LISLE, Ill. -- What price fame?
Apparently, quite high, because the celebrated rental truck that
carried Palm Beach County, Fla.'s controversial presidential
ballots to Tallahassee and into history was sold in an on-line
auction for $67,100.
In a scene reminiscent of the O.J. Simpson Bronco chase, the
Ryder truck was used to transport approximately 450,000 ballots a
distance of 430 miles to the state capital, all under the constant,
watchful eye of television cameras.
Budget Group, the Lisle, Ill.-based company that owns Ryder
Truck Rental Systems, sold the 1999 Ford F350 truck --
Ballotmobile, Chadmobile, take your pick -- to an anonymous buyer
on Yahoo! Auctions and donated the proceeds to the American Red
Cross.
According to Budget, the rolling ballot box has 31,297 miles on
its chassis, and, in a world free of electoral insanity, would be
worth approximately $17,051.
Budget, which acquired Ryder in early 1998, rented the famous
Ford to the Palm Beach County Board of Elections for one cent. The
truck left West Palm Beach on the morning of Thursday, Nov. 30,
loaded with 162 metal boxes filled with ballots.
According to reports, the boxes weighed between 20 and 30 pounds
each. Assuming an average box weight of 25 pounds, the certifiably
pregnant truck was carrying about two tons of votes.
That's a good advertisement for the truck's carrying capacity,
but it's nothing compared with the free publicity Budget got as the
Ballotmobile made its way across the state.
The truck got so much airtime, in fact, that an advertising
expert claimed the exposure was worth about $200 million in free
advertising, according to a Budget spokeswoman.
She added the company's communications staff had received about
85 media requests; she did about 50 interviews herself.
"Here at headquarters there was a tremendous amount of
interest," she said. "Palm Beach County told us what it was going
to be used for, and we knew it would receive coverage, but we
didn't expect four helicopters following it."
The company received a multitude of offers from interested
buyers before putting the truck up for auction on Yahoo! Auctions,
the Internet site.
Bidding on the 1999 Ford F350 started at $200 and lasted a week,
concluding on the evening of Dec. 14.
The buyer and the buyer's political affiliation were not
disclosed.
"I've been asked if [the buyer is] famous, but as far as I know,
[the buyer is] not," said the spokeswoman.