Tub of Stupid: June 2010

Thursday, June 17, 2010

A comment on this story from a friend.. or is it?!

I Sold Everything To Buy A Lamborghini And Drive Across The Country

BlowingThisWhistle 06/12/10
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Some truth about this story:

Richard Jordan has taken Matt Hardigree on a ride with a ton of lies here. He never sold all of his possessions or spent his "life savings" to set out on the open road or to buy the Lamborghini (OR any of the other luxury cars and bikes he's been afforded over the years).

Where to start with this pile of madness? He sold his metal fabrication business?! WHAT business? What was the name of this alleged business and to whom did he sell it and when? For that matter, WHAT JOB? And he took to the highway, living hotel to hotel after his fiancee left him???! The timeline in this is whack. He bought her a Corvette AFTER he bought the Lamborghini (and also after he bought the Hummer H1 and the Audi A4 AND the Ford F-650 AND the Cadillac and whatever else that he purchased within that five year block), and they were together for a long while afterward. What about the time he was pulled over in Indiana? Or the embarrassing time(s) he TOLD people he was Moby? The versions portrayed above of those incidents are a convoluted headache of half-truths. Witnesses were there, remember, Richard? This article leads readers to believe Mr. Jordan is some kind of nomadic Mad-Max-meets-Two-Lane-Black-Top messiah when he's really just a delusional kid who hails from extreme privilege. I'm sure his good family is floored by this hacked up mess of words.

Hell, my elderly parents have put more out-of-state miles on their car than Richard has put on this Lambo. The most driving he's done has been at 18o mph from Starbucks to Starbucks across the Dallas/Ft. Worth metroplex. This is SUCH an unbelievable crock. People can't possibly be reading this story, looking at the handful of pictures Richard took while on a few road trips along with the images of his new warehouse, and thinking all of this has no holes in it! Come on.

Richard, you owe Matt Hardigree a huge apology for wasting his time and for leading readers to believe you're some kind of reformed victim of love who left everything behind for some romantic, American dream. Did you think an article of this popular magnitude wouldn't be read by people who know you in real life? Reply
powermatic promoted this comment

Image of powermatic powermatic 06/14/10
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@BlowingThisWhistle: First, I don't believe 90% of 'Richard's' story either (I've got a post here somewhere addressing same) but curious where you get your info-there was nothing in the above story about other cars he/they owned, etc. Do you know this guy, or.....?

And no matter what the truth is, Matt needs to ask some fucking questions when he hears a tale like this, and do some vetting to see how much-if any-is really true. Being a journalist does not mean copying a first-person tale and enthusiastically endorsing it-see today's Hennessy "Veyron-killer" press release as a for-instance of how not to be an auto news writer. Reply

Image of BlowingThisWhistle BlowingThisWhistle 06/15/10
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@powermatic: I know Richard very well and have for a long time. I wrote the editor-in-chief as well as Matt Hardigree, but have heard no reply as of yet. I asked they put a plug on this story because I have seen people requesting to set up a donation fund to get Richard's Lamborghini running again. If they only knew he is a trust fund recipient, I think that might stop them from wanting to give him financial assistance. There's nothing wrong with money, but I think there's an ethical issue here Jalopnik might be ignoring at this point. There seems to be a certain solicitation of pity and support for someone who is, in reality, totally NOT the person reflected in the article. And, yes, that is questionable when at this point facts have been presented which could easily be checked for authenticity.

The article is almost 100% untrue