An eBay auction for President Barack Obama's used Chrysler wraps up Wednesday, and so far no bids have rolled in at the $1 million asking price.
Tim O'Boyle, the Illinois owner of the 2005 Chrysler 300C, has said he bought the vehicle from a suburban showroom after Obama traded in the leased car 19,000 miles in for a 2007 Ford Escape Hybrid.
"Please understand that the $1 million dollar starting price is not a joke," the eBay ad reads, noting the current Pope Benedict's 1999 VW sold for $224,000 and the 1977 Peugeot owned by Iranian President Mahmoud Amadinejad fetched $2.5 million for charity.
"Plus, being from Chicago, we have seen someone pay $113,000 for the "Bartman baseball" that (supposedly) kept the hapless Chicago Cubs from reaching the World Series in 2003 - just to blow up the ball as a publicity stunt."
No one has taken the bait yet, but the auction drew plenty of national media coverage and much discussion about whether the President's former car could fetch such a high price.
O'Boyle said it's worth it, and Lisa Czibor, the eBay seller running the auction, even posted a photo of the car’s title showing the Chrysler was in Obama's name.
According to MSNBC, the car was previously put up for a $100,000 starting bid on eBay in late 2008 around the time of Obama's inauguration. The auction was taken down after fake bidders ran up the price.
Four years and a $1 million bid later, the car’s Kelly Blue Book value is $14,446.
