Guest Paul Christ Posted July 10, 2011 Share Posted July 10, 2011 This incredible machine is on the auction block. Each time that I've seen one of these at Hershey, I've stood in awe trying to imagine what it must have been like to see a caravan of Futurliners parading down the road.Let's see, maybe if I sell the house, and sell my organs on the black market, and sell my soul to the devil...GMC : Futurliner | eBay Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Mellor NJ Posted July 10, 2011 Share Posted July 10, 2011 If your house is worth 200K your guts and your soul would get you about halfway to the starting bid. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Foggy norm Posted July 10, 2011 Share Posted July 10, 2011 Yup, last one went above 1mil! Their still looking for the lost one, in some michigan junkyard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Restorer32 Posted July 10, 2011 Share Posted July 10, 2011 I remember climbing up into the cab of one sitting in the field behind the ACD Museum in Auburn in the '80s and thinking how neat it would be to see one restored and what a tremendous undertaking it would be. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alsancle Posted July 10, 2011 Share Posted July 10, 2011 I won't say that these are not cool, but they have to be the most impractical of all collectables - accept if you maybe collect aircraft carriers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trimacar Posted July 10, 2011 Share Posted July 10, 2011 Agreed on the impractical, but way cool.....you'd have to have deep pockets not only to restore but to maintain....it's kinda like blimps, there are only a few privately owned blimps around, because it takes a crew of 12 or so to maintain, launch, land, etc.Well, the plus side is, not too many people have to worry about having one of these beasts! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Restorer32 Posted July 10, 2011 Share Posted July 10, 2011 There are folks who collect Pullman railroad cars and they DO have get togethers where they will contract with the railroad to pick up the various member's "cars" for a shared journey. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Old48Truck Posted July 10, 2011 Share Posted July 10, 2011 Well, the pictures were taken at the Eastern States Exhibition fairgrounds in Springfield, so with a pair of boltcutters and the cover of darkness....no one would ever notice it going down the Mass Pike. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larry Schramm Posted July 13, 2011 Share Posted July 13, 2011 The one thing I like about these is that you would be unable to steal one and hide it. It truly has the meaning as big as a bus. Also I do not think you could stuff it into a container and ship it out of the county un noticed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Klayfish Posted July 14, 2011 Share Posted July 14, 2011 Wow. Guess whoever buys it won't be trailering it home...I'm sort of surprised to see it on Ebay. Figured something like that would show up on Barrett Jackson or other high end auto auction, like one did a few years ago. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keiser31 Posted July 14, 2011 Share Posted July 14, 2011 The one thing I like about these is that you would be unable to steal one and hide it. It truly has the meaning as big as a bus. Also I do not think you could stuff it into a container and ship it out of the county un noticed.That thing IS a container! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R Walling Posted July 14, 2011 Share Posted July 14, 2011 The bus was originaly rebuilt to use as a profit center for Peter Pan bus lines. The father and owner of the lines has died and it looks like the son is not interested in it. In the past I have painted antique busses for another bus company and when the Father, the owner, died, the son also sold them. One of the busses that I had painted was the tour bus for The Greatful Dead and the other one was used on the MGM Studios to transport all the movie stars to the sets. That one was a 1947 and was never registered all of it's life. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest prewarpieces Posted July 14, 2011 Share Posted July 14, 2011 I believe this is the one was offered for sale at the RM/Auctions America Spring Auburn 2011 Auction in May and did not meet the reserve. I think I remember reading that the high bid was in the 200K range. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barry Wolk Posted July 14, 2011 Share Posted July 14, 2011 They make a great awards stage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdome Posted July 15, 2011 Share Posted July 15, 2011 The Futurliner looks big by itself but parked next to a current Gray Hound they look noticeably smaller. The dimensions of a Gray Hound are only slightly larger but the fact that it is squarer makes it look even larger. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edinmass Posted July 15, 2011 Share Posted July 15, 2011 I know this rig well, as my neighbor is a retired driver from Peter Pan, and he usually is the one to take it out in the Western Mass area. It is quite a machine. It's too bad the two children who now conrtol the company can't relate to it. The father also had about 25 Rolls Royce cars, which the three of us share storage space in the city center. The company started back in the 20's with a few used Buick sedans, and a Pierce Arrow. Ed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
