Forty Mercedes Benz cars used by visiting royalty during the celebrations will be auctioned by Christie's Thailand on July 23 at the Queen Sirikit National Convention Centre. Twenty-eight S350Ls and 12 E220 CDIs used for the event in June, all silver or black, will go on the block.

"We hope to give something back to the country by auctioning the vehicles and giving the proceeds [minus expenses] to His Majesty for use at his discretion," DaimlerChrysler (Thailand) CEO Wolfgang Huppenbauer said.

The starting bid for an S-class vehicle is Bt10.5 million and for an E-class model Bt3.3 million.

The auction is open to anyone, including foreign nationals, but requires a registration fee of Bt50,000. The details about which monarch used which car will be disclosed at the auction.

The cars will be sold according to the alphabetical order of the 25 countries the visiting royalty came from. Buyers will be given certificates verifying the vehicles had been used by royalty.

Vijo Varghese

The Nation