Tue, Oct 02, 2007
Takes In $1.3 Million For New Park, Museum
So... how much for that toilet seat in the window? A recent
auction of spare parts for the once-glorious, but now grounded,
Concorde took in a whopping $1.3 million -- more than three times
original estimates, according to event organizers.
The International Herald Tribune reports around 800 SST
aficianados participated in the three-day auction, which concluded
Monday... offering bids in person, by phone and via internet on 835
lots of Concorde memorabilia.
Winning bidders parted with some serious cash to own their own
pieces of the storied airliner... including $37,000 for a section
of landing gear that weighs 1.2 tons.
Bidding ranged from $638 for a filling valve, to nearly $80,000
for two supersonic airspeed indicators. A Concorde toilet seat
fetched $7,400.
As ANN reported, most of the
items in the auction were replacement parts stocked in EADS
warehouses since the plane stopped flying in 2003.
The Pentagon procurement-level prices reaped an incredible
windfall for Aerotheque, the aviation group that organized the
auction. The group "bought" the whole lot of spare parts from EADS
after the last Concorde landed, for a symbolic €1 (about $1.41
US dollars in today's market.)
Aerotheque representative Melodie Susini -- understandably happy
with how everything turned out -- said the money will go toward a
planned park and museum in Tolouse, France... home of Airbus, as
well as its predecessor Aérospatiale, which helped build the
Concorde.
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