David Ortiz a.ka. “Big Papi”, Red Sox slugger is auctioning his 2005 Mercedes which he bought as a gift to himself to celebrate the Red Sox World Series win in 2004.
Big Papi’s car is up for sale on eBay and the Red Sox slugger is also offering to deliver the car himself to the winner at Fenway Park. In an interview with The Boston Globe he said, "It's just one of my beauties. It has an unbelievable engine. I got it red and it was because of the Red Sox. And the interior is black and red, just like the Red Sox."
The bidding for Big Papi’s car is not for the faint hearted or those with shallow pockets. According to Big Papi he has bought the car for $205,000 and has spent $35,000 in aftermarket car accessories.
The car is a 2005 Mercedes-Benz, SL-Class, SL65 AMG and it is placed at the description that the car was pampered for its short life, taking Big Papi back and forth to Fenway Park. The car has little over 4,000 miles on it and it’s in immaculate showroom condition. Inside, a baseball diamond with the initials D and O is embossed on the rear seat.
The 6.0 liter 12 cylinder, twin turbo charged engine has 604 horsepower and can sprint from 0 to 60 mph in a matter of 4 seconds that is according to Ortiz’s listing at eBay.
The current bid for Big Papi’s 2005 Mercedes convertible has reached $525,000 which is quite high for a supposedly a controlled auction for authorized bidders only. However, Nima Karamouz, a friend of Ortiz and an eBay veteran helping Big Papi with his list on eBay has started canceling bids from unverified bidders.
And as of last Thursday morning, after a story about the auction came out in the Boston Globe the top bid reached $465,600.05 that is despite the earlier cancellation of unverifiable bids. In the afternoon of that same day, all active bids were cancelled by the seller leaving that car auction price at its initial asking price which is $169,000.
Karamouz said last Thursday as quoted by CNNMoney.com: "It's a double-edge sword when you have publicity like this. These high profile auctions, if they're not restricted, turn into amateur hour and it scares away the real bidders. It’s just a function of the Internet, which has the ability to attract a lot of buyers and a lot of baloney, too."
Karamouz also said that he was contacted by eBay security when the bids have started skyrocketing. He has also informed Ortiz about what happened and he was not upset and even say that if ever the vehicle will not be sold they would simply have to re-list it.
