Still One More Day to Bid

 Over at Bring A Trailer -- up to $90,000 as of this morning, and will probably go higher.

There is a strong "I can't look away from this train wreck" aspect to the entire proceedings.

ps: Shamelessly cut-and-paste from the comments at BaT, a wonderful work of fiction centered on this car.  msmiranda, if you don't want me posting this here, contact me and I will cheerfully remove it.  It just seems too wonderful to let drift off into the aether of forgotten comments.

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Nick doffed his time worn Stetson and brushed the yellow dust from its brim. The wide Serengeti plain stretched beneath him below his vantage upon the ancient rift upthrust.

This day was much like that one back in 1935 when he was here in his Rolls Royce shooting brake. He was with Raj and the boy and that woman then. They were hunting eland then, which were good to eat, and the elusive nauga, which were prized for the tough leather of their hides. He had a nauga head mounted and placed on the wall of his study where it stared into the eyes of a rhinoceros on the opposite wall. It was similarly mounted. But the nauga had come through the 40 years with no signs of aging. The rhinoceros had not done so well. It had become moth eaten.

So now they were back for another hunt. Raj had asked for another Rolls Royce shooting brake. As Nick’s driver and mechanic he was entitled to his views on the decision. But Nick heard that Rolls Royce did not manufacture shooting breaks anymore. They told him the hunters on the Serengeti favored Land Rovers now. But some preferred Land Cruisers. Nick was not sure what the difference was between a Rover and Cruiser. Raj did not know either.

Nick and Raj went down to Harry’s Bar for for drinks as they pondered their choices. Nick had a daiquiri. Raj had a beer. Nick ordered another daiquiri. Harry slid the drink down the zinc bar. 

Just then a man stepped out from the shadows of the dimly lit bar. He was impeccably dressed in a crisp seersucker suit, open collar shirt, perfectly polished two-tone spectators, Panama hat, and pince nez glasses.

“Pardon me, gentlemen. I couldn’t help overhearing. Allow me to introduce myself.”

He produced a gold case and withdrew a business card. Nick studied it.

Bruce Baldwin Mohs
Inventor and Entrepreneur 

“Pleased to meet you, Mr Mohs,” Nick said. “But what do you know about Rovers and Cruisers?”

“Ah,” purred Mohs. “I have a much more elegant solution. And it just so happens I have it here with me this very day. Would you care to step outside and see it?”

Nick and Raj followed the man outside. There at the curb, gleaming in massive splendor it sat. Nick’s jaw dropped. Raj stared in shock.

“Allow me to present the Mohs Safarikar,” the man said grandly. “A modern bespoke vehicle designed to withstand the rigors of a modern big game hunt. In all kinds of weather over all kinds of terrain.”

The usually taciturn Raj slowly began to nod. “It looks like a Rolls Royce,” he said quietly.

A twinkle appeared in Mohs’ eye. “And look at this,” he said.

He pulled the door straight out. It was mounted on sturdy rods allowing access to both the front seats and the rear compartment. He demonstrated further by flipping the back seat panels down to form a bed.

“You won’t have to pitch a tent when you make camp for the night,” he declared, “And there’s far more room than in those Rovers and Cruisers!”

With a flourish, Mohs demonstrated his revolutionary retracting roof. Riding on sturdy rods much like the doors it could become an open car or closed as the weather required.

Nick paused and stepped back. “But what is it covered with?” he asked in wonderment. “It isn’t painted. It looks… It looks like…?”

Mohs threw back his head and laughed. “You are most perceptive, Mr Nick. My Safarikar is covered with that most durable of wild animal hides, that of the nauga. It will even withstand the impact of a charging rhinoceros!”

Raj was still gazing transfixed at the Safarikar’s grill. “It’s a Rolls Royce,” he whispered, “It’s a Rolls Royce.”

“We’ll take it!” Nick announced firmly. “We’ll ship it to Africa on the next boat.”

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pps: Well, $90k didn't make the reserve.  Seems that there's more to this extravaganza of a car than meets the eye.  From another post in the comments: $385k OBO.  You be the judge.  Not the thing for me personally, but I do think that it would be perfect as a perennial Mardi Gras parade car.