'Gimli Glider' not sold at Ontario auction

The highest bid wasn't high enough to nab a piece of Canadian aviation history.

The Boeing 767, known as the Gimli Glider, was on the auction block this afternoon in Mississauga, Ont.

The Gimli Glider was being auctioned off by Collector Car Productions.

Terry Lobzun, spokesperson for Collector Car Productions, said it was hoped the plane would sell for more than $2.5 million.

The highest bid was $425,000, which Lobzun said was below the reserve price.

Collector Car Productions will now follow up and try to find a buyer in the next few weeks.

Lobzun said he would love to see the Gimli Glider end up in the town of Gimli, but he's not optimistic that will happen.   In 1983, the plane ran out of fuel on a flight from Montreal to Edmonton, but was able to glide to a safe landing at a decommissioned airstrip in Gimli.

It continued as an Air Canada passenger plane until it was retired from its fleet in 2008.  It has been sitting in a warehouse in California ever since.