John Draneas

  A recent Federal District Court decision in Illinois should be of serious concern to auction bidders. If it stands, we might all have to take a full coterie of mechanics and consultants with us to each auction. Our plaintiff, “Ted,” was a successful bidder at a 2011 auction. (“Legal Files” won’t identify the auction…

We all know that it’s going to be windy when a low-pressure area bumps up against a high-pressure area. The difference in air pressure sucks air into the low-pressure area until the pressures are equalized. “Legal Files” recently reported (June 2014, p. 54) how this same principle applies to economic disequilibrium, resulting in an industry…

Legal Files” gets a lot of questions, but the most frequent is: “How can I do a 1031 exchange with my collector car?” This is not much of a surprise. Many readers who have owned their collector cars for some time have realized significant appreciation they want to cash in on. Then they discover that…

George felt his time was coming. He was through with his studies and was just getting established in his career. Unburdened by a wife or kids, he had been able to save up some money and he was ready to have some fun with it. His interest in collector cars beckoned, and he was quite…

In navigating the booming collector car market, many SCMers find themselves engaging in rapid buying and selling, prompting both personal and professional reflections. . Questions often arise, with both enthusiasts and their accountants pondering whether this increased activity nudges them from collector status into dealer territory, bringing forth potential tax and legal implications. Drawing from…

Earlier this year, Portland, OR, residents Rick and Jackie White were stunned to find a very technically worded legal notice in their mail. A lien service company was informing them that a local towing company was auctioning off their 1970 ’Cuda to satisfy its unpaid storage bill. They weren’t stunned because of the substantial unpaid…

Two recent cases that attracted a lot of attention seem to involve different issues, but they actually have a lot in common. In one, SCM and ACC contributor John Stein brought to our attention a recent fire in a Sacramento repair shop that destroyed a number of Porsches. In the other, SCMer Joel Gardner shared…

  Several years ago, “Legal Files” reported about the litigation surrounding 1954 Ferrari 375 Plus, s/n 0384AM (October 2010, p. 30). The 375 Plus, one of six made, was well-known in the hands of Jack Swaters, the Belgian former race driver and Ferrari importer. Karl Kleve, an atomic scientist who worked on the Manhattan Project,…

  Last month’s Legal Files suggested that there are epidemic proportions of “matching-numbers” Corvettes (and other cars) that really aren’t matching-numbers cars. That attracted a lot of attention and comments, but what people say is not as important as what they don’t say. No one said the suggestion was sometimes wrong. First, let’s put “matching…

  “Joe” wanted to get into the collector car hobby. After kicking a lot of tires and spending many hours on the Internet, he came across a Southern California dealer offering a car that he had always wanted — a 1962 Corvette Roadster. The car was a matching-numbers example with 48,000 miles, a 327-ci, 360-hp…