Takes In $1.3 Million For New Park, Museum

So... how much for that toilet seat in the window? A recent auction of spare parts for the once-glorious, but now grounded, Concorde took in a whopping $1.3 million -- more than three times original estimates, according to event organizers.

The International Herald Tribune reports around 800 SST aficianados participated in the three-day auction, which concluded Monday... offering bids in person, by phone and via internet on 835 lots of Concorde memorabilia.

Winning bidders parted with some serious cash to own their own pieces of the storied airliner... including $37,000 for a section of landing gear that weighs 1.2 tons.

Bidding ranged from $638 for a filling valve, to nearly $80,000 for two supersonic airspeed indicators. A Concorde toilet seat fetched $7,400.

As ANN reported, most of the items in the auction were replacement parts stocked in EADS warehouses since the plane stopped flying in 2003.

The Pentagon procurement-level prices reaped an incredible windfall for Aerotheque, the aviation group that organized the auction. The group "bought" the whole lot of spare parts from EADS after the last Concorde landed, for a symbolic €1 (about $1.41 US dollars in today's market.)

Aerotheque representative Melodie Susini -- understandably happy with how everything turned out -- said the money will go toward a planned park and museum in Tolouse, France... home of Airbus, as well as its predecessor Aérospatiale, which helped build the Concorde.

FMI: www.eads.com