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00:13I'm Mike Wolfe and I've spent my life traveling the world chasing forgotten
00:18objects and the histories behind them. People everywhere are turning up
00:24artifacts every day, often by chance. And if you're lucky, some of these finds can be worth
00:31serious money. Tonight on History's Greatest Picks. Hot rods, speedsters, and jalopies. Whether
00:44they've got four wheels, two wheels, or hell, no wheels at all, there's always a deal to be done.
00:51We're talking junkyard treasures. This is the world's first supercar. Long lost classics.
00:59This is a car. You hear it before you see it. And barnyard beaters. This could possibly be one
01:06of the earliest models ever produced. So fire it up, put her in gear, and let me tell you the
01:12stories behind some of history's greatest picks.
01:24The Ford Mustang has been an icon of speed and style ever since it rolled off the assembly line
01:30in 1964. It's hard to believe that that's over 60 years ago, but not all Mustangs are created equal.
01:38Like the 1965 Shelby Fastback, the winningest Shelby ever, which won 17 straight wins with Charlie Kemp
01:46behind the wheel. In 2021, it sold at auction for $1.1 million. Or the 1967 Shelby GT500,
01:57aka the Super Snake, a one-of-a-kind prototype, which in 2019 sold for $2.2 million. But one
02:07man found
02:08the bargain of a lifetime hiding in the classifieds.
02:16Robert Kiernan, he's this young guy. He's in his 20s, and he's in the market for a car. And he
02:22likes
02:22his cars fast and muscly. He finds Road & Track magazine, and he looks through all the ads and
02:30finally comes across the car that he thinks, okay, this is going to work for my family. 1968 Highland
02:38Green 4-speed Fastback Mustang.
02:41It turns out, Robert's the only person that responded to the ad, and so he snatches it up for $6
02:46,000.
02:53One of the great things about Mustangs when they came to market is they were sort of the first
02:57muscle car post-war that was really of the people, right? This new generation of kids coming up,
03:03it was a car they could afford, right? It wasn't expensive.
03:08And yet it still had that speed, that power that people craved, especially young men.
03:14The thing is, this isn't just some bone-stock, run-of-the-mill Mustang.
03:20It's been modified. The front grille's all blacked out. You got your aftermarket torque thrust wheel
03:25that make it look a little tougher and cooler, but there's scuffs all over it. Holes in the floor.
03:31Like, you can see the road through the floor when you're driving.
03:36The engine has been modified in a way to give it an extra, like, really meaty roar, right?
03:42This is a car, you hear it before you see it.
03:47The reason for these modifications is that this is one of the original cars from the 1968 movie
03:54Bullet, starring Steve McQueen.
03:58There were two leads cast in this movie, Steve McQueen and the Mustang.
04:05The thing that everyone remembers about Bullet is, is this amazing car chase.
04:10It's considered, to this day, still one of the greatest cinematic car chases of all time.
04:16This is really the first time in cinema where you're putting the cameras right into the cockpit,
04:21so you feel like you're in the car with them. You feel like you're in the chase.
04:26That's why there are holes in the front seat of the vehicle, because that's where the camera sat.
04:31McQueen would often turn into the camera so that it was unmistakable. It was him doing the driving.
04:37All car chases from this point on really sort of take their inspiration from this one.
04:44Movie wraps. Nobody really cares about the car that much.
04:48So it gets sold to a Warner Brothers employee, then later finds itself for sale in Road & Track magazine
04:54in around 1974.
04:56So this model of Mustang, after this movie, is dubbed the Mona Lisa of Mustangs.
05:01And it eventually ends up with Robert, and it's sort of his day-to-day knock-around car.
05:06He doesn't really do anything to it. He doesn't modify it. It's still got paint scrapes.
05:11It's still got dents. So it still has all of that original modification from the film.
05:17But when Steve McQueen hears that his favorite partner in crime is wasting away in the suburbs, he decides he
05:25wants it back.
05:27McQueen offers to give the Kiernan family a replacement vehicle.
05:33It's now part of the family. The kids learn to drive in this thing.
