The eBay auction for this 1963 Pontiac LeMans Tempest started out innocently enough. Obtained after owner died. Appears to have original interior but no motor, no transmission. Body has a little rust and some dents. There’s stuff in the trunk, but no key to open it. Opening bid nine days ago was a mere $500…
The car’s plexiglass windows, unusual suspension setup and a dash plate bearing the name of a racetrack tipped the owner to its racing history. But what he didn’t know is that the car is one of only six 1963 Pontiac LeMans Tempest Super Duty coupes ever made…This one looks to have been driven by Stan Antlocer and was the fastest drag car in 1963 before disappearing.
Reading through the questions on the auction gives us reason to believe the seller truly didn’t know the car’s provenance. In his answers, he seems both surprised by the car’s potential value as well as overwhelmed by the attention. He turned down an offer of $160,000 to end the auction early because he feared getting negative eBay feedback. That decision paid off. With only seven minutes remaining, the highest offer was $95,000. When the virtual gavel fell, eBayer ccsi2000 had bought a very rare, if a little rusty, LeMans for $226,521.
Wow!
Thanks, K B
I wouldn’t have paid over $225,000 for it… Oh wait, thats why I lost.
I shuda have kept that car!!!!!!
Looks like eBay doesn’t need a bailout…
Stuff in the trunk?
The late owner?
I think the buyer paid too much.
The car is bastardized, having been converted from auto to manual transmission and who knows what else.
Very difficult and expensive to restore properly.
I’ve got a ’78 Ford truck I could sell…
#5
The magic words “one out of six” ring a bell to car-loving freaks with enough money to burn.
I would have sent it to the junk yard.
There must have been at least one collector who blabbed on a car forum about what the car could be.
The first guy mighta had it for $750 if he kept his mouth shut…but maybe a lot of people had eBay email alerts set up to be tipped to one showing up.
Looks like the economy hasn’t tanked everyone’s savings
Was it Zimbabwe Dollars?
I thought cars to be worth anything had to be “complete.” Or failing that, that what made “one of” cars was the engine with matching numbers?
Collectors are nuts. More power (sic!) to them. This is just where the free market should be allowed to be as stupid and speculative as it wishes. No bailouts for gamblers who choose the wrong wreck.
Lots of deadbeats bid on Ebay. Has the check cleared yet?
Like we keep hearing that opening sound byte on Dvorak’s 5 minute podcast…. “This is insane. Stupid people shouldn’t have money.”
So we’re in the middle of this economic meltdown, and probably some way over paid corporate executive has the ready cash to blow on a rusty old car, with no motor! Ya know, that money could have paid off a couple of poorer folks home mortgages, or medical bills. But suggest for a second, that wealthier folk ought to be taxed the tiniest bit more than the rest of us, to help pay for social programs and a national medical plan, and the screaming starts! Yeah the wealthy can’t spare a dime, cause they need their millions to buy this rusty old one of a kind wreaks. GIVE ME A FLIPPIN BREAK! Most of them made their millions (or billions) squeezing everyone else for all the profit they could get out of them. And they are so obsessed with holding on to their dough, they’d sooner hire a ton of lawyers to protect it, than merely sacrifice a small portion in a way they can’t control or exploit. As if they’re the best judge of how their millions should be spend. When they’re not blowing it at Vegas, or on rusty cars.
“As if they’re the best judge of how their millions should be spend. When they’re not blowing it at Vegas, or on rusty cars.”
Would you consider yourself to be the best judge on how you spend YOUR money? Or, would you prefer the government to breath down your neck every momnet and dictate to you how your money is spent on what? No Freaking Thanks, to that on my part.
Remember, the government’s money motto is “Too much is NEVER enough…now, ITS TIME BE PATRIOTIC AND STEP UP AND GIVE US ALL YOUR MONEY!”
“As if they’re the best judge of how their millions should be spend. When they’re not blowing it at Vegas, or on rusty cars.”
Would you consider yourself to be the best judge on how you spend YOUR money? Or, would you prefer the government to breath down your neck every moment and dictate to you how your money is spent on what? No Freaking Thanks, to that on my part.
Remember, the government’s money motto is “Too much is NEVER enough…now, ITS TIME BE PATRIOTIC AND STEP UP AND GIVE US ALL YOUR MONEY!”
#16, terrorist,
You seem pretty keen on deriding the government because of what Glenn wrote. Why don’t you read his post again, slower this time. He made a very good point.
As for your rant “Remember, the government’s money motto is“, please link because I seriously think you are just another fucking jerk with no sense. The very kind that is quick to say “To War !!!” while sitting in your easy chair sipping some girly drink.
To the Dummy that would have sent it to junk yard – read on: This was one of six Pontiac Super Duty 421 Le Mans coupes built for drag racing by the engineers at Pontiac Motor Division. They also built six Tempest 4 door wagons. The 12 cars were distributed to professional racers through Pontiac Dealers in the US. This particular car was sent to Stan Long Pontiac, Detroit MI., & was driven by Stan Antioer. It has been lost all these years and it great to now have ir recovered. I hope the new owner is able to restore it properly. Note he will need lots of $$$$.
It’s absolutely fine if a rich person is willing to spend money this way, or nearly any other way others might consider frivolous. Instead of sitting in an investment account, that money is now getting spent and helping the economy. How is that bad? Once a person has their personal needs met, why the heck shouldn’t they spend it in ways that wind up helping other people meet theirs? It’s the ones that make money hand over fist and cling to it that are a problem, not the ones who spend it.
Government control of where we can spend our cash??
You’re all Nazis. Every one of ya.
🙂
Godwin lays down the law!