Gadgetopia

I don’t think so, but I guess that’s pretty subjective. Someone in the Orleans Public School system thinks they may have a gold mine on their hands in the form of waterlogged school buses.

This New Orleans Public School Bus is a 1993 International Blue Bird with 147,797 miles. The bus was substantially submerged for at least 10 days following Hurricane Katrina, and would require extensive repair to return to full working condition.

Extensive repair is right; the photo of the odometer shows water damage. The thing’s got to smell like a swamp. Nevertheless, they say that “This is a collector’s dream come true.” Yeah, right. Somebody’s dreaming, but I’m not sure who.

We will provide a certificate of authenticity attesting that this bus was at the Orleans Parish Schools Almonaster Bus Barn and was flooded in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina!

I would think that that and 60 cents would buy you a can of soda pop from the vending machine down the hall. Any one of the buses wouldv’e been worth many times more if Ray Nagin had used them to evacuate residents to higher ground.

Other buses may be available in future auctions.

Thus far there are 34 bids on this one, and the price is up to $5,300 with 9 days to go. I’d say we’ll be seeing more of them. It’ll be interesting to see how many they put up for auction, and how long it takes for them to realize that every additional bus that’s up for auction reduces the value of them all.