Boeing LRV for Sale

It's been very close to three years since your last opportunity to buy a Boeing LRV, but the good news is that you're getting one (and quite possibly only one) more chance. According to this Craigslist post, one of only four remaining Boeing-Vertol LRVs - Muni 1271, built in 1978 - is up for sale. The above photo, taken from the Craigslist post, is assumed (?) to be recent.

The forlorn LRV has been sitting for quite a while (I'm not certain how long) in a junkyard in Richmond, CA, where it's visible from passing Amtrak trains. While its location in a junkyard would make it seem rather un-preserved, its definitely been kept intact as an historical curiosity (as evidenced by the effort now to sell it) and it appears to retain its trucks and most of its exterior largely unmodified. Let's put it this way: if there were a Muni J-Type or a PE Ten in similar condition in a junkyard, people would be falling over themselves to acquire it.

And yet, this ungainly beast seems likely to go to scrap. One of four LRVs (three Muni and one Boston) still around, it's by far the worst of the lot, and the "local" trolley museum - Western Railway Museum - has one of the nicer examples. Plus, Boeing LRVs were and are notoriously difficult to keep running even in the best of circumstances; even if it's mostly complete, it seems hard to imagine this one could ever move under power again given its finicky electronics. But who knows, someone may buy it and plinth it somewhere.