05:37I learned to drive in the 79 Grand Prix, and they learned to drive in the Mustang that was in
05:41the movie Bullet.
05:43So he contacts Robert and asks him, can I get Bullet from you? How much do you want? Robert, not
05:51interested.
05:51After his initial rejection, Steve McQueen writes this heartfelt letter that he wants to get the Mustang back.
05:58Kiernan doesn't even respond to McQueen's second offer.
06:01So as time goes on, the car begins to age, like a lot of cars. And at a certain point,
06:06the clutch goes.
06:07He can't really drive it anymore day-to-day. He puts it in his garage and leaves it there for
06:12the next 40 years.
06:16Ladies and gentlemen, the Bullet Mustang.
06:20It's not until 2020, when the Mustangs pass down to Robert's kids, that his son decides to finally sell it.
06:29Folks, it is time to witness history.
06:33That's the Bullet Mustang preparing to cross the auction block.
06:39You got to remember, this car was an international superstar.
06:43So when it was advertised and displayed, it had people all over the world losing their minds to get their
06:50hands on it.
06:51Now somebody get $500,000 and start it. $500,000, a million dollar bid. $1 million, $1 million.
06:56The Mustang was originally bought from a classified ad for $6,000.
07:01When it's put up for auction in 2020, it's bought by an anonymous buyer for an astonishing $3.4 million.
07:10Sold the car at $3,400,000.
07:14Making it the most expensive Mustang ever sold at auction.
07:27Even though we spent years trying to get it back, for Steve McQueen, the Bullet just wasn't meant to be.
07:33But this guy in our next story, he doesn't let go of his prized possession for 66 years.
07:51There's a young guy named David Eline, who is a freshman at the University of Wisconsin.
07:56He's actually a walk-on football player and a very astute collector.
08:03And he gets a tip about something that is going to be one of the greatest picks he ever makes.
08:10This tip sends him on a journey to rural Wisconsin.
08:15Remember that this is 1941, so roads aren't great, there aren't really many highways.
08:21This is 70 miles from Milwaukee, so it would have taken him half a day to get there.
08:30So he arrives at this farm, and there at the barn, behind a bale of hay,
08:35he sees what looks sort of like a motorbike, kind of.
08:41He sees it as an engine, and he sees it as a muffler.
08:46And by now, our student is trying to stay cool, stay calm,
08:50because he knows what he's looking at is a very early, early Harley-Davidson.
08:57Like so many other brands, Harley-Davidson strapped the oil tank and the gas tank to the top two.
09:05And that's why this is called the strap tank.
09:08But Harley did a lot of things a lot different.
09:12They designed a loop frame, heavy-duty lugs, heavy-duty tubing, and their own front suspension.
09:20Strap tanks are incredibly rare.
09:22So to find this one, this could possibly be one of the earliest models ever produced.
09:30If we're talking about the roots of Harley-Davidson, then we got to go way back to 1903,
09:37when a 22-year-old William Harley and his buddy, Arthur Davison, unveiled their first model,
09:44a single-cylinder belt-drive motorcycle.
09:47Harley-Davidson begins in this small, very quaint wooden shed in Milwaukee.
09:55By 1908, the company has 18 employees, and they are manufacturing now 450 Model 4 Harley-Davidson strap tanks a
10:05year.
10:05Very rugged design, and that's what was needed back then.
10:09There was no paved roads.
10:10This is gravel, two tracks, trails.
10:13So, I mean, these bikes had to be built really tough.
10:16And the strap tank kept that tank and that oil tank really secure.
10:22This guy's heart had to be beating so fast, it was blurring his vision.
10:27This was a significant bike, not only for its rarity, but 1908 was the end of the strap tank era.
10:35Harley-Davidson had crested the creative hill, and we're moving forward with a more modern design and more powerful machines.
10:52So, David keeps this strap tank, Harley-Davidson, for the next 66 years.
10:58And finally, he has it expertly restored and brought back to its full original condition.
11:06So, when it finally comes to auction in 2007, it sells for $198,000.
