Now that's what we call an expensive vanity license plate. The right to use the license plate that says "1" was sold
at a charity auction in the United Arab Emirates for $14 million. The high bidder was Saeed Khouri, who is from Abu Dhabi.
"I bought it because it's the best number," said Khouri, whose family made its fortune in real estate. "I bought it because I want to be the best in the world."
The oil-rich UAE began auctioning off vanity license plates last May.
Ordinary automobile license plates issued to drivers here -- and even most other vanity series plates -- carry both Arabic and Western numerals and script, defining the issuing city and country.
Khouri's plate, however, has only the Western numeral and no letters.
The record sale surpassed the $6.8 million that was paid for an Emirati license plate at an earlier auction with the Western number 5 on it -- also without Arabic numerals or letters.
The proceeds from the auction go to a rehab center for victims of automobile accidents. 90 license plates were auctioned off in all, but none made as much money as the "1" plate. So, will the license plate be worth more than the car it adorns? Or does he have a car made of solid gold, like in Goldfinger? Perhaps it's adorned in diamonds. That would be nice.
