CHICAGO -- A 2005 Chrysler 300C once leased by President Barack Obama was still in the hands of its owner early Thursday after an eBay auction closed with no bids meeting the minimum asking price -- a cool $1 million.
The car's owner Tim O'Boyle now plans to relist the vehicle closer to the upcoming 2012 presidential election -- perhaps at a lower price, the Chicago Tribune reported after the online auction closed late Wednesday.
Lisa Czibor, the eBay seller conducting the auction on O'Boyle's behalf, said, "We're trying to talk him into rerunning it now and making some changes to [the listing]. Lowering the price, and contacting Obama to find out if there's a charity he'd like us to donate some of the profits to.
"In the end, it's [O'Boyle's] car. It's up to him."
The auction listing stated that Obama leased the vehicle late in his term as a state senator, in 2004, and during his time as a US senator, from 2005 to 2007. It was accompanied by a photograph of the original Illinois title with Obama's name on it.
In December, 2007, Obama reportedly traded in the HEMI V8-powered luxury sedan for a Ford Escape Hybrid.
The car was first offered up for sale on eBay three years ago, FOXNews.com reported. That auction, which listed the car for a starting bid of $100,000, fell apart when phony bidders pushed the price up to $1 billion dollars and the car hasn't sold in the years since. Nevertheless, it was posted again last week with the $1 million price tag.
A representative for the Illinois-based O'Boyle told FoxNews.com last week that they think the car has even more historical value than it originally did now the president has spent three years in office, citing the reported sale of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's 1977 Peugeot for $2.5 million as an example of the potential value of the vehicle.
http://www.foxnews.com/leisure/2012/02/02/no-takers-for-obamas-1-million-chrysler