West Peterson Posted July 15, 2011 Share Posted July 15, 2011 They make a great awards stage.I agree. I can imagine what that would be like for an early evening awards presentation with the lights turned on. What a sight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barry Wolk Posted July 15, 2011 Share Posted July 15, 2011 It was pretty awesome getting the Mayor's Cup in front of it.I had heard that the Futurliners were parked a specific distance apart so that the roof pieces would meet forming a 12 bus wide indoor space of about 3,000 square feet. Someone found this picture that showed the precursor busses used in this fashion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
old car fan Posted July 15, 2011 Share Posted July 15, 2011 West ,just pull that dusty cash out and buy it .The packard would be ideal behind it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R Walling Posted July 20, 2011 Share Posted July 20, 2011 SPRINGFIELD – Peter Pan Bus Lines’ 1939 Futurliner is attracting a lot of attention, but did not attract a $2.5 million minimum bid at a recent online auction. The late Peter L. Picknelly bought the bus in 1998 after a New York collector brought it to Peter Pan Coach Builders to get it restored. The company put the bus on eBay hoping to sell it to a collector who could make better use of it. “It takes a special kind of person who has the passion for preserving this type of vehicle,” said Robert J. Schwarz, executive vice-president of Peter Pan. When the eBay auction closed Monday, the top bid was just $505,600. Schwarz said Peter Pan executives will meet this week to decide the next move. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Harwood Posted July 20, 2011 Share Posted July 20, 2011 As cool as these are, I think they are a perfect case study in one sale not making a trend. That Futurliner that sold for $4.5 million a few years ago was a fluke, but like the $150,000 Amphicars, everyone who has one now feels as if they're sitting on a goldmine. To be honest, I think they should have taken the half-mil and run. As someone said, it takes a special collector with the right space and a lot of money (this one still needs a lot of work) to want to buy this. I'm guessing the one guy with all those resources already bought his for $4.5 million. More than one of these seems to have come on the market since that big sale, and they've all flopped, at least in relative terms. They're worth half a million, probably even a little more, but the one sale was an anomaly, not a baseline as everyone who owns one seems to be assuming. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joe_padavano Posted July 20, 2011 Share Posted July 20, 2011 ...but did not attract a $2.5 million minimum bid...I'm sorry, but if your reserve is $2.5M, why waste everyone's time with a $500K reserve? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amphicar BUYER Posted July 20, 2011 Share Posted July 20, 2011 As cool as these are, I think they are a perfect case study in one sale not making a trend. That Futurliner that sold for $4.5 million a few years ago was a fluke, but like the $150,000 Amphicars, everyone who has one now feels as if they're sitting on a goldmine. This is why I am not a big fan of the BJ auctions. The buyers with deep pockets are more interested in the "win" than the car so they pay too much just as with the Futureliner. There are so many people who inflate the prices of Amphicars because of the BJ auctions. (one was $112k and the other was $124k w/buyers premium, they should have been in the $60k-ish range) Many now believe that there must be $30k in cash in the glovebox! This has hurt the hobby, not helped it.I had made a deal over the phone for an Amphi just days before the 1st BJ Amphi sold for $124k. The price we agreed on was high wholesale money. I was only 450 miles away from the car so I was just going to drive out that weekend to do the deal. BJ was on Friday, and Sat AM the guy called me back very upset. He accused me of cheating him. He now wanted 700% of our agreed price because of that auction. I suspect he may still have that Amphi rotting in the barn due to his greed and misinformation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest prewarpieces Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 I noticed this Futureliner is now consigned to the World Wide Auction in Auburn, Indiana on Labor Day. From one auction house to another, it keeps rollin' down the road...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joe_padavano Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 I noticed this Futureliner is now consigned to the World Wide Auction in Auburn, Indiana on Labor Day. From one auction house to another, it keeps rollin' down the road......And the seller keeps paying listing and auction fees, whether it sells or not... