Developer buys Pacific Wheel on eBay

SANTA MONICA, Calif., April 25 (UPI) -- The Pacific Wheel, the Ferris wheel on the Santa Monica Pier in California, is heading inland now that an Oklahoma developer has bought it on eBay.

Grant Humphreys of Oklahoma City bid $130,400 for the wheel, KTLA reports. The 10-day auction ended Friday.

Pacific Park plans to donate half the proceeds from the sale to Special Olympics Southern California.

The Pacific Wheel was installed in 1996 and two years later became the first Ferris wheel in the world to be solar-powered.

Pacific Park will allow anyone living in Santa Monica to ride for free on the Pacific Wheel from Monday through May 4. One rider will be selected Thursday to be the last one on the wheel.

Installation begins May 5 on a $1.5 million high-tech Ferris wheel, scheduled to debut May 22.

The minimum bid for the Ferris wheel was $50,000. The Los Angeles Times reports that most of the action was in the last few hours of bidding, with the price jumping almost $50,000 in the last 10 minutes.