NO DRIVE TRAIN BUT LEMANS CLOCKS RECORD PRICE

+ Click to Enlarge SHADOW OF ITS FORMER SELF: It doesn't look like a winner but this 1963 Pontiac LeMans Tempest was one of six special Super Duty versions and it eventually sold for nearly $227 000.

September 26, 2009

A simple eBay auction turned into an epic bidding frenzy when a car thought to be scrap turned out to be one of the world’s rarest vehicles.

The rusty car – which has no engine or transmission – was initially put up for sale in the US with a starting bid of $500 but an eBay user realised the battered 1963 Pontiac LeMans Tempest was in fact one of six special Super Duty versions and it eventually sold for nearly $227 000.

What helped boost sales even more during the nine-day auction was that it also seened to be a car driven by American drag-racing legend Stan Antlocer.

The car's Plexiglass windows, unusual suspension and a fascia bearing the name of a racetrack tipped bidders to its racing history but it was all a shock to the seller, 123eclin, who hadn’t expected to get more than a few hundred dollars for the rustbucket.

Reading through the questions on the auction gives 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.
With only seven minutes remaining, the highest offer was $95 000.

When the virtual gavel fell, eBay user ccsi2000 had bought a very rare, if rusty, LeMans for $226 521. - Daily Mail