An ambulance has recently been sold at auction for $120,000. It was bought by a car collector who could not resist this piece of history – the ambulance was said to be the one that carried JFK’s body after he was shot.
The woman from Paradise Valley in Arizona bought the ambulance despite some people claiming that it was actually a fake. The vehicle was a grey Pontiac Bonneville and was a Navy ambulance. The auction advertised it as the vehicle which met Air Force One and then carried Kennedy’s body from Andrews Air Force base to Bethesda Naval Hospital and then on again to the U.S. Capitol after the autopsy to lie in state.
The auction company, Barrett-Jackson said they had verified the authenticity of the vehicle independently and so were happy to advertise it as such. There were even photos of Jackie Kennedy and her brother-in-law Robert F Kennedy by the ambulance. However, there were reports form a website dealing with auto mobiles which claimed that the original ambulance had been crushed in 1986.
The value of the ambulance was not known before the auction as the previous owner had bought it for an undisclosed amount. They were even predictions that it might make a million dollars.
The new owner of the ambulance, Addison Brown, said that she was thrilled to own this piece of history and was convinced it was real, as she completely trusted the auction house. She is intending on keeping it in her collection and will later see if the Smithsonian Institution, based in Washington DC might be interested in it as she would like it to be displayed where people can see it.
The ambulance was put up for sale by John Kensen who had bought it in 2009, who was happy it had sold and hoped the rumours that it was not genuine would soon disappear.