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DHH Commissions his own Supercar - the Pagani Zonda HH
- kenkeiter 16y ago... Am I the only one that thinks it looks hideous?
- whatusername 16y agoIt's a bit flashy. I quite like the photo with the overhead view. // Part of me wonders if this is just to go in his anti-VC speeches.. "See - we made a "lifestyle" business and now I drive a custom supercar"
- deleted 16y ago[deleted]
- bl4k 16y agoI imagine that as a late-night infomercial
- blehn 16y agoNo. After careful examination, I have concluded that it is, in fact, abominable.
- mahmud 16y agoYou must be an Arab. Arabs say somebody's nice car looks "ugly" to misdirect negative spirits and the "evil eye". "Tufff Tufff Tufff; shoo hai? Lamborghini Murcielago? I have never seen a worse car in my life!"
- ansonparker 16y agolooks like the Dyson of cars - lots of emphasis on all the discreet panels and parts to show off their engineering chops. not my cup of tea aesthetically, but i'm sure it's good for one hell of a summer afternoon in the alps.
- JabavuAdams 16y agoFuxury: f'ing ugly luxury. Actually, it's not aggressively ugly -- it's just not to my taste.
- mkull 16y agolooks pretty damn awesome to me
- lionhearted 16y agoI don't like cars, I dislike driving, and I think it's beautiful.
- byw 16y agoIt's a difficult look, but some people like difficult things.
- twidlit 16y agoFor a guy running a "lifestyle" business, he's doing pretty good...
- gregpilling 16y agoyes he has. My son has been asking me why I don't have a Zonda. He is 6. I asked him to help by learning python turtle. Can't start them too young.
- mahmud 16y agoYou think your son can make that much money coding? what opportunities do you see for him? Source them and take a commission, mid two digits, really :-)
- binomial 16y agoI assume he meant for a startup :)
- deleted 16y ago[deleted]
- petercooper 16y agoYou could tell him the article has a typo and it's a Honda.
- jdietrich 16y agoYeah, if this is what founding a "dipshit company" or a "lifestyle business" earns you, count me in. DHH has a lot of critics, but remarkably few of them drive supercars.
- pwpwp 16y agoBy that analogy, you'd have to be a mass murderer to criticize Hitler. ;)
- jonknee 16y agoFor the inevitable curiosity, apparently these run in [at least] the $350,000 range. It's never cheap to hit 0-60 in 3.7s or less. http://www.motortrend.com/roadtests/coupes/112_0212_pagani_zonda_c12s/index.html http://www.motortrend.com/roadtests/coupes/112_0212_pagani_z...
- charlesju 16y agoNot as expensive as I thought, actually. Especially when the title is "custom supercar".
- JangoSteve 16y agoYeah, and actually this is a custom job that's made up of the "best bits" of two other customer jobs, so you can bet the HH is probably a fair amount more than that. http://www.autoblog.com/2010/08/02/pagani-zonda-hh-fully-revealed/ http://www.autoblog.com/2010/08/02/pagani-zonda-hh-fully-rev...
- sbaqai 16y agoThats an article from 2002. The late model Zondas are different beasts. Probably near 7 figure price tags. Its in the same class as the Ferrari Enzo and Bugatti Veyron. The first 09 Zonda Cinque, sold for about $2Million US. And the Zonda F clubsport is in the $650,000+ range. It's one of my favorite cars, and its beautifully engineered. Kudos to DHH. I've read he's an avid autocrosser so its nice to know this isn't a going to be a show piece. Its proof that it pays to be long-term greedy.
- deleted 16y ago[deleted]
- llimllib 16y agoDHH is that rich?
- maxawaytoolong 16y agoHe probably is, but... An in-law of mine married a guy who spent the first $90,000 he made as a doctor on a Porsche. He owed hundreds of thousands of dollars in student loans, just got married and was only making about $120K... He just really wanted a Porsche.
- barclay 16y agoI think this is much more likely. I'm sure he's doing well, but it also sounds like he's a real automotive enthusiast. While $350-500k sounds absurd for a "car", if it is his dream, with how well they've done, and his fees on speaking engagements... that's probably not that far out of reach. Is it a good investment? In happiness maybe. Some of the best times of my life were taking my car out on the track. I miss it dearly. After all the shit I've mumbled about him, 37s and rails... that he really wants this car--and appears to know what it is--his stock just went up a bit in my book. Us car guys, we stick together. -- edit: Just saw someone else posting that it's more like a $1.5m-$3m project. That certainly changes the scale, but I still think the point applies.