11:13But just as the market in classic cars has gone through the roof, so have vintage motorcycles.
11:24It was a 1908 Harley-Davidson strap tank.
11:29One of the most coveted motorcycles on the planet.
11:34When the strap tank comes back to auction in 2023...
11:37Whoa!
11:38Here we go.
11:39Ladies and gentlemen, the reserve is off.
11:42It becomes the most expensive Harley-Davidson ever.
11:45Selling for a $935,000, including the auction house fee.
12:00Classic design, raw power, and speed.
12:03Put those three things together, and you get racing cars like the Ferrari that won the Le Mans and sold
12:09for $36 million.
12:10Or the Mercedes-Benz Streamliner Grand Prix winner that sold for nearly $54 million.
12:18And then there's the Porsche that never made it to the racetrack in one piece.
12:31So, there's this restoration shop, auto restoration shop, owned by Jack Stiles.
12:37The shop is packed full of old car parts and polished fenders.
12:41But in the midst of this clutter, there is a crate.
12:49Untouched by its owner for 30 years.
12:53If you were to open up that crate and look inside, you'd see a transaxle.
13:00It's a pretty unremarkable part of a car.
13:04What's interesting is it's stamped with the numbers 10046.
13:09Now, those particular numbers, they have a big story to tell.
13:15There's lore, there's history, there's fame and glory, and a curse.
13:27More than 70 years ago, transaxle number 10046 sat under the deck lid of a Porsche 550 Spyder.
13:36Recently bought by Hollywood Rebel and racing enthusiast, James Dean.
13:41The thing about Dean is, he loves driving.
13:44He loves the speed, the raw power.
13:49He loves racing.
13:52He loves German engineering, which is what Porsche is all about.
13:57The first Porsche James Dean buys is a 356 Super Speedster.
14:02It's a great car, but it doesn't take long before he upgrades to the next evolution, a 550 Spyder.
14:11Dean personalizes the vehicle.
14:13He puts his racing number on it, 130.
14:16He also paints the back end of it, the nickname, Little Bastard.
14:20So, the Spyder 550 is a street-legal race car that Porsche put together.
14:24And what's really interesting about the 550 Spyder is the motor and transmission have been reversed.
14:30So, it's a mid-engine configuration.
14:32And it was made to go fast.
14:34It was made to race.
14:35The 550 Spyder is a very small, petite, aluminum-bodied, two-door race car.
14:42It wasn't the fastest car, but it was the most nimble, and it handled the best.
14:48All you needed was a skilled driver like James Dean at the wheel.
14:55It's September, 1955.
14:59James Dean is just wrapped on his latest film, Giant, with Rog Hudson, Liz Taylor.
15:06And during the filming, though, under contract, he was not allowed to race cars.
15:13So, he's been chomping at the bit, and now he's done with the film.
15:17He's finally going to get back to his Spyder, and he's going to put it through the paces.
15:21He's going to see what it can do.
15:24So, he sets off for the Salinas racetrack.
15:26Now, I drive on the highways and I'm extra cautious.
15:31Because no one knows what they're doing half the time.
15:33You don't know what this guy's going to do with that one.
15:38But on his way, a Ford stand pulls out in front of him, and he runs right into the Ford
15:44stand.
15:50James Dean is just 24 years old when he tragically dies in a car accident, cementing him as a Hollywood
15:59legend gone too soon.
16:01And not only that, with his death, many believe a curse is born.
16:09So, the car is a total write-off.
16:11But the body of the wreck is sold for $2,500.
16:15Any of the parts that were usable were cannibalized and sold off to all kinds of collectors.
16:20You can interchange a lot of these parts on those old Porsches.
16:24One motor will fit many, many different vehicles.
16:26So, I mean, it doesn't take long for the parts to get parted out and put onto other vehicles.
16:32And here's the thing that's really weird about this.
16:34Is wherever these parts go, misfortune follows.
16:41One of those buyers puts the engine into a Lotus 9.
16:45And he's in a race a year later, driving that car with that engine.
