Margaret Chase Smith with her longtime Chief of Staff William C. Lewis and the 1941 Plymouth Super Deluxe Business Coupe. (Photo courtesy of Margaret Chase Smith Library) Photo courtesy of Thomaston Place Auction Galleries

The antique Plymouth owned by the late U.S. Sen. Margaret Chase Smith was sold Sunday for $15,000, according to Thomaston Place Auction Galleries’ website. The car was sold on Day 3 of the August Grandeur live auction.

Last week, the auction house correctly estimated that the car would sell for twice the amount of the $7,500 starting bid. While the price was disclosed, the identity of the new owner was not.

The 1941 Plymouth Super Deluxe Business Coupe is unusual and historic, Thomaston Place Auction Galleries owner Kaja Veilleux said last week. It’s believed Smith purchased the vehicle in the 1940s and owned it for over 40 years.

In her later years, or perhaps after Smith’s death in 1995, the car was sold to someone else. After that owner died, his widow contacted the auction house.

Smith was born in Skowhegan in 1897 and became the first woman to win election to the House and Senate. She was the first Republican female senator, and the first woman from Maine to be elected to either house of Congress. Smith gained national prominence in 1950 when she stood up and delivered a courageous, rare speech denouncing McCarthyism.

The 1941 Plymouth was shown in the auction house’s video sporting the license plate, “O MAGGIE.” It was in exceptional shape and “all original,” and had not been restored, even the front seat, said West Castellano, who works as an automotive specialist at the auction house.

In the video, Castellano showed off that the World War II-era Plymouth has “smoking windows,” a split windshield and a standard three-shift on the column. The Plymouth is started by the driver pushing the right foot on the floor starter. The Plymouth had 24,163 miles on the odometer, according to the auction house.

When the auction house first started the Plymouth, it started up right away, Castellano said.