The Fiscal Administration National Agency (ANAF) has put up for auction again the ARO jeep that belonged to communist ruler Nicolae Ceauşescu. After the first auction to sell the car failed early this month, the revenue body has put it up for sale for a lower price, less by 25%.
The auction is scheduled for March 7 and the starting price is RON 103,125 (EUR 21,700). ANAF tried to sell the ARO jeep early this month for EUR 29,000.
The grey ARO 304 was made in 1977 and has 72,453km on it.
At present, the car is owned by Ovidiu Tender, currently imprisoned, serving a 12-year-jail time for more economic crimes. The state is trying to recover some money from Tender, following proven money laundering cases.
Another ARO SUV belonging to Nicolae Ceausescu, made in 1987, was put up for auction three years ago.
The SUV was produced in 1987 in Curtea de Arges, runs on petrol, it has 2,500 cc and is blue. The auction started from EUR 1 and has reached EUR 30,000 in no time.
“It’s not my car, it belongs to a businessman who owns three such SUVs and wants to sell one of them. I put it up for sale for EUR 1 but the price climbed to EUR 15,000, then EUR 17,000, EUR 20,000. Now it has reached EUR 30,000 and I am waiting to see the final offer above this amount,” the intermediary used to tell the journalists from adevarul.ro.
Nicolae Ceausescu was a big fan of Romanian made ARO SUVs. At the beginning of the ‘80s he ordered that an ARO 240 be customized as a limo.