16:49And he gets in a terrible wreck.
16:51He survives, but his friend is not so lucky.
16:55His car had been fitted with the transaxle.
16:59And his car slams into a bale of hay, and he does not survive the accident.
17:05The transaxle survives this incident intact and in usable condition.
17:10So, it gets salvaged again.
17:13So, the transaxle is still living on.
17:18After these accidents, rumors begin to spread that Jamesine's car is cursed.
17:25The parts that came out of that car that he died in, other people are now getting hurt and being
17:30killed.
17:31Two of the tires from the car are said to have been on a car in New York.
17:35And those tires blow, and the car veers off the road.
17:39The body of Jamesine's spider goes on display in Sacramento.
17:43And as the story goes, when it's being put up on this display stand, it rolls over and crushes a
17:50worker.
17:51Does the curse really exist?
17:53Doesn't really matter, because people are prepared to believe it.
17:59Do I believe in the curse of Jamesine?
18:01I don't know.
18:02I do know that the transaxle was in a wooden crate.
18:07Which has been sealed away in Jack Stiles' workshop for decades.
18:16A standard Porsche transaxle might sell for a couple thousand dollars.
18:20But this one, it brings a staggering 387 grand.
18:28And the winning bid, the owner of the Paranormal Museum in Las Vegas, Nevada.
18:33Where it was put on display, keeping the legend of the curse alive.
18:46There are lots of cool cars.
18:48But cars from movies and TV shows are in a whole different league.
18:52Like the Batmobile from the original 1960s TV series.
18:56You know, the one with the rocket booster and the Batradar?
18:59That sold in 2013 for 4.6 million bucks.
19:04Or a time-traveling DeLorean from Back to the Future, which sold for more than half a million in 2011.
19:11But when it comes to cool cars with even cooler gadgets, no one beats 007.
19:29So a 10-year lease on a storage unit runs out in Holbrook, New York.
19:33And the payments are delinquent.
19:35No one's paying for it.
19:36So what happens is it's open to the public.
19:38And anyone can come and bid.
19:40And they get all the contents inside.
19:43A local couple throws down 100 bucks.
19:46And they win the unit.
19:48You're not allowed to peek to see what's inside.
19:51So it's a complete crapshoot on what's going to be behind that door.
19:59They crack open the unit.
20:01And they see blankets over a large shape.
20:06And as they pull off the layers, they see this futuristic-looking vehicle.
20:11It's real sleek and angular.
20:13It's low to the ground.
20:14Beautiful.
20:15Older car.
20:16But they have no idea what this car actually means.
20:19They're not really into cars.
20:21They just know it looks cool.
20:23And they put it on their flatbed.
20:25And they start driving back home.
20:31And the people on the road, they begin to recognize it right away.
20:35Truckers are on their CB radios talking to each other.
20:39Hey, dude, check this out.
20:41Is that the car from The Spy Who Loved Me?
20:44Is that the wet Nelly?
20:46Hey, is that the famous White Lotus from James Bond?
20:49And it turns out that this car that they're taking home belonged to James Bond.
20:56A 1976 Lotus Esprit.
21:02And it had a starring role in the film The Spy Who Loved Me.
21:07The Lotus Esprit had been launched in the 1970s at the Paris Auto Show.
21:14But one of the Lotus PR guys decided it needed an even bigger stage.
21:20They want people to notice it.
21:22They want people to see it.
21:24They know there's a movie being shot in London.
21:27So day after day, the people from Lotus keep parking the car outside of Pinewood Studios
21:33where they're filming James Bond.
21:35And it does the job because the producer, Cubby Broccoli,
21:41sees the car and says, this is what we need for the movie.
21:46Lotus then provides the production company with two functioning cars and seven shells.
21:53And they use one of those bodies to create this legendary chase scene
21:57and James Bond goes flying off the pier.
22:02The car hits the water and it turns into a submarine.
22:06There's underwater motors, propellers in the back that tires actually recoil into the body and rudders stick out.
22:16There are batteries to help power it and they have the batteries inside of an airtight, watertight compartment.
