This Vintage FBI Surveillance Van Just Sold for Almost $19,000 on eBay
An apparent ex-FBI surveillance van has sold on eBay this week for close to $19,000. The van was originally bought by its seller, Ginter Senfeldas, in a Government Auction. When he got the van he discovered its other additional features. The 1989 Dodge Ram 350 had been kitted out in the back with TV monitors, sound […]
An apparent ex-FBI surveillance van has sold on eBay this week for close to $19,000. The van was originally bought by its seller, Ginter Senfeldas, in a Government Auction. When he got the van he discovered its other additional features. The 1989 Dodge Ram 350 had been kitted out in the back with TV monitors, sound equipment, a toilet and extra batteries.
[Image Source: johnn.chubb/eBay]
The surprised owners said, “We never expected it to be a surveillance van. “We bought it as a work truck, and you know, we looked in the back and everything was there.” The FBI surveillance van even contained left over surveillance tapes of people being observed and cars being followed.
Senfeldas told local news that there were also microphones hidden all over the car. “We found out that there’s microphones as we took the side markers out of the van and there’s microphones hidden in headlights and taillights. That’s why there’s little holes everywhere,” he said. 
[Image Source: johnn.chubb/eBay]
The unusual equipment is still in working order and the legitimacy of the van as a former FBI vehicle is proved by an FBI badge! Despite the FBI surveillance van being almost 30 years old, it has just 23,500 miles on the clock. 
[Image Source: johnn.chubb/eBay]
The unusual vehicle was listed on the bidding site for 99 cents and ended on Monday after 47 bids from 19 eBay users. The winning bid was $18,700. The van will need to be picked up personally from Senfeldas in Cary, North Carolina.
[Image Source: eBay]
Weird items sold on eBay
eBay celebrated its 20th birthday in 2015. The bidding website was one of the most successful businesses to begin during the 90s dotcom bubble. In the twenty years of the site’s history, there have been a plethora of brilliant and weird items sold on auction. Some of our favorites include the grilled cheese sandwich, sold in 2004 for $28,000. The tasty snack reportedly looked like a portrait of the Virgin Mary, and never went moldy. But the sandwich wasn’t quite enough for the new owner, in 2005 they also purchased another weird religious food item. A Dorito shaped like the Pope’s hat. This crunchy treat sold for $1,209 in 2005. The winning bidder was the online casino GoldenPalace. These guys are eBay addicts apparently. Their other bizarre purchases we know about is a pregnancy test allegedly used by Britney Spears. It fell into the hands of an Ottawa radio station who placed it on eBay. GoldenPalace snapped up the piece of pop history for the cool price of $5,001.
But it seems the real surprises come at the government auctions where Senfeldas first bought the FBI surveillance van. Many US government agencies use auctions to sell goods to the public that were either seized by the government or were formerly owned by the government. Items you can find in these regular auctions in include aircraft, antiques, art, clothing, vehicles and even houses.
Last week Sotheby’s had a huge space themed auction that included samples of moon rocks collected by Neil Armstrong, during the Apollo 11 Mission. These valuable specimens were first purchased as part of a mixed lot at a seized assets auction put on by the US Marshals Service. The lot was purchased for less than $1000 dollars, the rocks sold last week for $1.8 million.
The lesson today is to get down to your local government auction to score yourself a bargain.
Sources: Time, WNCN, Sotheby’s
SEE ALSO: Star Wars Fan-Favorite R2-D2 Sells for $2.76 Million at Auction
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