Salvaged Mercedes excites bidders

The Mercedes C200 Kompressor being recovered from the Rena. Photo / APN

The bidding war is on for a luxury car recovered from the wreck of the Rena.

More than a dozen people have bid on the 2003 Mercedes C200 Kompressor, being auctioned on Trade Me.

All proceeds from the auction, which closes in two weeks, will go to the Child Cancer Foundation's Tauranga branch.

The car, valued at $15,000, was restored by local businesses and since the auction opened on Friday has attracted a top bid of $11,600.

At 3pm yesterday, the auction web page had been viewed more than 28,600 times. Fifteen people had placed bids and 32 had commented.

Some of the comments were from would-be buyers, some were from the salvors who helped recover the car, and other people posted messages of support for the charity.

Child Cancer Foundation fundraising and business development manager Delwynne Hahunga said the response had been fantastic.

"This has obviously got a lot of coverage and it's gone quite viral. It's great," she said.

"This is an awesome start and we're only three days into it and we've got two weeks to go so I'm feeling very positive about this."

- APN