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Harwood Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 And the seller keeps paying listing and auction fees, whether it sells or not...And transportation to the event, and insurance, and...In my business, I see a lot of the same cars over and over at auctions. A guy won't get what he wants at one auction, he'll consign it at the next, it'll bid to within $5000 of the previous high bid, and he'll take it home again. After 3 or 4 tries, I usually see the seller cut it loose, often for considerably less than the high bid at that first auction.It seems to reinforce something I've long believed: the first offer is generally the best offer. When the car starts to get "old" on the market, people don't get serious about the purchase, figuring that they won't get it anyway and the seller has unrealistic expectations. I deal with that every single day.With something as high-profile as this (and a Futurliner is not an "impulse buy"), anyone who wants one is already well aware of its existence, condition, location, and asking price. You're not going to get some sucker at the auction who decides at the last minute that, "Hey, that would be fun!" and keeps his hand up until it crosses $2.5 million. That guy likely already bid on it during that Ebay auction. Am I cynical? Maybe... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joe_padavano Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 Am I cynical? Maybe...Maybe, but also very realistic. Your comments also apply to the real estate market. I like to search the completed auctions on ebay. The high dollar cars (and even the not-so-high dollar cars) rarely actually sell, and those that do "sell" frequently are relisted a couple of weeks later. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
60FlatTop Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 I personally prefer watching professional wrestling, it has more reality than the car auctions.Bernie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Mellor NJ Posted July 22, 2011 Share Posted July 22, 2011 I was at a local weekly car auction years ago, one of these "open to the public" events. I noticed a friend up on the podium next to the auctioneer. He was trying to sell a pickup. Most of the cars were charity cars or wholesalers and they all got bids up to $500 or so and were declared "no sale". Well this friend wanted to take the highest bid but after a conference they said "no sale" again. I asked the guy what happened. He said they told him it was their bidder running it up. He offered to take the next bid, I guess that was phony also. He said,"I want my entry fee back" so they told him they would run it through again. When they did he didn't even get a bid to cover the fees. I never went back there again Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Harwood Posted July 22, 2011 Share Posted July 22, 2011 I was at a local weekly car auction years ago, one of these "open to the public" events. I noticed a friend up on the podium next to the auctioneer. He was trying to sell a pickup. Most of the cars were charity cars or wholesalers and they all got bids up to $500 or so and were declared "no sale". Well this friend wanted to take the highest bid but after a conference they said "no sale" again. I asked the guy what happened. He said they told him it was their bidder running it up. He offered to take the next bid, I guess that was phony also. He said,"I want my entry fee back" so they told him they would run it through again. When they did he didn't even get a bid to cover the fees. I never went back there againYeah, that's called chandelier bidding, and in most cases it's legal as long as there's a reserve on the car. They're free to run it up to the reserve, but not over it, and if there's a bidder, they're free to bid against him up to that number as well. Personally, I think it reeks of dishonesty, but it is a common practice among all auction houses, even if they won't admit it.You can often tell when it's happening. The auctioneer will call out the initial number to start the bidding, say, "Do I hear $25,000?" That's the cue to the spotters to let them know the reserve number. With no bids at that number, he'll drop to something more accessible, like $5000, and bidding will start. Sometimes there's a real bid, sometimes the auctioneer or the spotter will pretend they saw a hand raised. You can tell when the spotters are faking, because they'll point to someone way in the back, but then stop looking at them and keep sweeping the room for a real bidder. If there were a real bidder, they'd be standing right next to him, goading him on and making sure the auctioneer knew who was bidding. It's pretty obvious at most of the auctions I've been to.It stinks, but if there's a reserve, there's no harm except in perhaps letting the seller think his car is worth more than it is and that there may be an interested party when in fact there is not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LINC400 Posted July 22, 2011 Share Posted July 22, 2011 It needs whitewalls. That is probably why it isn't selling. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RPrice Posted July 23, 2011 Share Posted July 23, 2011 Wow, the current bid on that Futureliner is more than my house is worth. Actually, you could probably live in it.Rog Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R Walling Posted July 23, 2011 Share Posted July 23, 2011 R. Price, Your house could be worth more it it diden't have wheels on it! (Forgive me, the devil made me say it.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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