Posted on 11/19/2013 11:16:22 AM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
WASILLA Would you pay the Kelley Blue Book value of $2,318 for a 1999 Ford Expedition in excellent condition? If it had fewer than 75,000 miles, would you pay more? How much would that sport utility vehicle be worth if you knew it had been driven by former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin?
The city of Wasilla hopes the answer to that last question is at least $10,000. Thats the minimum bid the city has set in an eBay.com ad for the city vehicle Palin drove while she was Wasilla mayor. The 5.4-liter Expedition XLT model, gold in color, was purchased new in 1999 and was Palins official vehicle until she left office in 2002.
Cashing in on Palins cachet is absolutely the idea behind the online ad, Wasilla Mayor Verne Rupright said.
This was her mayor-mobile, Rupright said. Sarah had that for the rest of the time she was mayor, so we look at it this way. When you stop and think of who drove that, why not get the biggest bang for the dollar for the city? Who knows, maybe some rich somebody from somewhere wants (Palins former vehicle). She does have a great following and there are a lot of people who may want it.
Even without Palins name attached to it, the Ford SUV is in pretty good shape, Rupright said. It has low miles 74,188 and the eBay ad lists that it needs some minor work, like new brakes, wheel seals and an idle control valve. The vehicle has been sitting in city storage for a number of years, Rupright said, and like all city-owned vehicles when retired from service should be sold to bolster the vehicle replacement fund. The more the city can get for it, the better, he said.
Hey, if Elvis Cadillacs can go for $1 million apiece, who knows? he said. Since it is a surplus vehicle, its got more intrinsic value to the city in terms of dollars than just some piece of machinery. The bigger dollar we can get, the better. The trick is to replenish the vehicle replacement fund for the city without having to dip into the tax dollars.
To help potential buyers visualize the vehicles former driver, a cardboard cutout of Palin sits behind the wheel in the photo accompanying the ad on eBay and on the citys website, cityofwasilla.com.
That was just a bit of fun, Rupright said. But trying to get top dollar for the city is not.
The ad was placed on eBay Monday morning, and as of Monday afternoon, Palins former city ride didnt have any bids. The online auction is set to expire Nov. 28 at 12 a.m., AST.
Palin made national headlines when she was tapped Aug. 29, 2008, as Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCains running mate. She was Alaskas governor at the time, elected Nov. 8, 2006. Prior to that, she served as a Wasilla city councilwoman and was the citys mayor for two terms from 1996 to 2002.
same old, same old.....
You are helping them by posting this here, which is nice.
I guess their biggest problem may be the car in in Alaska.
I hope they get their price, but it seems like it might be a tad too much; only the celeb value makes it worth nearly that.
They should also mention that it (and Her guns) killed less people than ted kennedy’s car did!
If it’s anything like Maine cars, the road salt has rusted it away from the bottom up.
I’m sure you could ship it, but that’d be expensive, too.
We don’t use salt here. Any chemicals for snowmelt would be calcium chloride. The cutout picture is somebody’s fun way of saying “this is the car she drove while in office.” Nothing else was intended.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.