- icey 16y agoHe must have gotten bored with the Lambo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/symmetricalism/2860363997/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/symmetricalism/2860363997/
- petercooper 16y agoDHH is a partner of 37signals. I don't think it's public what his share is but he must be getting a healthy share of the profits. Even if you pluck ignorant yet sane estimates out of the air, it can easily add up. According to Wikipedia, the Zonda Cinque Roadster is limited to 5 units and costs around $2m, so this is probably a $1.5m-$3m project. Could DHH have amassed several million in the last few years at 37signals? I can't see why not. Blindly assume they have 100k accounts paying an average of $40 per month (not unreasonable given their price tiers), that's $48m per year. With a typically healthy profit margin, there's no reason why he couldn't be taking a dividend of several million per year. And with no wife or kids (from what I know), dropping even a quarter of your wealth on a single mindblowing car doesn't strike me as particularly extravagant. After all, some people spend thousands of dollars on a TV when they have barely anything in the bank. Disclaimer: I have no insider knowledge of DHH's affairs and am just pulling numbers out of my ass that seem possible to me given what DHH and 37signals have said over the years.
- elxrr 16y agoWell, he is in his own words "a gentleman racer".
- adelevie 16y agoDoes it scale?
- JangoSteve 16y agoBTW, here is what DDH had to say (before it was revealed who exactly had commissioned this car). So far as I can tell, this was originally posted in the Zonda forums which requires a login (I found it reposted at the link below [1]). -------------------------------------------------------- It turned out to be even cooler, though. I've basically commissioned Pagani to build me a special one-off that's going to be called the Pagani Zonda HH. It'll use most of the bodywork of a Zonda F Roadster, but have the upgraded 680 hp Cinque engine as well as the carbon-titanium tub, ceramic coated titanium exhaust, etc. The car is going to weigh around 1210 kg (2670 pounds). I'm currently in the midst of designing this car with Mr. Pagani and his team of designers. It's going to be complete this year. * Thanks for all the kind words, guys. I certainly don't fit the standard profile of Zonda owners these days. The majority of recent customers either run their own countries, are part of some royal family, sheiks, or distinctively old money. So I think it's been fun for the Pagani team to deal with someone who actually still have to worry what stuff costs and is about the same age as many of the employees wink.gif. The color is likely going to be Monterrey Blue or a close variety of that. I've wanted a Lamborghini in that color since forever, but it never came to pass, so now I'm trying it on the Zonda. We're currently playing with a few yellow highlights as well, but that's not a sure thing yet. The design and the specs are indeed an open buffet of everything Pagani has worked on with the Zonda for the last 10 years. I've been picking and choosing stuff. My car, I believe, is going to be the only stick car mated with the new, more powerful engine. Most of the recent cars have been paddle cars. Which is kinda funny, because usually I love paddles, but for the Zonda, it seems to fit very well as a manual. The car is very much a simple, mechanical car. Not a lot of computers in there, so a stick seemed to fit it as well. The default choice, though, is to use the newest of everything. So center-lock wheels, the new F1-based ceramic coated titanium exhaust system (it's stunning, same system as you can see on the Zonda R), carbon-ceramic brakes, the carbon-titanium tub (only road car in the world using that, it's about 30% lighter than carbon-fiber and even stronger), and of course the new 680 hp AMG V12. We're currently trading renderings back and forth. They'll send me a rendering and I'll draw some ideas on it and we'll bounce back and forth. I'm hoping that we'll have the visual design locked down by next week and I can share some final pictures. It's going to look like a cross between the Cinque and the F. I'm not going to have the Cobra-style air intake on top (that was a little much!) and the front is F too. Also, I'm definitely buying this to drive and keep it forever. It's not going to merely sit in a garage museum somewhere, which unfortunately is true of a fair number of Zonda's. Although, even at this stratospheric pricing, the Zonda has been doing very well on resale. The incredibly few cars that have come up for sale has been going for 20-30% over their sales price. But short of falling on hard times, I don't really care. To me, this is the best looking, best driving car ever made in the history of cars. Why would I want to sell that? So far, Pagani has made 118 Zonda's. 3 of them has been totaled, so there are currently 115 left. He's currently wrapping up some of the special editions, like the Zonda R and Tricolore, but the new car is coming soon, so they estimate that no more than 120-125 Zonda's will ever be made. That's about the same number of cars as McLaren made of the F1. -------------------------------------------------------- [1] http://www.teamspeed.com/forums/supercars/45181-zonda-hh.html http://www.teamspeed.com/forums/supercars/45181-zonda-hh.htm...
- garply 16y agoAfter listening to DHH speak at Startup School a few years ago I came to the conclusion that for an entrepreneur a "lifestyle business" is a much more probable path to getting rich than the grow-fast-and-flip approach demanded by VCs and angel investors. In retrospect, it seems pretty obvious, but previously I had really only been exposed to entrepreneurship through PG's blog. I had never heard of 37 Signals before. I appreciate PG's writing because it made me realize that starting my own business was a realistic option, but I wish I had been introduced to entrepreneurship by 37 Signals instead. I wasted more than a half a year building free web services before I figured out I should specifically be building things that I could charge customers money for. Embarrassing to admit, but true.
