© europics.at
03. 06. 12. - 17:38
Bill Gates Posche sold for 64,000
A 1979 Porsche 911 Turbo once owned by Bill Gates has been sold for 64,000 Euros - which was 14,000 more than the maximum price estimated by auctioneers.
The new owner from Germany snapped up the pearlescent turquoise Turbo model in a telephone bid after staff at the Vienna-based Dorotheum auction house estimated it had been worth between 39,000 Euros and 50,000 Euros.
Dorotheum spokesman Wolfgang Humer said: "There was enormous interest in this item from all over the world."
The vehicle was one of the first rewards that the software giant ever had from his work and was snapped up four years after founding Microsoft in 1975.
Dorotheum Auction House says the car comes complete with letters to and from Microsoft and Porsche and the original Washington State USA registration documents, and its 3.3-liter, 300-HP engine has been completely overhauled and renovated.
Despite relinquishing his position as the world's richest man in 2010 after giving away one third of his personal wealth to philanthropy, the 56-year-old billionaire still holds a taste for luxury - along with another Porsche stored in his 10-plus car garage.
With an approximated net worth by Forbes Magazine of 61 billion US dollars last March, Gates tucks a number of extraordinary treasures inside his Medina, Washington mansion, as well as around the country.
Calling a 5.12 acre lot overlooking Lake Washington home sweet home, the Gates' residence features a pool room, a 200-guest reception hall, trampoline room and underground garage.
Inside that 10-plus garage, he dismisses his cars as nothing more than being perhaps a little above average.
He said: "I drive myself around town in a normal Mercedes. I’ve had a Lexus. The family has a Porsche, which is a nice car that we sometimes take out. We have a minivan and that’s what we use when it’s the five of us."
Not without transportation from Washington to Florida, the family has employed three private jets.
