A record-breaking log car made in Williams Lake, B.C. fetched a pretty penny at one of the world’s premier car auctions.
The Cedar Rocket — built by the team at Pioneer Log Homes, who are featured on the HGTV program Timber Kings — was sold a record three times at the Barrett-Jackson collector car auction in Scottsdale, Ariz. on Friday night.
The car was sold and re-sold three times, raising a total of US$350,000 for charity.
The first buyer paid US$175,000 for the car, but donated the car back to be sold again. It got US$100,000 the second time.
It was then returned and sold for a third time for an additional US$75,000.
Proceeds from the sales will go to several veterans groups in the U.S. and Canada, including the Royal Canadian Legion.
The body of the Cedar Rocket was fashioned from a single 240-year-old Western Red Cedar and parts of an old Mazda. It has twin 20-horsepower turbines and a fully electric powertrain.
After touring North America and setting a “log speed” record of 90 kilometres per hour, the owners of the Cedar Rocket decided to put the log car on the auction block.
“The crazy thing about it, is it puts a smile on everybody’s face,” Bryan Reid Sr. of Pioneer Log Homes told Global News earlier this week. “It doesn’t matter if it’s a 92-year-old veteran or a two-year-old child, male or female. Everybody loves it.”
“It’s a creation of Mother Nature.”
— With files from Geoff Hastings