Bugatti Refuses To Sell Parts to YouTuber Who Fixed a $1.2 Million Veyron for $54MotorBiscuitRahaan MazumderFri, September 18, 2026 at 11:30 AM UTCAdd us on GoogleIf there is one person currently keeping the executives at Bugatti awake at night, it is Mat Armstrong. Over the last year, the British YouTuber has single-handedly dismantled the myth that maintaining a modern hypercar requires a team of factory-certified, white-gloved engineers.His latest automotive conquest is an incredibly rare, 1-of-1 Oakley Design Bugatti Veyron tuned to 1,200 horsepower. The car was sitting dead in the back of a Dubai showroom with massive start faults and gearbox issues. Because the local dealer network wouldn't touch it without an exorbitant blank check, Armstrong bought the non-running hypercar for roughly $1.2 million, shipped it to the UK, and fixed the car's most catastrophic issues for a grand total of $54, using cheap submersible fuel hoses and a $14 ignition switch ripped out of a Volkswagen Transporter.But as Armstrong continues to dial in the Oakley Design Veyron on his second channel, Mat Armstrong MK2, the hypercar manufacturer is officially pushing back.The £50,000 Brake Pad BlockadeWith the Veyron fully running and driving, Armstrong turned his attention to standard maintenance, noting that the front AP Racing brake pads were getting dangerously thin. But when he tried to source replacements through the official dealer network, Bugatti flat-out refused the sale.AdvertisementAdvertisement"We called our parts guy who gets the parts from Bugatti; they won't sell them to us because they need a special bedding-in procedure which needs to be done at Bugatti apparently," Armstrong explained.The restriction is a classic "right to repair" blockade, forcing owners to rely exclusively on the factory for basic consumable maintenance. And that factory service comes with an absolutely nauseating luxury tax. The widely circulated dealership quote for replacing Veyron brake pads front and rear sits around £50,000.Armstrong's response? He bypassed the dealer network entirely and found a brand new set online for a fraction of the cost."£50,000 is just made-up nonsense that is utter rubbish," he scoffed. "I've got a new set for £1,500".A Backyard Oil Change on a HypercarWhile waiting for the rogue brake pads to ship from America, Armstrong treated the Veyron to a backyard oil change—a process that perfectly highlights how needlessly complicated hypercar engineering can be.AdvertisementAdvertisementBecause the massive W16 engine utilizes a dry-sump lubrication system with multiple oil catchments to prevent starvation during high-speed cornering, draining the fluid requires pulling a ridiculous amount of hardware. "There was 16 sump plugs," Armstrong laughed as he crawled under the carbon-fiber undertray.He also continued hunting down the source of an annoying airbag warning light on the dashboard. After tracing the circuit to a melted pyrofuse connection in the battery compartment, he discovered that the highly sensitive, hypercar-exclusive electrical connector was actually just a parts-bin crossover from a Volkswagen Touareg and a Porsche Cayenne.Drill Bit Disasters and C63 NightmaresOf course, the Veyron isn't the only headache in the Armstrong garage right now.While upgrading the crank hub on his BMW M3 F80 build (jokingly referred to as the "million horsepower" project), disaster struck when a drill bit cleanly snapped off directly inside the engine block template.Even worse, Armstrong revealed a massive financial loss regarding his infamous neon-green Mercedes C63 AMG. After deciding to cut his losses on the poorly-fitting Black Series replica, he sold it to a breaker's yard for £9,000, assuming it would be stripped for parts. Instead, the yard flipped the severely faulty car to an unsuspecting buyer who took out loans to purchase it. Out of guilt, Armstrong stepped in to protect the buyer and bought the broken car back.AdvertisementAdvertisement"I've had to buy the car back for £15,000, which makes me at a six-grand loss for a car that is actually worse now," he admitted.The $2 Million Reality CheckDespite the C63 loss, Armstrong is sitting on an absolute goldmine with the Bugatti. After running a complete CarVertical background check and confirming the Oakley Design Veyron had zero accident history, he brought the car to luxury dealer Carl Hartley for an appraisal.Hartley valued the tuned 1-of-1 hypercar at a staggering £1.5 million (roughly $2 million USD). Armstrong actually thinks it could push higher, but either way, he is hundreds of thousands of dollars in the green."If you told me what had happened this year… if you told me that there'd be two Veyrons that I've worked on, never let alone owned, I would never have believed you," he reflected, looking at the two Bugattis sitting side-by-side in his shop.
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