22:25There are articulated fins to help with the direction.
22:28It can climb, it can dive with ballast tanks just like a submarine.
22:34There's a rocket launcher in the roof that actually shoots out and it shot down a helicopter.
22:40There was actually one seat built in this vehicle and it was actually driven by a stuntman, a U.S.
22:47Navy SEAL.
22:48So he's the guy that made the movie magic.
22:50None of this is CGI or special effects like we see today.
22:55This was an actual functioning piece of engineering.
23:00So you got the coolest car, the car that turned into a submarine.
23:04What do you do with it?
23:05Well, the couple didn't know.
23:06They weren't fans of the movie.
23:07So it just sat in their garage for another 20 years.
23:18After sitting on it for 20 years, in 2013, the Long Island couple bring it to auction.
23:25Bidding starts at $150,000 and by the end, it sells for an incredible $973,000 to an anonymous phone
23:34bidder.
23:41I've been to enough to know that not all junkyards are created equal.
23:46Most are just graveyards for late model cars.
23:49But in Los Angeles, there was one junkyard hiding the world's first supercar.
24:00On the south side of Los Angeles, there's this district of old warehouses and junkyards and scrap merchants.
24:10One junkyard in particular has been pretty much closed to the public for decades.
24:14But even though it doesn't look like much on the outside, inside's like Aladdin's cave.
24:20Amid the rows and rows of rusting chassis, there's one in particular that you might overlook.
24:28This one car, it's racing green paint job.
24:33It's just covered in grime.
24:34On the driver's side door is dented in and the passenger side door is rusted.
24:39But underneath all of that was a 1968 Lamborghini Miura.
24:49This is the world's first supercar.
24:53To understand what it is and what it's even doing here, you've got to go back more than 50 years.
25:07Rudy Kline doesn't come from the car world.
25:09He's a German immigrant.
25:11He's actually a trained butcher.
25:13But as he tries to make it in his career, he realizes there isn't much money to be made in
25:19meat.
25:19So he decides to take this drastic pivot in his career.
25:25By the early 70s, Rudy Kline had formed what became known as the junkyard.
25:32But he actually called it Porsche Foreign Auto.
25:36Rudy specializes in classic imported cars that have been either totaled or written off.
25:42These are mainly European cars.
25:44He salvages parts and cannibalizes the cars.
25:48And then sells them to other people who restore classic cars.
25:53Rudy becomes the guy who can source what no one else can source.
25:58It's the place you call whenever you need a stock pristine part for, say, your 1970 Mercedes 280 SL.
26:06Or that place where you're looking for that impossible-to-find piece of trim for your 1966 911 S.
26:13And his collection of broken-down cars, it just gets bigger and bigger.
26:18It's just almost endless.
26:20Cars are just stacked four or five high on top.
26:23And he's got hundreds, if not thousands, of these cars.
26:28But he builds his reputation for being a little bit difficult to deal with.
26:33The type of thing where there is no negotiation.
26:36Few people have actually been allowed to see what's on his property.
26:40You couldn't just turn up and knock on the door and get in.
26:45I've heard stories about people hiring helicopters, believe it or not,
26:51to fly over the junkyard to spy and see what's in.
27:03When Rudy passes away in 2001, the business passes along to his two sons.
27:09By 2011, 2012, the sons have been running the business for about a dozen years.
27:14And they're a little bit like Rudy, maybe not the easiest to deal with.
27:18Up until late 2024, when they've decided to sell everything.
27:29Just to give you an idea of what was discovered back there, there was a Mercedes-Benz Goldwink.
27:34Only 29 of those were ever produced.
27:36There's also the only surviving model of a Horsch special roadster,
27:41which in and of itself is a pretty special car.
27:44Among all these amazing cars, there is unmistakably an ultra-rare 1968 Lamborghini Miura.
27:53350 horsepower, a top speed of 170 miles per hour.
27:57This is the fastest thing on the road at that time.
28:04It blows away the Ferrari 275 and the Jaguar E-Type.
