VisualArt's recently auctioned off an Angel Beats! themed itasha, a BMW 120i for ¥1405400, roughly US$12,500. The car also came with two autographed shikishi, one featuring a custom drawing of your favourite characters by Na-Ga. Some are calling the the price a bargain! But others are much more
Wow, that’s a hefty price. But then again, I know nothing about car prices, just that they are expensive, so maybe it is a bargain.
Driving a car like this outside of Japan would be a terrible idea.
I can’t help but wonder how much it would cost to import an itasha…
Well, I happy when it was sold with that price, but Kud Wafter itasha and RewriteHf itasha was higher…
Do you recall how much higher?
Kud Wafter was 1.699.000 (http://www.webcitation.org/5rnTQSwY0) and RewriteHf was 1.806.000 (http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2012-09-17/rewrite-harvest-festa-tour-car-auction-ends-at-1.8-million)
It’s a nice car but a little to crammed full of art. I would prefer they kept a simpler design as opposed to just plastering it from head to toe. 12.500 is a great price honestly, cheaper than the average new car by quite a bit.
This is super cheap considering it’s a BMW D: then again, the mileage is pretty huge on it, so that makes it pretty old i guess
I would never buy a car like that, but I would drive one any day 
My school probably wouldn’t let me park in the school parking lot though.
Why not? There is nothing really offensive on it, but I would be worried about vandalism
I go to a school with kind of strict rules. We’re not allowed to die our hair unnatural colors or wear things that might be considered distracting, and an anime car seems kind of distracting. Though, the rule might just apply to clothes.
I’ve seen a lot of people posting (not here, but elsewhere) their shock at the final sale price of the vehicle, thinking it should have sold for more. The author of the linked article even mentions that, “non-custom models of the same BMW series are valued at twice as much,” which simply isn’t true for a model of the same production year. While the car looks awesome, the age, model, and mileage of the car all contributed to the perceived low sale value.
Some information to consider: the car, as sold, is a 2005 BMW i129 hatchback with two wheel drive and 70,000km. The car is not intended for cold weather (so it will need additional treatment and rustproofing), has no sunroof or spare tire, and has a history of being driven with smokers and pets. Furthermore, the vehicle has several deficiencies which are either cosmetic or could become problematic in the future, such as a cracked lower body piece, some sticker peeling, and pixel loss in the LCD screen, suggesting pending display failure. Shipping and title transfer costs were to be undertaken by the buyer. The Angel Beats! wrappings have an expected sheltered shelf life of two years, meaning that if the car is in use for two years but is parked in a covered garage, they should withstand without further peeling or discoloring during that period. If parked in exposed sunlight, the likelihood of peeling and discoloration will accelerate significantly.
If we look at a typical car of this year, model, and mileage (no stickers, possibly rustproofed), prices currently average around $7,100 USD in the region (less in Europe). The ¥1,505,400 sale price of the Angel Beats! vehicle equates to $12,424 USD, meaning the car sold for $5,324 more than a typical equivocal model. That’s a 75% increase in price!
Considering the effort required to maintain the car, protect it for extended use, have the title transferred, car transported, and take measures to adequately protect it from vandals, and of course the age/model/condition of the car, I suspect VisualArt’s (and President Baba, who judging by the auction listing seems to be the former owner of the car) is pretty happy with the sale price, even if they aren’t letting it on.
