The Rarest “Bench-on-Wheels” Sells at Barrett-Jackson for $35,200

Barrett-Jackson’s Scottsdale 2026 auction, which ends on Jan. 26, has just sold one of its rarest vehicles, a restored 1964 Greyhound Escorter.

These little people-movers, tied to the 1964–65 New York World’s Fair, are incredibly rare. Only 150 were made, and the one sold is one of only three known survivors.

This restored Escorter features a rebuilt 2-cylinder Onan engine feeding a hydraulic pump, pushing the front wheels through dual Char-Lynn motors. It even continues to wear an original sticker that was applied upside-down, for true authenticity.

With such rarity and history, you’d expect collectors to be climbing over each other at auction to own it. However, the final hammer price was $32,000. That comes to $35,200 with the 10% buyer’s premium.

The core question is, why did this rare time capsule of the 1960s fail to skyrocket at auction?

The legacy of the Escorter

The Escorter was built by the Kalamazoo Manufacturing Company for service at the 1964–65 New York World’s Fair.

WorldsFairPhotos highlights that the Escorter could be rented by the hour for custom trips around the fairgrounds. Amazingly, the rate could reach up to $11 per hour, which was real money in 1964. The site also notes that these vehicles were only used during the 1964 season.

The Escorters were only used for the first year of the fair, and they were expensive to rent and prone to breakdowns. Two reasons why they were quickly and quietly retired.

Later, some were spotted giving tours on the Atlantic City boardwalk, but they never became a mainstream collectible, or reach pop culture status.

As a collector, rarity is often the buzzword when talking about value. This Escorter is a good example of how rarity doesn’t always translate into a higher price, even when the item has cultural relevance.

That’s also why nostalgia plays such a big role in big-ticket collectibles. When people have fond memories of something they loved, wanted, or grew up with, it drives passion. That translates into bids.

The Greyhound Escorter doesn’t have that built-in nostalgia for most buyers. Without it, it becomes a fun oddity, but one that lacks the broader legacy that tends to drive its value.

Barrett-Jackson’s 2026 Scottsdale run continues through Jan. 25, 2026, and this sale is a reminder that the auction isn’t just about headline cars. Sometimes the biggest conversation starter is a bench-on-wheels from a world that thought the future would look very different.