The August 2024 “Legal Files” about California cracking down on Montana-registered cars produced quite a response. We received more letters about this topic than for any other recent column, so we’re revisiting the subject this month. The surprise was that almost all the letter-writers were unsympathetic to this practice. Many […]
Legal Files
Collector Car Estate Sales
We’ve lately received several letters inquiring about estate planning, including this one: I have eight “special” cars that I have acquired over approximately 20 years. I maintain and drive them regularly. They are basically cars I always desired while growing up, which is probably a typical story. I will probably […]
California Cracks Down on Montana LLCs
“Trevor” was surprised when a California state investigator and two sheriff’s deputies rang his doorbell. They were armed with a search warrant authorizing them to search his garage and to seize his cell phone. The garage search located exactly what they knew would be there — a high-dollar sports car […]
Avoiding the Restoration Blues
In the March issue, we featured the story of famed E Street Band drummer Max Weinberg and his bad restoration experience. Weinberg was motivated to contact “Legal Files” with his cautionary tale in the hope that fellow SCMers might avoid getting into a similar situation. To recap, Weinberg agreed to […]
Sharing the Pain
Airbnb and Vrbo have become household names for vacation rentals, widely popularizing the idea of a “sharing economy.” A number of similar car-sharing services have also popped up in the past few years, all with a similar pitch: If you own a car, you can make extra money by renting […]
Dealer Dinged by Dash Cam
John Parrish of Burlington, NC, is proud of his 2016 Chevrolet Corvette Z06. Factory stock with 650 horsepower and 650 lb-ft of torque, it eats up pavement pretty quickly. In his words, the combination of the white exterior and red interior “just does it for me.” However, the Corvette developed […]
Consignments Become Lawsuits
Let’s say you want to become a collector-car dealer. First, you need a building large enough to hold a sufficient number of cars for sale, in an appropriate location. That requires significant capital. Next, you need an inventory of marketable collector cars. That requires even more significant capital. Stephen Phelps […]
Drummer Gets Snared
My favorite rock group of all time is Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band. You can imagine my excitement, then, when drummer Max Weinberg called my office and told me he was a longtime SCMer and “a huge fan of ‘Legal Files.’” Flattering indeed, but unfortunate that we made […]
As the Escrow Flies …
“Harry” and “Sally” are longtime Irish car collectors. At 78, Harry hasn’t given up on cars, and ended up being the high bidder in an online auction on Car & Classic. The prize was a 1955 Mercedes-Benz 220A cabriolet that hammered sold at a bid of €112,100 (about $123k). What […]
Best Man for the Job
“Legal Files” has written twice about the legal battle involving Porsche Carrera RSR prototype chassis number 9113600686, commonly known as “R7” (September and November 2023). We last reported that the litigation was settled with the Kenny Schachter car being declared the real R7. The car was then on the docket […]