Legal Files

Holding onto the certificate of title until you get paid is no legal protection. Once the buyer pays the broker, that certificate of title is worthless The Oregon Court of Appeals recently decided a case of interest to car collectors. The case involved a 29-foot Sea Ray boat, but the legal principles apply equally to…

The judge started his opinion by pointing out that his “analysis will be swifter than Richard Petty’s race-clinching pit stop at the 1981 Daytona 500” Here is an unlikely case of Car Guy v. Car Guy, brought, it just so happens, before a car guy judge. It’s the story of a race car owner and…

Continuous History Car vs. Original Component Car? You decide In a perfect world, every historic car would boast a spotless provenance and a documented list of distinguished owners, none of whom ever “abused” the car by changing a major component, let alone by crashing it. The real world is different. Witness competition cars, which in…

He learned that the broker and seller were going to be in Monterey that August, so he made arrangements to serve them both at The Quail About two years ago, a Los Angeles SCMer contacted “Legal Files” hoping for advice about how to get his money back after a long-distance Ferrari deal went bad, very…

If the winds were unforeseeable, they would be considered an act of God, and neither the auction nor tent company would be liable for damages Who would have thought that the wind could blow so hard? That turns out to be the multi-million-dollar question in Scottsdale. The big story from this year’s Arizona auctions was…

Maybe, if you have a valid out-of-state title for a modern kit car and can get an SB 100 “free pass”-but don’t try it with a “Born-Again” post-1967 Mini Legal Files” was recently contacted by an SCM subscriber who thought the current economic climate made this the right time to buy a replica 1965 Ford…

It’s pretty easy to conclude that the FBI should have hired a towing company. That the car was wrecked proves the agent was incapable of driving it We all know that federal, state and local governments have broad powers to seize assets from drug dealers and other persons suspected of crimes. Lately, there have been…

Police return Hallingby’s seized Ferrari; he files a $5 million lawsuit against magazines whose advertisements described it as stolen The December 2008 “Legal Files” reported that 1958 Ferrari 250 PF Cabriolet s/n 0799GT was seized by the Connecticut State Police from the garage of noted car collector and long-time SCMer Barney Hallingby. On October 2,…

The seller thought it was enough that the engine was the correct type, built the same time as the Camaro, and that its present number matched the VIN The market places a substantially higher value on “numbers matching” cars, especially in these challenging times. Collectors want the best. Here’s a quick description of what “matching…