28:11The junkyard star, though, was actually repainted in the non-original color,
28:16and there wasn't much of the original interior there.
28:18But it was still an iconic piece of Lamborghini's history.
28:23This would be the poster car on the wall that kids in the 60s would have.
28:29It was one of the most famous cars ever to hit the road.
28:32In fact, it's a model of that that's in the opening scene of the original Italian job.
28:39But it doesn't really look like that anymore.
28:43It's definitely shown its age.
28:44It's a ground-up repair.
28:48The auction listing calls it an intriguing restoration project,
28:53which basically means good luck.
28:55But nothing is going to stop the dudes that are chomping at the bit
28:59for this once-in-a-lifetime find.
29:01When the dust settles, the long-lost 1968 Lamborghini Miura
29:06sells for $1.3 million.
29:19When it comes to cars with epic stories,
29:22none are more infamous than the bullet-riddled 1934 Ford
29:26that carried Bonnie and Clyde on their final ride.
29:36In 2012, a woman inherits a box of keepsakes
29:39from her deceased grandfather.
29:42There's an empty tin that used to have aspirin in it.
29:45There's a flathead screwdriver.
29:47There's the corner of a piece of eyeglasses.
29:51More disturbingly, in this box,
29:53there's a .45-caliber bullet and casing
29:55and a single woman's silk stocking,
29:58which has on its foot bloodstains.
30:02These aren't really valuable things.
30:04This is the kind of stuff that ends up in a junk drawer.
30:07But what makes these valuable isn't what they are.
30:10It's whose they are.
30:2078 years earlier,
30:22her grandfather, Zell Smith,
30:24is a traveling salesman moving through northern Louisiana.
30:29On this particular day,
30:31he just so happens to be passing through
30:32a little town called Arcadia.
30:34As Zell drives into town,
30:37he spots something he'll never forget.
30:39A battered and bullet-ridden Ford V8
30:44being towed down Main Street to the sheriff's office.
30:47And inside,
30:48he can see the bloody corpses
30:50of two of America's most glamorous outlaws,
30:54Bonnie Parker
30:55and Clyde Barrow,
30:57better known as Bonnie and Clyde.
31:01During the Great Depression,
31:03from 1932 until their deaths in 1934,
31:06Bonnie and Clyde lead this 21-month rampage
31:10of lawlessness.
31:13It's at a time when there's a great deal
31:16of antagonism toward the wealthy
31:18because there are so many poor people.
31:20And what that produces
31:22is an unnatural sympathy
31:24for a couple of sociopathic,
31:26murderous outlaws.
31:28These guys got super famous.
31:30They took pictures of themselves.
31:31They were found and sent out to newspapers.
31:34They're becoming glamorous gangsters
31:37out on the highways of America.
31:39They capture the imagination
31:42of the American public.
31:44And then Barrow does this crazy thing
31:46with Bonnie Parker.
31:49They go to Huntsville Prison
31:50and he breaks his gang out of prison.
31:56And that's it.
31:57That's when the Texas governor,
31:59Ma Ferguson,
32:00hires Frank Hamer,
32:02a retired Texas ranger
32:04who'd killed dozens and dozens
32:05of people during his career
32:06to track down
32:08and kill the Barrow gang.
32:10Hamer gets a posse together.
32:12So it's Hamer
32:12and five other law enforcement officers.
32:14And they know
32:15because Hamer
32:16is an excellent tracker
32:18that Clyde Barrow
32:19is going to go visit
32:20a fellow gang member's father.
32:25Hamer and the men
32:26decide to lay an ambush for them
32:28on a remote road
32:30out in the middle of nowhere
32:32when the car rolls into view.
32:34Hamer and the men
32:35open fire on it.
32:38Just obliterate that car.
32:41Bonnie and Clyde are dead
32:43before the vehicle
32:44even rolls to a stop.
32:46The inevitable end.
32:48Retribution.
32:49Here is Clyde Barrow
32:51and Bonnie Parker
32:52who died as they lived
32:54by the gun.
