If you were looking for a vehicle and attended an auction and avoided a 1985 Camaro you were lucky.
By Peggy KellySanta Paula TimesIf you were looking for a vehicle and attended an auction and avoided a 1985 Camaro you were lucky.Although the Camaro has only 94,000 miles, a good motor and body, the transmission is - well - "wasted," according to the city's list of surplus vehicles.The Camaro was the only city vehicle listed as "Drive-able/No" on the list of cars gone to auction reflecting the city's aging fleet of vehicles.The City Council declared the vehicles surplus and okayed an auction agreement with Ken Porter Auctioneers for the mixed bag of 17 vehicles.If were smart and passed on bidding on the Camaro there was a dandy 1987 water truck with only 37,179 miles on it, noted to be in fair overall condition with no major defects but, well, it's ugly even by loose resale standards.
The Camaro was an undercover police vehicle, said Finance Director Tina Rivera, who handled the details of the consignment to the auctioneer.Ken Porter works fast, she added. "On the group the city got a little over $10,000," through the auction.Several of the cars were used by the police department and two 1992 Crown Victorias had mileage of over 150,000 miles each.A 1975 Chevrolet van had over 182,000 miles and a GMC rear loader trash truck had only 122,000, but the city noted that although the "packer works but has lots of wear."The city used to handle its own auctions for surplus materials from vehicles to office equipment and furniture to bikes the SPPD storage room ran out of space to hold, but found that sending the surplus items to an auction has a better payback.