'Holy Car Batman' - John Paul II's Ford Sells for $690,000
10/30/2005
LAS VEGAS - A light blue 1975 Ford Escort GL once owned by Pope
John Paul II sold for $690,000 Saturday to a Houston
multimillionaire who said he plans to put it in a museum he wants
to build in his hometown.
"To me, it's a piece of history," said John O'Quinn, 62, a Baptist
who said he has a collection of about 600 vehicles. "What a great
human being Pope John Paul was."
Built 30 years ago at a Ford plant in Cologne, Germany, the car
sold Saturday in what auctioneer Dean Kruse said was original papal
condition no hubcaps, no air conditioning, no radio, but with
several nicks and dents.
"The car will never be driven," said O'Quinn, who said that at
least temporarily it will be warehoused with his other cars. "But
hopefully, in my life, I'll be able to go back and touch this car
and feel the pope's spirit."
O'Quinn, a personal injury lawyer who made a fortune in a
multibillion dollar Texas tobacco settlement, outbid least seven
other would-be buyers.
"I'm so glad it will be preserved and be in a major city in the
U.S." he said.
The seller, Jim Rich, 41, of Sugar Grove, Ill., became emotional
about giving up the car to pay bankruptcy debts to his
father.
"I've been smothered by greed and courts," he said.
Rich bought the car for $102,000 at an auction in 1996, and said he
promised the pope when he received the keys at the Vatican that he
would display the vehicle proudly at his Chicago West restaurant
and never part with it.
Standing with holes in his shoes and holding a buttonless blue
blazer together at the front with his left hand, he pulled a food
stamp card from his wallet and said he been using it for about nine
months to buy groceries.
"The pope would think this is something I should do under
extraordinary circumstances," he said.
Kruse previously said he thought the car might fetch as much as $3
million, but bidding was as labored as an uphill climb for the
modest car's little 1.1 liter engine.
It began at $150,000, after Kruse failed repeatedly to get any of
the 350 people at the Las Vegas Hilton auto auction to offer $1
million. It stalled several times while Kruse exhorted bidders to
be generous.
The car came with what Kruse said were several papal possessions:
carved wooden rosary beads, a box of wooden matches, a candy tin
and a dashboard medallion bearing the likeness of St. Maria
Goretti, patron of youth, young women, purity and victims of
rape.
Baseball Hall of Famer Reggie Jackson, who has about 70 cars in his
collection, didn't bid on the pope's car but watched with a smile
as Kruse touted the blessings of a car that might have fetched
$1,200 on a used car lot. "He's selling the story," Jackson
said.
As the trusted Robin would say, "Holy Car Batman".