- pg 16y agoInvestors want the companies they fund to grow fast, but they don't want to "flip" them. They'd much prefer that they grew into large, independent companies, like Google and Facebook. When companies get sold at earlier stages, it's more often because the founders wanted to than the investors. I would never claim that starting a startup (= a company designed to grow very fast) was the only way to get rich. Anyone can see that's not how most people get rich. Most people who get rich from starting companies do it by patiently building slow growing service or niche product businesses. A startup is the extreme end of the spectrum. It's not for everyone. It's not for 99% of people probably. But if you're Steve Jobs, or Larry Page, or Mark Zuckerberg, it turns out that you can do better than the guys patiently building service or niche product businesses.
- garply 16y agoI hesitated when writing "grow-fast-and-flip", but went ahead because ultimately owners of large funded companies tend to sell a large percentage of their company to the general public via an IPO. But you're right, characterizing an IPO as a "flip" is a stretch. The component of your writing I'm referring to is in How to Make Wealth: "If you wanted to get rich, how would you do it? I think your best bet would be to start or join a startup." Your other writings had really resonated with me, and you had described Viaweb's hackers as really risk-averse, so I assumed that I was among the "you" comprising your target demographic. But, having been exposed to other methods of getting rich, I no longer believe my best bet is to start a startup. I would also guess that it is not the best bet of the majority of your readers. It is possible that I am underestimating the prowess of your readerbase, or that you are not writing to the majority of your readers. I'm happy that you provided an alternative viewpoint at Startup School - I'd love to hear you address the possibility of getting rich via a 37 Signals model on your blog. I know you've mentioned why you don't invest in software companies in order to obtain dividends (despite the fact that people do invest in things like restaurants and banks in order to obtain dividends, and, as an investor, I think I'd rather own shares in a profitable software company than in a profitable restaurant). Maybe you could tie it all together into a blog post at some point. The topic appears here frequently.
- dfischer 16y agoI'm not jealous, I'm not jealous, I'm not jealous. I'm not.... jea... Fk it. I'm Jealous. I want to be that rich. :(
- lionhearted 16y ago> I want to be that rich. Are you working on it? What are your financial goals for 12 months from now, 3 years, and 5 years? How much active cash per year, passive, and how much in the bank over those timeframes? Start with the numbers, then figure out what you'd have to do to get to the numbers. Nothing's stopping you. Really. Start now. How much do you want in the bank in 12 months?
- bl4k 16y agoMost people who become that right are super-poor one day, and then ridiculously rich the next. You don't get to be a multi-millionaire by gradually saving every year or 'making goals' If you are so obsessed with money, the goal should be to make something that lots of people want and pay money for, and/or in-turn sell it to somebody else who will give you a lot of money for it.
- code_duck 16y agoI can't say I'm impressed by the self-indulgent, flashy way this businessman chooses to spend his wealth. Sure, it's typical - exactly that. It's clear that _why was right on about the AXE Body Spray.
- mburney 16y agoIt doesn't seem to be too typical outside of Fortune 500 companies. It's actually nice to see a 'hacker' entrepreneur spending his wealth.
- code_duck 16y agoIt's very typical for sports stars and other egotistical young men, however. It would be cooler to see someone sucessful investing or spreading his wealth, at least for his own sake, then blowing it on showy possessions which lose their value immediately, like $700,000 cars.
- sbaqai 16y agoEveryone has hobbies. Auto-racing just happens to be one where the cost can range from a few thousand to a realm of unlimited funds. I'm sure John Carmack's rocketry escapades aren't cheap either. I'm not sure what's self-indulgent or flashy about it. The costs involved are perhaps at a scale that you and I are not use to, but its just another level up. And then there's the Jeff Bezos's and Richard Bransons, who have their own hobbies, done at the stratospheric cost scale. You're talking about conspicuous consumption, buying things for the express purpose of displaying wealth. You don't exactly buy a bespoke 680hp barely street-legal race car that can't even be driven in your own country for that purpose.
- code_duck 16y agoRight, you buy a bespoke 680hp race car for the purpose of masturbation, essentially. Some people choose to invest in other companies. Some people choose to operate charities or donate to them. Others may invest in something that holds its value, like real estate. What type of person spends their money on stuff like this? Not a particularly interesting person.
- mkramlich 16y agoyou know maybe I need to take a second look at this whole SaaS business model, hmmmmm..... ;)
- bluethunder 16y agoI guess the zonda 'drives' home dhh's 'lifestyle business' philosophy probably more than anything else.
- whatusername 16y agohttp://www.zondahh.com/ http://www.zondahh.com/ That has photos of the car under construction
- baxter 16y agoLooks like the website is a tumblr. Not Rails?
- petercooper 16y agoI'd suspect Pagani or a PR agency are running it, not him.
- tjogin 16y agoEven if it is him, I don't think DHH would create a Rails based blog just for the purpose of posting pics of his pet project. DHH is a pragmatic guy, and Tumblr is an excellent tool.
- petercooper 16y agoYeah, that's true. It's been a few years since the discussion but the 37signals blog was on Wordpress at some point (might still be) and pragmatism was cited. I agree with this and my own Ruby blog is on Wordpress too ;-) Ruby blog solutions mostly suck.