www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/metropolitan/2815773


Sept. 26, 2004, 10:43AM

San Antonio man buys David Koresh's Camaro


Associated Press

FREDERICKSBURG -- A 64-year-old San Antonio car wash owner put in a winning bid of $37,500 on Saturday to bring home an automobile once owned by Branch Davidian leader David Koresh.

Donald Feldpausch said he didn't go to a classic car auction in Fredericksburg with the intention of buying the 1968 Chevrolet Camaro but changed his mind when he saw the vehicle.

He said he plans to put the Camaro into storage until he hears from someone "who just has to have it."

The black, V-8 Camaro was captured in news footage during the 1993 siege of the Waco Branch Davidian compound, being pushed out of the way by a tank. The siege ended with Koresh and nearly 80 followers dying as the complex near Waco burned to the ground.

"What he did was horrible, but I don't want to get into the politics of it," Feldpausch said in Sunday editions of the San Antonio Express-News. "The Koresh name doesn't bother me. I guess it's sort of like buying a home after somebody committed a murder in it."

A car dealer purchased the vehicle from the federal government after it was seized from the compound. Waco resident Darrell Makovey bought it last year and restored it.

Koresh drove the Camaro routinely and had stamped "David's 427 go God" on the engine block.