By Dan Carney, msnbc.com contributor
President Obama is on cruise control toward his party?s nomination to run for reelection, but Tim O?Brien is hoping to capitalize on Obama?s old cruise-mobile -- a 2005 Chrysler 300C.
Yeah, it?s got a Hemi in it. That?s probably what led aspiring presidential candidate Obama to ditch the muscle car in favor of a Ford Escape hybrid to shore up his green credentials back in 2008.
These days Obama travels in a very un-green armored Cadillac for security reasons (cast aside like a forgotten girlfriend is the Chrysler). But Tim O?Brien has the car and hopes that an Obama enthusiast or history buff is willing to pay a million dollars for it on eBay. (I think you have to say ?million? like Dr. Evil when you are talking about that much money for a car.)
O?Brien says he tried to sell the car on eBay a few years ago, but that pranksters ran the bidding up to $100 million before eBay shut down the auction. With the election season heating up, he thought now might be a good time to try again. To keep out the pranksters, this time the auction requires a $2,000 good-faith deposit in order to even bid. That may have chased away prospective buyers, because in an auction that ended Wednesday, Jan. 25, there were no bidders. O?Brien says he has relisted it hoping that another week will do the trick.
If not, he could wait until the fall, when the election gets really active.
Meanwhile, of course, people want to be sure that a car whose value lies in the identity of its previous owner was really owned by the president. In Illinois when a car changes hands, the title goes back to the state, so O?Brien doesn?t have the original title with Obama?s name on it, but he has a copy made by the dealer when Obama traded it in. And when he did drive the car, it wasn?t actually titled in his name because it was leased in the name of ?a government agency,? according to O?Brien. But the documentation does show that the car was registered to Obama even if, as a lease car, it didn?t technically belong to the then-senator from Illinois.
Still, one million bucks could be a stretch. The president?s previous vehicle, a 2000 Jeep Grand Cherokee, sold for just $26,000, according to the New York Times.
Would you pay $1 million for a 2005 Chrysler 300C? Share your thoughts on Facebook.
More automotive news:
Audi's bloody Super Bowl commercial
Ford profit hit by commodity costs, Europe?
Chevy Volt caught in Washington's crossfire?
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