Warren Buffett will auction his 2001 Lincoln Town Car on eBay Inc.’s Web site to benefit a nonprofit group that offers educational and recreational programs for girls.

The world’s second-richest person will donate proceeds to Girls Inc., which serves girls ages 6 to 18 in high-risk, underserved areas, such as some inner cities, in the United States and Canada.

Buffett’s daughter Susie sits on the board of the New York-based nonprofit, and had suggested the auction to her father.

‘It is one of the best organizations I’ve ever been involved with,’ Susie Buffett said in an interview. ‘Because of my involvement, he (Warren Buffett) knows the local people quite well, and has come to know some of the people on the national board. He is aware of what an outstanding organization it is.’

Warren Buffett’s Signature series Town Car has a light gold exterior and 14,000 miles on the clock. Buffett stopped driving the car about three months ago when he bought a Cadillac DTS.

The auction will take place from September 12 to 22, with an opening bid of $25,000. Warren Buffett will throw in the car’s ‘THRIFTY’ license plate.

An eBay auction would be the third this year for the 75-year-old chairman of Omaha, Nebraska-based insurance and investment company Berkshire Hathaway Inc..

In June, Buffett auctioned a steakhouse lunch for up to eight people to a Palo Alto, California investor for $620,100. In May, a Buffett-autographed ukulele went for $11,211.11.

Buffett made philanthropic news in June when he signed over about $37 billion, or 85 percent, of his own fortune to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and four charities in the name of his late wife, Susan, and children Susie, Howard and Peter.

The $25,000 opening bid is roughly twice as much as a private party might fetch for a 2001 Town Car like Buffett’s, according to Edmunds.com.

Posted: 08|22|06 at 9:54 am. Filed under: US News.