Corvette moving to new garage

The final chapter in the story of the IU Student Association's Corvette ended over the weekend with a lucky eBay shopper taking home the controversial car for the price of over $40,000.\nThe car's original "Buy-It-Now" price on the world's largest online trading center was $45,000, but was changed to $43,500 during the auction. The Corvette's buyer paid $41,500 for the car after 44 bids on eBay failed to hit the reserve price, the minimum price set by the seller.\nThe car was originally bought by IUSA to get students to vote in this year's November election as a part of project "Vote Hard." But the legalities behind the raffle and voter registration forced IUSA to include all students in the contest, rather than only those who voted.\nMichella Taylor, the winner in IUSA's raffle for the car, said she was happy with the price she got but said she would have liked to hit her reserve price for the car.\n"I would have liked to have gotten a little more, but what I got is better than nothing," Taylor said. \nThe buyer was a shopper from Madison, Wis., and was the highest bidder on the auction even though they didn't reach the minimum price. The auction ended Saturday and the highest bidder negotiated with the sellers to buy the Corvette for just over $41,000.\nTaylor, who is a criminal justice student living in Ellettsville, said she will have to pay about $12,000 in taxes on the car, which will leave her almost $30,000. Taylor and her family plan to buy some land in Ellettsville with the money after the recent September tornados swept through her neighborhood.\n"Our neighborhood was pretty much destroyed from the tornado," Taylor said. She said she is waiting to move until her neighborhood gets cleaned up.\nThe car was placed on eBay by Matthew Pontius after an article in the IDS about Taylor selling the car. Pontius, an IU law student and the IU United Way campaign coordinator, asked Taylor if he could place the car on eBay for her and give the sales commission from the Corvette to the United Way.\nPontius said he has been wholeselling cars for around eight years to help pay for school and living expenses.\n"It was my intention to help Mrs. Taylor maximize her return on the car by entering the warmer markets," Pontius said in an e-mail. "I also hoped that word would leak out that some of the proceeds went to the United Way and subsequently back into our community."\nHe said the student body has donated no money to the United Way this year.\nIUSA vice president Judd Arnold said he was happy the Corvette is impacting Taylor's life in a positive way.\n"It's making a difference in her life and that's a good thing," Arnold said. He said he was glad to see that the sales commission from the car will go to the United Way.\n"It just shows a lot after winning such a great prize that she has peace of mind and the grand view that there are people more needy than she is," he said.\nNow that the Corvette is sold, Arnold said he wasn't sure if he would do the same things if he had to do project "Vote Hard" over.\n"I don't regret doing something unconventional," he said. "We're trying to lower tuition, we're trying to give students a voice. I don't think students can see that as a bad thing."\nStudent body president Bill Gray said he couldn't be more pleased that Taylor is benefiting from winning the car.\n"Michella is a very, very hard-working student and her efforts to succeed are absolutely incredible," he said. He said he was also unsure what he would do if asked to do project "Vote Hard" again.\n"I think that we certainly tried to do a good thing," Gray said. "With everything that happened, I was just constantly amazed and lifted by the help of just about the entire student body throughout this whole thing and I couldn't have asked to have any more support. I'm glad to have done something to have helped."\nWith the Corvette ready to be taken to its new owner in Wisconsin, Taylor said she was pleased with IUSA's project and how it turned out.\n"Some people might have been upset because it was a car, but you have to be realistic and buy what is going to intrigue students to do something," she said.