Scrap car on sale for £300 on eBay fetches £140,000 after bidders discover it's actually historic racer



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 U.S. with a starting bid of $500 (£300).

But after one eBay user realised the battered 1963 Pontiac LeMans Tempest was in fact one of six specially-made Super Duty versions, it eventually sold for nearly $227,000 (£140,000).

Secret past: The battered 1963 Pontiac LeMans Tempest turned out to be one of just six Super Duty editions



Notice anything missing? The car was missing an engine and transmission. The first bidder offered just £300



What helped boost sales even more during the nine-day auction was that it also appeared to be one of the cars driven by American drag racing legend Stan Antlocer.

The car's plexiglass windows, unusual suspension setup and a dash board 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 rusting classic.

Reading through the questions on the auction gives us reason to believe the seller truly didn't know the car's provenance.



Suspicion: Eagle-eyed eBay users noticed the suspension set up was different to a regular Tempest LeMans



Final clue: Bidders discovered its racing history by the dash board which bears special dials and a track name

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 a little rusty, LeMans for $226,521.

Historic: The car back in 1963 being driven by American drag racing legend Stan Antlocer (also seen below)









