Want to buy that creepy "Free Candy" van? Here's your chance

Free Candy Is Legit / Instagram Free Candy Is Legit / Instagram Image 1 of / 4 Caption Close Want to buy that creepy "Free Candy" van? Here's your chance 1 / 4 Back to Gallery

Remember the sinister-looking white "FREE CANDY" van that made headlines after appearing around Sacramento last summer?

Well, with a bit of luck and at least $10,000, that van can be yours.

Ron Jacobs, the young, "random Australian" behind the van, is about to sell his creation.

Jacobs recently revealed himself to be the owner and operator of the vehicle, admitting that the reasoning behind the purchase and painting of the van was not at all meant to cause a stir. "It going viral was never part of the plan," he says in a YouTube confessional about the van. "I never expected it to have the impact that it did."

Rather, it was bought essentially as Jacobs' ride around California and Burning Man during the span of his three month traveler's visa. He says he needed the van while he pursued extreme sports like wingsuiting and kitesurfing, and admits that after a "20 minute paint job" caused it to go viral, that "the whole thing [had] just gotten totally out of hand."

"Once I realized it had gone viral, and the sense of humor I had imparted into the van," he says, "it [was] really widely shared."

But now that Jacobs' visit to the U.S. is coming to an end, he realizes it's time to pass it on.

"Because I have to leave the country eventually, I don't want to destroy this now," he adds. "I realize it means way more to people culturally than just me, so I can't destroy it."

So, to do that, Jacobs is planning to auction off the van this Saturday at 11 a.m. at SoMa StrEat Food in San Francisco. Despite its age and that it has around 200,000 miles on it, Jacobs hopes to recoup the cost of the van and its various modifications in a bidding war. He's giving the FREE CANDY van an ambitious starting price of $10,000.

Jacobs, who is an engineer, says he has done or is planning to do a good amount of work inside the 2007 Ford E-350 V8 (in addition to the infamous exterior paint job), including adding furniture and a Jambox, as well as painting the interior cargo area and installing "astronomical art." The deal also comes with the deliverance of intellectual property, its social media pages, and a pending federal trademark.

THATS RIGHT FREE CANDY IS LEGIT has been in #SanFrancisco preparing for its @auction #freecandyislegit #repost @its_all_nothing Seems legit. #SFC #haightstreet #freecandy #seemslegit A photo posted by FREE CANDY is Legit (@freecandyislegit) on Mar 9, 2016 at 2:27pm PST

SoMa Street Food, the hosts of the auction, seem amused (more than anything) to be helping Jacobs with his auction.

"When he approached us we said yes on the grounds that it would give a truly bizarre story a chance to reach some form of conclusion here in San Francisco," a spokesperson for the the park told SFGATE. "This van has ended up being a lightning rod of controversy that has clearly eclipsed whatever original intention that he had."

But while the van is certainly noteworthy — for better or for worse — SoMa StrEat Food is clear about their position, saying, "We do not by any means endorse the sentiments or associations conveyed by his macabre vehicle" and that they "find the van to be bizarre and more than a little disturbing."

Weird? Yes. Fascinating? Yep. Disconcerting? Absolutely.

As to why Jacobs decided to paint that phrase on the van? "That's a longer conversation," he says. "We can have that in person."