32:55As this death car
32:58is being towed
32:59through the streets
33:00of Arcadia
33:00a crowd is gathered.
33:02They're all hoping
33:03to catch a glimpse
33:05of the corpses.
33:09And their first instinct
33:11is to recover souvenirs
33:14from the car
33:15and even from the bodies
33:16because one woman
33:17steps forward
33:18and cuts a lock
33:19of Bonnie's hair off.
33:20One guy steps forward
33:21and tries to saw off
33:24Clyde's trigger finger.
33:26There's even a guy
33:27trying to cut off
33:27Clyde Barrow's ear
33:29as a souvenir.
33:40So the sheriff's
33:41a friend of Zell's
33:42and he explains
33:44hey if you want to grab
33:45anything out of the car
33:45have at it.
33:46Their car is filled
33:48with possessions
33:49because they had been
33:50living in it.
33:50So Zell reaches in
33:52he grabs what he can
33:53off the passenger seat.
33:54And this is fascinating
33:55stuff.
33:55It tells the story
33:56of how these two young
33:58kids were on the run.
34:00The aspirin tin
34:02well that was because
34:03they'd been in a car accident
34:04and Bonnie had been
34:06burned with battery acid.
34:07So this was her painkiller.
34:10The flathead screwdriver.
34:12It is what they used
34:13to clean their guns.
34:14And of course
34:15there were bullets.
34:17That car had so many
34:18firearms in it.
34:19And the stocking
34:20well they were conscious
34:22of this image
34:23they had to uphold.
34:25Bonnie Parker
34:26was going to look good
34:27to the end.
34:32When he gets home
34:34he lays out his haul.
34:35His wife is quite
34:36troubled by the fact
34:37that he has participated
34:39in this scurry
34:40to gather up
34:41as many souvenirs
34:42as possible.
34:43It troubles her
34:43so much that
34:44he stuffs everything away
34:46and it disappears
34:47for decades.
34:49people keep these things
34:50for years
34:50they're keepsakes.
34:51I mean they wanted
34:52souvenirs from this event
34:54and decades pass
34:55and they're kind of
34:55forgotten.
34:57And then in 1967
34:59the movie hits
35:01the big screen.
35:02You've got
35:02Faye Dunaway
35:03and Warren Beatty
35:05and a shootout
35:06that is bloodier
35:07than anything
35:08anyone's ever seen
35:08on screen.
35:11the myth
35:12of Bonnie and Clyde
35:13is reborn
35:14and suddenly
35:14these people
35:15that had all
35:15these things
35:16go hey
35:17I've got something
35:17from that
35:18you know
35:18it's 30 years later
35:19and they begin
35:20to sell them.
35:21Zell's box
35:21of souvenirs
35:22from Bonnie and Clyde
35:23remains hidden
35:24for another 15 years
35:25but then
35:26his granddaughter
35:27inherits it.
35:32In 2012
35:33she decides
35:35to see
35:35how much
35:35she can get
35:36for her sinister
35:37collection
35:37of odds
35:38and ends.
35:39The answer
35:4011 grand.
35:54There are race cars
35:56there are classic cars
35:58and then
35:58there's a beat up
36:00Ford Escort
36:01but don't be deceived
36:02by looks
36:02because this one
36:04comes with a
36:04six figure price tag.
36:18It's R.M. Sotheby's
36:20annual auction
36:21of classic cars
36:21in Indiana.
36:23You got the 1970
36:24Alfa Romeo
36:25you got the 69
36:26Ferrari
36:27these are dream cars
36:29these are the ones
36:30that you wish
36:31you had
36:31your entire life
36:32most people
36:33will never come close
36:33to seeing
36:34one of these
36:35these are million dollar
36:36cars or multi
36:37million dollar cars
36:39they actually sold
36:40the Mercedes-Benz
36:41Unlock Coupe
36:43for 135 million
36:45the most expensive
36:46car ever sold
36:48at auction.
36:51This is not
36:52where you go
36:53and expect to find
36:54a 1976
36:56Ford Escort.
