The 8-ft. tall statue of Communist icon Vladmir Lenin that stands in front of Goff's Hamburgers in Dallas is up for auction on eBay next week, starting Dec. 8. Harvey Gough is selling his Goff's restaurant, and the next owner is unlikely to need a statue salvaged from the former Soviet Union. Gough bought the statue from a Ukraine factory for $500 in 1992.

Gough is known as quite a character, if not always the easiest to get along with. During our brief visit in 2002, he refused to speak to us. And tipster Sean Booth wrote us today: "Once back in the 1970's when I was thrown out of Goff's because my hair was too long, the owner, Harvey Gough, chased me around my car with a baseball bat!"

The statue is not the biggest Lenin in the US, but it's the only one with a plaque that reads: "America Won."

[Tips Sean and Brandon]

[12/03/2004]