The eBay auction for Michael Schumacher’s 1994 B194 Benetton-Ford was due to end in a few hours. You may recall the bidding last week was as high as €2.6 million (AU$4.2m), but the listing on eBay.de has been down for over 24 hours now.
Hmm, it seems something is rotten in the state of Denmark. Or Canada (where the car was supposed to be), Germany (where the auction was being hosted), or even England (read on Macduff)!
It appears as though the motoring world has been taken for a ride, with at least one report suggesting the original listing was a hoax. No doubt the old chestnut “the fullness of time” shall reveal all on that one.
However, all is not lost. A new eBay listing, this time from the UK, has popped up offering, yes, you guessed it, a 1994 Benetton-Ford F1 car. Chassis B194-05 comes with a signed certificate of authenticity declaring the car was driven by Schumacher and JJ Lehto. Indeed, the car is said have won 46 of Schumacher’s 92 points in his maiden Championship year. This included wins at San Marino, Canada, Monaco and France.
Mind, that letter of authenticity is signed by Pat Symonds, which is hardly the most credible name going in F1 at the minute. That said, this listing does look legit, with a purpose-built website to advertise the sale: benetton-auction.dinao.com
So, if you really do want to get yourself your very own F1 car, then the current bidding is at £1.8 million (AU$3.2m). The auction is due to end on Sunday evening.
[Source: eBay.co.uk]
UPDATE 19 November: There were two bids at the time of writing this article. These have now been removed and the starting price is at £1,150,000 with a note saying “reserve not met”. Start saving kids there less than four days to go.
UPDATE 22 November: I just checked out the eBay ad to how the sale went and it looks like the car didn’t attract a single bid.
I took the liberty of taking a screen grab of this latest listing, just in case (click on the grab below for a full size image)!
