouldhavedied.”

Singh’sfirstphonecall,oncehesteppedgingerlyoutof

theHuayra,wastoPagani’spublicist.“Igavehima heads-up

thatthiswasprobablygoingtobeinthenewstomorrow,”he

says.“ThenI askedfora truck.”

Peoplewhoownsupercarstendtohaveallthemoneyin

theworld,butgettingthecarsfixedaftera seriousaccident

is athornyprocedureevenforthem.A smallhandfuloftech-

nicianstendtobeauthorizedtoworkontheseoutrageously

complexandsensitivevehicles.If anunqualifiedmonkey

wrenchtinkerswitha supercar,a brandwillbereluctantto

takeonfurtherresponsibilityfixingit up.

Fast-forwardfivemonths,andSinghwasreunitedwiththe

carinItaly,whereit hadbeentransportedbyairforweeks

ofrebuildingandfreshcalibrations.Paganiengineerscon-

ductedX-rayscansforhairlinefracturesinthechassisand

madecompletelynewcomponentstoreplacethosedamaged

inthewreck.Aestheticiansmatchedtheclearcoatingonthe

carbonfiberoftheexteriorandpolishedit toanimpecca-

blesheen.(Singh’sinsurancepolicycoveredthecostofthe

repairs; he declines to specify the total amount but says the

incident did not increase his monthly premium.) He’s since

put thousands more miles on the Huayra, driving it in rallies

in Europe, Asia, and South America. “I still drive that car lit-

erally every day,” he says. “It’s solid.”

As a small, family-owned automaker that produces about

30 cars a year, Pagani has a reputation for providing hands-on

care and upkeep for its vehicles, many of them owned by

close friends of its founder, Horacio, and his son, Christopher.

But more prolific carmakers make big commitments to per-

sonal attention, too. The sales program for the sold-out

$2.3 million Aston Martin Vulcan went so far as to include

a repair and maintenance clause for all customers, promis-

ing that the original technicians and engineers who built the

carswouldconductanynecessarywork.AstonMartinwill

eitheroperateservicesatthespecialoperationsfacilitynear

itsheadquartersinGaydon,England,flyingcarsbackfrom

wheretheincidenttookplace,orprovidea mobilefix-itser-

viceif thecustomerfindsthatmoreconvenient.“Ofcourse,

eachrepairis dealtwithona case-by-casebasisdependent

onthelevelofdamage,”a representativesays.

Brandsarenotoriouslysqueamishaboutdivulgingjusthow

muchrepairscostforsomethingsorareandpowerful,and

theownermightnotevenreportit totheinsurancecompany.

Themostdramaticvehiculardisasterprotocolmayvery

wellbeLamborghini’s.TheItalianbranddeploysa teamof

Boeing-trainedspecialiststorescueandredeemcarsfromVIP

ownerstheworldover.Knowncollectivelyas“theflyingdoc-

tors,”theydescendonanydamagedAventador,say,desecrated

nottothepointoftotalloss,andtendtoit on-site.(Chinaand

CARS Bloomberg Pursuits October 7, 2019

“It sounded like a

slap, and then

I started spinning”

Small-Batch

Supercars SCUDERIA

CAMERON

GLICKENHAUS

The8-year-oldNew

Yorkbrandmakes

$2millionLeMans-

styleracecars,plus

the$275,000SCG 005

BajaRaceBoot.This

650-horsepower truck

can compete in Mexico’s

historic Baja 1000 rally.

HENNESSEY

PERFORMANCE

A tunersince 1991

forsportscarsmade

byothercompa-

nies,Texas-based

Hennesseycreated

the1,244-horsepower

Venom GT under its

own banner in 2011 and

the 1,600-horsepower

Venom F5 in 2019.

RIMAC

AUTOMOBILI

The Croatian manu-

facturer makes elec-

tric hypercars such as

the 258 mph C Two.

It also provides elec-

tric motor technology

for other automakers,

including Koenigsegg

and Jaguar.

GORDON

MURRAY DESIGN

Famed for design-

ing the revered

McLaren F1, Murray

is now building a car

under his own epony-

mous line, the three-

seat,$2.5million T.50.

Deliveriesare set

for2022.