STONE_COLD
10/05/2005, 07h46
American businessman Jim Rich stands to make a fortune next month by auctioning a 30-year-old Ford that once belonged to the late Pope John Paul II, it was reported Monday.
The light-blue 1975 Ford Escort could fetch 1.5 to 5 million dollars at the auction planned for June 3 and 4 in Las Vegas, Dean Kruse of Kruse International auctioneers in Auburn, Illinois, told the daily Journal Gazette.
Rich, from Illinois state, acquired the car in 1996 for 102,000 dollars at a charity auction, the report said.
John Paul - believed to have driven the car himself on outings - handed the car over to him at the Vatican, Rich told the newspaper, adding: "I gave him a cheque and he gave me the keys."
Last week, a six-year-old Volkswagen Golf once owned by Pope Benedict XVI sold for 188,938.88 euro (nearly 250,000 dollars) in an auction that nearly set a record for the highest number of hits during an Internet sale, the eBay auction house said.
The vehicle was sold by Benjamin Halbe, a 21-year-old currently working as a hospital assistant.
The light-blue 1975 Ford Escort could fetch 1.5 to 5 million dollars at the auction planned for June 3 and 4 in Las Vegas, Dean Kruse of Kruse International auctioneers in Auburn, Illinois, told the daily Journal Gazette.
Rich, from Illinois state, acquired the car in 1996 for 102,000 dollars at a charity auction, the report said.
John Paul - believed to have driven the car himself on outings - handed the car over to him at the Vatican, Rich told the newspaper, adding: "I gave him a cheque and he gave me the keys."
Last week, a six-year-old Volkswagen Golf once owned by Pope Benedict XVI sold for 188,938.88 euro (nearly 250,000 dollars) in an auction that nearly set a record for the highest number of hits during an Internet sale, the eBay auction house said.
The vehicle was sold by Benjamin Halbe, a 21-year-old currently working as a hospital assistant.