https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L7NUdDeYha0
Merle Haggard's custom-made Super Chief tour bus is back on the market. This time, the Burley Auction Gallery in New Braunfels, Texas will be auctioning it off on Feb. 10.
The 2008 MCI J4500 includes a kitchenette and a lounge area with satellite television and surround sound. Plus there's a vintage Santa Fe train horn, with its button right next to Haggard's on-board easy chair.
Haggard selected the Super Chief name and logo as a nod to a famed passenger train on the Santa Fe line. Only Jimmie Rodgers himself is more synonymous with railroads than Haggard, who grew up living in a converted Santa Fe box car and collected model trains as an adult.
Recent attempts to sell the bus include a 2015 eBay auction with a starting bid of $150,000 and "buy it now" price of $250,000 and a 2017 auction with the same price tag.
Tour buses sometimes sell for over $300,000, and that's when they don't have a legendary backstory.
Further, the Burley Auction Gallery knows a thing or two about selling off rare collectibles. Past auctions found new homes for rare pieces from a Roy Rogers and Dale Evans museum, as well as part of Eddie Wilson's Armadillo World Headquarters collection.