36:59The guy that brings
37:00the Escort
37:00to the auction
37:01is a restaurant owner
37:02named Jim Rich.
37:04The thing about
37:05Jim is
37:06he might be
37:07rich in name
37:07but he's come
37:08on hard times.
37:09He shows up
37:11with holes
37:11in his shoes
37:12missing buttons
37:13on his jacket
37:14and torn up clothes.
37:16He's even got
37:17a food stamp
37:17card in his pocket.
37:19He's not doing well.
37:21He's hit bankruptcy
37:22and this is
37:23his Hail Mary.
37:26The car is sold
37:28as seen.
37:32In the glove box
37:33there's a box
37:35a box of matches
37:35a candy tin
37:37and a set
37:38of wooden
37:39rosary beads
37:41and that
37:42is the clue.
37:51It had been purchased
37:52brand new
37:53nearly 30 years
37:54earlier
37:54in 1976
37:56by a young cardinal
37:58just starting out
37:59on a new chapter
38:00in his life
38:00working for the Vatican.
38:02He's a man
38:03of the cloth
38:04right?
38:04He's a humble guy
38:05he doesn't need
38:05a flashy car
38:06he wants something
38:07that's practical
38:07the less flashy
38:09the better.
38:10He purchased
38:11this really basic
38:12Ford Escort
38:13the GL 1100.
38:16It has no radio
38:17no air conditioning
38:18not even
38:19any hubcaps.
38:22He needed a car
38:23to drive around Rome
38:23maybe to the mountain
38:24for a hike
38:25and he's not
38:26a great driver
38:27there's some scratches
38:28and nicks on the car
38:29the fender's dented
38:30a little bit
38:31it's scraped
38:31on the bottom
38:32this young cardinal
38:33he gets good use
38:34out of this car
38:35though
38:35he clocks in
38:3660,000 miles
38:37on it
38:39but after only
38:40a couple years
38:41the cardinal
38:42has to give up
38:43his beloved car
38:44the reason
38:47in 1978
38:48he's elected
38:49Pope John Paul II
38:51so from here on out
38:52basically he's
38:54in the Popemobile
38:57and the Escort
38:58goes into storage
38:59but the question
39:00is why storage
39:01why not just
39:02get rid of it
39:04there are rumors
39:04that occasionally
39:06he sneaks back
39:07to his old Ford Escort
39:09and takes it out
39:10for a little spin
39:14in 1996
39:15when Rich still had money
39:17he buys the Ford Escort
39:19for $102,000
39:21in an auction
39:22the proceeds of which
39:24will benefit the Vatican
39:26he even flies to Rome
39:28meets with the Pope
39:29himself
39:30gives the Pope
39:31a promise
39:32never to let
39:32the vehicle go
39:33he puts the Escort
39:34on display
39:35in one of his restaurants
39:36but
39:38then he goes bankrupt
39:39he has to get rid
39:40of the car
39:41he has to sell it
39:44the timing of this
39:45is critical
39:45because 2005
39:47the year that he's
39:47going to sell this car
39:48is also the year
39:50that John Paul II
39:51dies
39:51he is the most beloved
39:54Pope in modern history
39:56they immediately start
39:58talking about
39:59making him a saint
40:01now the thing is
40:02if he's a saint
40:04any relic
40:06that he has touched
40:07becomes very hot property
40:09if you're ever going
40:10to sell the car
40:11that used to belong
40:12to Pope John Paul II
40:14there's really
40:15no better timing
40:16than to do it now
40:17right then
40:22when Jim Rich
40:24puts the Ford Escort
40:25up for sale
40:25it goes for a staggering
40:28$695,000
40:29making it
40:30the most expensive
40:32Ford Escort
40:33on record
40:42it just goes to show
40:44whether it's a supercar
40:45in a junkyard
40:46a Hollywood star
40:48hiding in a suburban garage
40:51or a banged up Ford Escort
40:55wherever there are wheels
40:57there's a deal to be made
40:58there's a deal
41:00there's a deal
41:03there's a deal
41:06there's a deal
41:08there's a deal
41:08there's a deal
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