Bid price for Klinsmann car plunges

BERLIN, July 10 (Reuters) The bidding price for a 39-year-old Volkswagen Beetle that once belonged to Germany coach Juergen Klinsmann has plunged after the seller introduced strict controls to exclude non-genuine bids.

The top bidding price for the 1967 VW convertible fell from a quoted 300,050 euros on Saturday to 5,605 euros today ahead of tomorrow's close of bidding after interested parties were required to register and prove they were serious.

''Unfortunately there were some offers made by people who were not serious,'' wrote the car's owner, who lives in a Stuttgart suburb, in the internet auction eBay. ''The changes were made to give only serious bidders a chance.'' Klinsmann, who coached Germany to third place at the World Cup, drove the car in 1994 and 1995 while at Tottenham Hotspur. Klinsmann has said he would not recommend bidding for the car that was already rusty when he gave it away 10 years ago.

Separately, bidding for 30 cm x 20 cm segments of turf used at Berlin's Olympiastadion for the World Cup was going strong, according to the German mail order company Quelle. The sections cost 75 euros each and more than 1,000 orders have been placed.

The bids were high for some special sections, such as for the two penalty spots. There was one bid for 4,000 euros for a penalty spot.

Quelle expects to sell 40,000 to 60,000 segments. Part of the proceeds will be donated to charity.

Reuters AY DB2052