Why Obama's Chrysler 300C didn't sell on eBay

If you haven't heard, President Barack Obama's 2005 Chrysler 300C went up for sale on an eBay auction. When the auction closed, surprisingly the car did not sell. You might think there are lots of people who would be interested in car Obama had driven. However, I think there are many reasons why the car could not find a buyer.

If you missed my original story on Obama's Chrysler 300C, you can read it from yesterday's news features entitled, “Economy is so bad President Obama's Chrysler 300C has no buyers.”

Obviously the first reason this Presidential Chrysler did not sell... it was too damn expensive! Everyone I talked to about the $1 million dollar price said, “Oh, that's waaay overpriced! I wouldn't buy that car for that much, I don't care if Obama drove it.” Mind you most of these people are liberals and Obama supporters.

It seems in this economy $1 million for a car that has no special significant, other than who's butt graced it's seats, is a hard sell. Tim O'Boyle, the car's owner, was a bit lofty in asking $1 million as the absolute minimum price.

Let's also take a moment to look at the authentication you get with the car to prove it was driven by Barack Obama. You don't get a letter from the Commander-in-Chief, or official documentation. Just a photo of the Illinois title with Obama's name on it. While the sale was legit and real, I wouldn't feel that would cut it for me to splurge the cash Mr. O'Boyle expects to get from this Chrysler 300C.

If this car is such a historical and monumental collector car, why not take it to real car auction, such as Barret-Jackson, Carlisle, or RM auctions? These are places where real collector cars are sold. Sure, eBay has interesting items up for sale on the site all the time which are rare and real. You go to those car auctions for the experience though, which eBay cannot provide. As well the car was already put on eBay before, unsuccesfully.

Also for a moment, consider the car. Personally I like Obama's taste in engine for the Chrysler 300C, a HEMI-V8. However, surely his liberal supporters with green sensibilities do not. On top of that they probably would rather eat glass before buying a Chrysler or any vehicle from an American manufacturer, which represents to them big-gas guzzling vehicles. Most Obama fans can likely be found driving around Japanese vehicles. Brands like Honda, Toyota, Mazda, and Subaru come to mind. I bet if if the car were a Toyota Prius, the defacto car for Obama supporters, it would have sold easily. Probably even a bidding war would have ensued!

Image source: eBay Auction Page