Car license plate with No. '1' on it auctioned off for $14 mil. in Emirates

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
The value of "vanity license plates" climbed to new heights Saturday when a car license plate with nothing but No. "1" on it went for a record $14 million (€9.5 million) at a charity auction in the Emirati capital. "I bought it because it's the best number," said Saeed Khouri, a member of a prominent Abu Dhabi family that made its fortune in real estate. "I bought it because I want to be the best in the world." Khouri refused to reveal how many cars he owned and which one of them will carry the record-breaking single digit plate. Vanity license plates, as they are popularly called, are a series of unique car license plates which the state auctioneers in this oil-rich Gulf state began auctioning off since last May.