Car That Can't Be Driven Sold for $1.1 Million

Reuters ^ | June 19 2002

[2Trievers]

DETROIT (Reuters) - A 10-year-old Ford vehicle, deemed unfit for driving on public roads, has sold for more than $1 million in a deal even the pushiest used-car salesman might call too good to be true.

It happened on Sunday when Ford Motor Co. put 51 "concept" or prototype vehicles up for auction as part of a charity fund-raiser.

The sale marked the first time any of Detroit's Big Three automakers has sold a collection of the mock-up cars they build to demonstrate their design prowess at auto shows around the globe. It also marked the kickoff of a year of festivities at the world's second-largest automaker, which celebrates its centennial on June 16 next year.

Ford said it raised a total of $4.4 million at the auction.

The biggest money-maker was a sleek 1992 Ford Ghia Focus roadster that company officials had expected would fetch no more than about $120,000.

An anonymous telephone bidder offered $1.1 million for the fiberglass body car, which Ford design chief J Mays described as "a concept that is as close to a piece of art as you'll ever find."

The second highest price was fetched by the 1997 Mercury MC4 concept, which sold for $645,500.

None of the concept vehicles have any practical use, however. They are not legally certified for driving on U.S. roads and some are simply bodies on frames without engines, known in the auto industry as "platform vehicles."

Built for automotive enthusiasts, like the estimated 100 bidders who participated in Sunday's auction, the prototypes often wind up collecting dust in warehouses.

[2Trievers]

What a great concept! &;-)

[2Trievers]

I've been a REAL good girl ... honest I have! Only 500 to be produced... Porsche Carrera GT ... I can even wait until 2003! &;-)

[2Trievers]

The PanAmerica

The Speedster

[2Trievers]

Help me out babe! &;-)

[general_re]

One of the biggest mistakes Ford made in the last 20 years was not producing the GT-90, IMO. To have a true American supercar - 750 hp, performance somewhere beyond McLaren range...ahhh, well. Maybe they'll auction one off that I can pick up ;)

[2Trievers]

That is so sweeeeeeeet! Makes my knees weak! &;-)

[Inge_CAV]

Looked all over but not found a drawbar on it yet. Also no 3 point hitch, PTO shaft, a place to mount a corn picker or a front end loader.

A man could lose a crop if he bought one of those things...... : )

[al_c]

1992 Ford Ghia Focus

[2Trievers]

Certainly John Deere or Allis Chalmers made a prototype tractor? LOL &;-)

[2Trievers]

I like it, but this is the first thing I thought of when I saw it ...

[Inge_CAV]

Almost certain IHC did not design this "Prototype" tractor. : )

.

[vin-one]

have you really been that good,
you must be really good.
personaly a little bad would have helped with that porsche

[2Trievers]

Good girls go to Heaven ... bad girls go Everywhere ... I'll leave it to you to decide how "bad", "bad" is! Hehe &;-)

[general_re]

It is nice, isn't it? But, no GT-90 for you and me :-(

OTOH, there are serious rumors that Ford really will bring back the revamped GT-40 in the near-future:

[2Trievers]

500BHP? Wasn't that supposed to come out this year? &;-)

[archy]

Too late for you all. I already bought it. And for a winning bid of only $197.43....

-archy-/-

[archy]

I've been a REAL good girl ... honest I have! Only 500 to be produced... Porsche Carrera GT ... I can even wait until 2003! &;-)

Nope, you've been naughty...so you get one of these:

Of course, in a more perfect world, it'd be the particularly naughty girls who get their Porsches....

-archy-/-

[2Trievers]

With a little bit of elbow grease ... you too can have this ... LOL ...

[general_re]

IIRC, they showed it in Detroit back in January, but I haven't heard of any firm plans to bring it to showroom floors just yet. Still waiting, but they're tossing around a price tag of about $100K - that's about $25K more than the base Viper, so we'll see how competitive they think they can be in this market...

[1Old Pro]

WOW, I'm drooling.