A man is selling his 11-year-old rusty car — complete with a roof-mounted missile.

Dave Beck is selling his Pontiac Sunbird on the eBay.com Internet auction site. It comes complete with the fake missile made from yellow “Support the Troops” magnetic ribbons as well as pipe and wood.

Beck is an artist and teaching assistant at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

He said he opposes the war in Iraq, but decided to explore the meaning of the phrase “support the troops.”

“I wanted to deal with the idea of what support is,” Beck said. “Fifty years ago it was organizing a tire drive or making life changes … now it seems like it’s just slapping something that’s not even permanent on the back of the car and telling other people to support the troops.”

Beck created a life-size B-61 nuclear missile out of 500 of the magnetic ribbons. He displayed it at a local gallery, but decided to mount it on the roof of his car to make it more visible.

Beck said public reaction ranged from describing him as a super patriot to saying that the magnets were being put to a better use.

But Beck tired of his rocket ride, and decided to sell it. He posted the vehicle on the auction site on Aug. 21, with a starting bid of 99 cents. As of Saturday evening, the bidding was more than $800. Bidding continues until Aug. 31.

Posted: 08|29|05 at 10:11 am. Filed under: US News.