HOUSTON -- A Houston man selling a mini-bike used in the cult classic '90s comedy “Dumb and Dumber” expects a stunning return on his investment.
Online bidders offered enough to pay his son’s college tuition.
Tom Busselle decided to buy the bike after drinking and watching a re-run of the movie on HBO.
“With my background in mini-bikes, this was kind of the holy grail for me,” he said.
Over 100 eBay bids later, he is about to get at least $35,367 for taking a chance.
“I didn’t even expect it to sell at my opening price,” Busselle said. “I just threw something out there and see if someone bit.”
The previous owner struggled selling even with notarized letters of authenticity and gave up his 1994 movie prop for a “good price” that neither will name.
However, the former mini-bike racer and builder spent over a year fixing it up. He even studied screen grabs of the movie to restore every detail down to tassel colors and custom lights found only in Germany.
Busselle did it all for fun hoping only to get a decent return on eBay. Then, TMZ ran a story about his ad. Busselle’s inbox filled with bids and notes from comedians.
“I got a lot of silly questions,” he said. “Does it get 70 miles per gallon? Will you take IOUs as payments?”
Few feel worse than the movie’s old transportation coordinator, Gordie Merrick, who got the bike as a keepsake 20 years ago.
“He’s like, 'Hey, everybody’s been calling me, and I just feel so stupid for selling you that bike,'” Busselle said. “I said, 'Well, Gordie, you should have just put a little more work into it, buddy. Shined it up yourself, but oh well.'”
He promised Merrick a small cut of money made from the sale. Busselle plans to use the rest to offset college expenses for his son who graduates from Klein Forest this spring.
The looming potentially lucrative sale finally convinced Busselle to take his first test drive on the bike. Buyers, though, thinking of following the movie script and ride the mini-bike to Aspen, better bring extra gloves.
The eBay auction ends Sunday.