Manama: A Saudi businessman has paid more than SR250,000 to purchase a car more than 115 years old from a US citizen.
“The car I bought is an Autocar made in 1899,” Hamad Bin Nasser said. “I had deployed enormous efforts and spent more than four years looking for it. Ahmad, one of my friends, assisted me in locating the extremely rare car since he too is very interested in classic and antique cars,” he was quoted by local daily Al Riyadh as saying on Monday.
In the beginning, Ahmad was pessimistic about the possibility of finding an Autocar for sale, but he decided to help his friend.
“After four years of intensive search, we were finally able to locate one with an old US citizen,” Hamad said. “However, he refused to sell it... we did not give up hope. He finally agreed to sell it and we started long negotiations. We finally agreed on a $100,000 price tag. The car is now placed in a museum I set up for classic cars where it is the centrepiece.”
The businessman said that the car was still in roadworthy condition.
“I have received offers to sell it because it is a very rare collector’s piece, but I have turned them down,” he said.
