Hammond crash car withdrawn from sale
The record-breaking jet-powered car in which Top Gear presenter Richard Hammond had a near-fatal crash has been withdrawn from an internet auction site.
The Northamptonshire owner of the 300mph Vampire dragster, which holds the UK land speed record, had put the vehicle up for sale on eBay, and the bidding had reached 21,000 on Sunday night. But the listing had a prominent warning regarding false bidding, and this morning it had been taken off sale.
It was described it as "a little the worse for wear after its much-publicised excursion into the weeds", but says the Rolls-Royce engine is salvageable.
Colin Fallows, the vehicle's co-owner, who lives in Hartwell, had hoped to raise between 5,000 and 10,000 on eBay.
Commenting before the listing was withdrawn, he said: "We've not got a huge workshop and it's 30ft long and taking up a lot of space. We just want to get shot of it."
Mr Fallows jointly owns the car through Primetime Land Speed Engineering with his co-principal Mark Newby. He said they had already rebuffed a number of souvenir hunters making bids for parts of the car.
"Everybody who's approached us so far has wanted pieces of it, and we've been offered huge sums of money for the steering wheel," he said.
"We didn't want to sell it in bits because of the inconvenience of taking it apart. If we sell the whole thing complete then it's out of our way. I'm not particularly fussed where it goes but it would be nice to keep it complete."
Mr Fallows said he had not been in contact with Hammond or the BBC over the auction. "We've no qualms about selling it. Lots of land speed cars have crashed and been resurrected over the years. It's an iconic car."
In September 2006, Hammond was driving Vampire at approaching 300mph on an airfield near York when he crashed. He was airlifted to hospital to be treated for swelling to the brain, but made a complete recovery.
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