Johnny Hallyday Car lost in Poker Game is auctioned

A classic car owned by the late French rock star Johnny Haliday, before losing it to Poker, was sold for 132,000 euros ($ 143,000; 110,000 British pounds) at auction.

Panther de Ville was given to him in 1975 by his then wife, his colleague singer Sylvie Vartan. Its custom fittings include mink seats, a gold disk on top of the grate and the hubs bearing its initials.

The French Auction House Osenat told the BBC that the vehicle was bought by a French man for a “specific project he would discuss soon” and the buyer had to pay an additional premium to the buyer of 26,400 euros.

Hallyday lost the car while playing poker with a friend in 1977

Turse told the BBC that Hallyday had tried to buy the vehicle back from the owner, but was dissuaded by his manager who cites limited finances.

Panther de Ville was a neoclassical luxury car with a 1930s design. It is manufactured in the UK from 1974 to 1985 and has a V12 Jaguar engine.

The 1975 yellow-black model on Hallyday was one of 69 classic cars sold by Osena in Fontainebleau, near Paris, on Monday. The auctionrs have expected the vehicle to bring between € 55,000 and 80,000 euros.

The gold disc is inscribed with the name of Hallyday. Vartan placed it on top of the grid to celebrate the best-selling records he released in 1975.

Hallyday was a famous car enthusiast. But within two years he was forced to part with the vehicle after losing a poker at a friend’s home, Osenat Stéphane Pavot told France Info’s website.

However, the lucky winner prefers sports models and later exchanged it to Ferrari, whose owner was a real Hallyday’s fan, he added.

Vartan and Haliday divorced in 1980.

Hallyday has sold more than 110 million records and has starred in a number of career films that lasted 57 years. He continued to go around shortly before his death of lung cancer in 2017, at the age of 74.