Jerry Burley has sent me this latest status report from his man at the Dubai Truck, Plant and (various other bits of) Machinery auctions in Dubai....JB tells me: "Salaams Biglorryblog, from Allard that is (I spent yesterday in stinking hot Kampala unloading yellow kit and a C500.....any interest?), currently floating around the Dubai Auctions like 'Little Lord Fauntleroy' on a magic carpet, spending money he doesn't have and wearing out my camera!"
"Anyway, yesterday, the now-globally famous, thanks to BLB, GMC-Autocar (the only one I can remember ever seeing and I've certainly never seen one in
"Under intense phone and live bidding, between one chap with a tea towel on his barnet and his guide dog's shadow it seems, it made the startling sum of USD4500, so not sure who winds up with the packets of heart pumper. We put USD2500 on it as a reserve, as I only wanted the thing as a yard shunter, so this is a bit more than we anticipated/hoped."
"Quote Allard in his flowing antipodean brogue: 'Not sure what species was previously living in the cab, cobber, but it certainly chewed it up.' [Do they REALLY say 'Cobber' Jerry? I thought it was only Chips Rafferty in the films...BLB]. "Probably a Greater Spotty Beaver would be my educated guess........or whatever the colloquial equivalent may be."
Jerry continues: "A couple of photos are included of it just before it went through, plus one 'live' from the heat of battle when it was causing such a surge of punter interest, under the stony gaze of the auctioneer. It started, stopped and went round at least one corner - what more do you need for 4.5k I guess? So, the Autocar stays in the Middle East, and Allard moved on to fight another auction battle with the bidding blind school, winning one that I hope you will enjoy hearing about next week. Regards Jerry."
Meanwhile click through here for an update on Middle East Autocar prices from an Australian reader!
Jerry had this guess straight from Cam in
Well JB does he win the coffee?
I hate to say this, but looking back I see that my old mate AtkiPete made a guess of $4750, so maybe he gets the prize. He's a cider drinker though, so I'm not sure that he deserves to get proper coffee!
V, You may well be right. I'll have to get the computer onto sorting through the entries though later today......
hi jerry, merry christmas.i received an email from brian weatherley today saying that my guess was the nearest.andrew@acooper86.wanadoo.co.uk
HI JERRY,
BRIAN SAYS THAT YOU MAY NEED TO CONTACT ME.andrew@acooper86.wanadoo.co.uk
REGARDS ANDREW
A
Job done mate. I'll get some of the evil local mix passed as fit by our equivalent of the DEA and into a DHL airfreight box as soon as I am back in the saddle in a couple of days time (I'm currently in the middle of nowhere). Fear not, Father Xmas will deliver! Back to your rebuild now - Christmas is a day off official work! Have a good break.
R
J