A one-of-a-kind truck built to raise funds for the children’s hospital in Saskatchewan is coming back to the province after Gene Simmons and Shannon Tweed helped sell it at a renowned car collector auction in the U.S.
Watch it live: Incredible cars up for auction in Scottsdale
The Snakebit F-100 – custom made in Saskatoon and Warman – sold to Prince Albert’s Gord Broda for $450,000 at the Barrett-Jackson auction in Scottsdale, Ariz. The money goes to the Children’s Hospital Foundation of Saskatchewan.
“It felt like the right thing to do,” Broda, president of the Broda Group of Companies, said in an interview from Scottsdale.
“I’ve been to a lot of heavy equipment auctions and you always go to them with a number in mind. I’ll admit I had a number in mind here and I certainly went above that number … We’re happy to be just another Saskatchewan family helping to get this hospital built.“
The auction happened on live television Friday night. Simmons and Tweed were on stage with Premier Brad Wall, automotive dealer Vaughn Wyant and members of the group that helped build the custom car.
“There is no other vehicle like this on planet Earth,” Simmons said during the televised auction.
Wall praised the group behind the Wheels of Dreams project, and said Simmons and Tweed helped raise the profile of the charity auction benefiting the foundation.
“They’re already talking about what else they can do to help,” Wall said.
Wyant, president and CEO of Vaughn Wyant Automotive Group, helped get the famous couple and Ford Canada involved in the charity project.
“It’s coming back home and maybe we’ll get to see it from time to time,” Wyant said from Scottsdale.
A health scare in Tom Foster’s family inspired the project. Foster’s newborn daughter spent 14 days in a hospital getting tested for a potentially life-threatening disease.
She was OK in the end, but the hospital experience left Foster wanting to do something special and turned what was planned as a promotion for his Industrial Machine & Manufacturing business into a fundraising project for the foundation.
The Snakebit F-100 is a melding of two classics: the body of the 1956 truck and with the drivetrain of a Shelby GT Mustang, boasting a 5.4-litre engine, sixspeed transmission and 550 horsepower.
“To witness what just happened for the kids of Saskatchewan, it shows what this province can really do,” said Brynn Boback-Lane, president and CEO of the Children’s Hospital Foundation of Saskatchewan. The Children’s Hospital is expected to open in 2016.
