Legal Files


  • Michael Jordan Still Dominates the Court

    Michael Jordan Still Dominates the Court

    The NASCAR antitrust lawsuit settled during the ninth day of a trial that was expected to last at least another two. Specifics of the settlement have not been made public, except to report that NASCAR’s team charters will become permanent, or “evergreen,” as described in the parties’ joint statement. You might remember that “Legal Files”…

  • Caught in a Crunch

    Caught in a Crunch

    It was an eventful week at Mecum Auctions’ recent four-day Dallas/Fort Worth sale — hundreds of cars sold and only four crashed! The accident happened in the post-sale staging area, where three of the cars were parked. A driver, presumably a Mecum employee, was moving a 1958 Willys resto-mod pickup. The truck sported a 5.7-liter…

  • Rock the Nismo

    Rock the Nismo

    Mark Bahna is a big fan of JDM cars and currently owns a Nissan Skyline R34 GTR Spec II Nür and a Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IV. But his pride and joy has been his 1994 Nissan Nismo 270R. It is one of only 30 made, numbers matching, and has its original paint and decals. It…

  • Long-Distance Transactions Remain Risky

    Long-Distance Transactions Remain Risky

    When eBay Motors started online car auctions, I was sure it would never last. There was just too much potential for crooks to cheat people, and the venue would collapse once people figured that out. I guess in retrospect, I was half right. There’s a lot of fraud, but online car-sales activity just continues to…

  • Please Get Your Car

    Please Get Your Car

    A common complaint in the collector car hobby involves a car owner who grows frustrated with a restoration shop that takes years and years to complete a restoration, no matter how hard it is pushed. Here’s an example of the complete opposite — an owner who won’t pick up his car. Do-over Bryant McCants wanted…

  • Playing the Percentages

    Playing the Percentages

    The One Big Beautiful Bill Act has traveled a rough-and-tumble political road, but we now have some certainty about the tax picture for the next 10 years. Collectors are now able to forge ahead on what to do with their car collections from a tax planning perspective. Income-tax rates Sales of collector cars that have…

  • Two Porsches, One Serial Number

    Two Porsches, One Serial Number

    One of the most exciting Bring a Trailer auctions ever went live on May 7, when a 1967 Porsche 910 (Lot 191750) was offered by a new seller, PSAutomobile. The listing was accompanied by over 600 photographs, and the auction would go on to rack up over 450 comments over the next two weeks. From…

  • Warranted Action

    Warranted Action

    It’s gotten to the point where I get so many robocalls on my cell phone that I don’t answer it when I don’t recognize the caller. Most often, it’s someone trying to sell me a Medicare supplement plan. Next most common is someone pushing an extended warranty on my car. Thankfully, the Federal Trade Commission…

  • Tariffs Really Taxing the Auto Industry

    Tariffs Really Taxing the Auto Industry

    As I write this, President Trump’s executive order that imposes 25% tariffs on imported cars has just gone into effect, and the stock market has tumbled. There is no doubt that, by the time you read this, something more will have happened. The tariffs may be changed, or even abandoned, or the automotive industry may…

  • Your Own Garage Mahal

    Your Own Garage Mahal

    We’ve all learned that car collections quickly become storage problems. It is easy to fall into the spiral of having bought so many cars that more space is needed. So a new garage is constructed, but that leads to buying more cars, which makes it necessary to build an even bigger garage. And on and…