Is $20,000 a Stretch for Simpson Limo?

The way he sees it, he didn’t sell his story to the Star or grant an exclusive interview to “Hard Copy” or make up trading cards or anything like that. But now, Dale St. John figures it is time to sell off a piece of the O.J. Simpson murder story.

The limousine that took Simpson to the airport.

St. John, the owner of Town and Country Limousine in Torrance, said Thursday that he has decided to sell the stretch 1988 Lincoln Towncar that drove Simpson to the airport the night Simpson’s ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ronald Lyle Goldman, were killed.

“I decided to sell it over the last couple days, but I’ve been thinking about it for the last six months,” St. John said.

He decided to sell it now, St. John said, for two reasons. “It’s not the newer model, the trendy car,” he said. “And there is the fact it was involved in the murder case. I mean, I think it is a selling point.”

St. John, who was not driving the limo the night it took Simpson to the airport, had counted the football legend among his regular clients. And after shuttling Simpson to and from airports and to special events as often as three times a week during the football season, St. John said, he is convinced that Simpson is innocent of the murders.

That sentiment aside, he says it is time to sell the Lincoln, which has 160,000 miles, the last of them figuring in one of the most widely watched murder cases in U.S. history.

“I know it seems untimely to do it now, but why should I not take advantage of this fact?” said St. John, who said he has turned down tens of thousands of dollars in offers to sell his story.

“I am not cashing in. I am not selling out. I am simply selling a car,” he said. “If it happens to be worth more money than before because of the O.J. Simpson murder case, so be it. But I am simply selling a car.”

The minimum bid for the vehicle--to be sold through a silent auction--is $20,000.