Odd motors a hit with bidders
Loud, toothy or historic: Trade Me’s top items last year
Areminder of the 2011 Rena maritime disaster made waves on Trade Me last year. An original lifeboat from the stricken Rena cargo ship, which grounded on the Astrolabe Reef off the coast of Tauranga in 2011, was listed in September and attracted 94,402 views.
It eventually sold for $9800. Trade Me Motors revealed its most popular listings of 2020 this week and the unique lifeboat, which had been a centrepiece in Pa¯pa¯moa’s popular bar The Island — previously the Pa¯pa¯moa Tavern — as a children’s playground, came in at number nine.
At the time, Kerry Bollen, who had worked at the bar since it opened almost five years ago, said the main reason for bidding farewell to the relic was their rebranding to The Island as well as the health and safety aspect.
“It’s a lifeboat ... it just wasn’t safe enough for the kids.”
Bollen said they did not know what to expect when they put the artefact up for auction and had no expectations of how much it would sell for.
Topping the list of most popular listings was Jonah Lomu’s SPL Wagon, touted as the loudest car in New Zealand.
Trade Me’s Ruby Topzand said Lomu’s star power was a theme last year with his former mansion in Maupuia taking out the top spot in our most viewed properties of 2020.
“Lomu had the 1997 Nissan Patrol
The Rena lifeboat was one of Trade Me Motors most popular listings in 2020.
SUV fitted with state-of-the-art speakers that can reach 163 decibels, in a world record attempt in 2000 for the loudest car. Trade Me members from all over the country were keen to get a glimpse of Jonah’s wagon,” she said.
Second was Kelly Tarlton’s shark bus. “The team at Kelly Tarlton’s aquarium decided it was time to release their old shark bus back to the wild and New Zealanders thought it was simply fin-tastic,” Topzand said.
“The fishy listing had 195,000 hits before it sold to insurance comparison company Life Direct for $31,500.”
It’s a lifeboat ... it just wasn’t safe enough for the kids.
Kerry Bollen