#memorabilia

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles said Wednesday that it will transform the former Detroit production site of the Dodge Viper into a haven for historic vehicles. Unfortunately, it also said the collection will not be open to the public — at least not right away. Conner Avenue Assembly produced its last Viper in August, as updated safety regulations made future manufacturing impossible. The future of the site looked bleak. While large enough to produce hand-built models of a low-volume supercar, the 400,000-square-foot facility would prove insufficient for much else.

Many expected FCA to shutter the building until it could be sold.

Fortunately, that will not be the case. As the company prepares the space for the future, it’s auctioning hundreds of mass-produced and one-of-a-kind pieces of Viper memorabilia to benefit the local United Way. Afterward, the factory will be renamed Conner Center and house a collection of 85 of the company’s nearly 400 historic vehicles — cars FCA says have remained scattered across various locations for far too long. Hopefully, it’ll eventually let the public enjoy them.

In case you’re a particularly macabre automotive collector, Tupac Shakur’s murder car is currently available for purchase. California’s chotchkie dealer, Moments in Time, is listing Death Row co-founder Suge Knight’s black 1996 BMW 750iL on its website for a cool $1.5 million. That’s roughly $1.49 million over the estimated private party value of an E38 Bimmer — and I even gave Moments in Time enough credit to assume it was in extremely good condition.

Apparently, one of the best things you can do for the resale value of your car is to make sure that a celebrity was killed inside of it. However, Shakur technically died several days later as a result of injuries sustained in the September 7, 1996 Last Vegas drive-by shooting. Perhaps you can use that information to haggle down the price.