sweep
Gold Member
I'm confused.If Leno had not bought that car, it would have sold to somebody else wouldn't it? Instead of Chapman pocketing $140k as stated in the link, he would surely have pocketed an amount more or less from somebody else. I don't see how Leno can be faulted except that he tried to misrepresent the elevator's capability to help him in the bidding. That would surely be an issue between Leno and Chapman. Neither the fellow who died nor his estate would have collected more. What seems clear is that Leno wanted this car very much. When it became available, why not try to get it? If the lawsuit is successsful, I can't see Leno having to do anything but give back the car. If he does, it will surely be because the garage owner didn't have the right to sell it. Those things are decided in a court of law, not the court of TBN in my opinion.
Gosh Sweep, you are free to think what you want about Leno, but he spends a ton of money keeping his collection going. With rare old cars and steam vehicles, the market will always be competitive and passions high. That's what gives value to old iron, isn't it? These vehicles are something rare that lots of folks want.
Here is one of the better articles on what happened.
Leno and a Duesie of a Lawsuit
Throughout these years, Straus would let his storage bills accumulate and bring them current from time to time with large payments. The owners and managers were aware of that, and never made an issue of it. In later years, Straus developed dementia, and his rent payments become more sporadic.
In April 2005, Straus noticed a past due invoice from the Windsor Garage for over $22,000. He sent a check for the exact amount shown due. The manager returned the check to him, explaining that the balance was actually over $36,000 and instructing him to pay that amount with the notation of his account number. However, the account number given in the letter was for the Wayne Garage account, which was one digit different. Straus sent another check in the higher exact amount, with the account notation requested.
The manager accepted the check, but applied it toward the Wayne Garage account, thereby leaving the Windsor Garage account delinquent. Shortly after, Straus received a notice from the owner's lien service company stating that his Windsor Garage account was past due by over $16,000, and that if not paid by May 2, the cars would be auctioned off on May 27. Straus assumed that the notice and his payment has crossed in the mail, and did nothing further.
On May 27, the Duesenberg was sold to Chapman, LLC, an entity owned by the garage owners. The bill of sale states that the sale price was $0, and nothing was paid or credited to Straus's storage bill.
Straus did not receive any notice about the sale of the Rolls-Royce, but it was apparently sold at about the same time. The buyer turned out to be the garage's director of maintenance.
Curiously, the garage kept charging Straus for storage fees through October, at which point a letter was sent demanding payment of his outstanding bills and threatening to sell the cars if payment was not promptly made.
In December, about $39,000 was finally credited to the outstanding bill. This was about the same time that Chapman, LLC, sold the Duesenberg to a company owned by Jay Leno for $180,000. It is claimed that Chapman wanted $300,000 for the Duesenberg, but that was negotiated down to the final sale price.
Straus for decades had kept his Duesenberg and Rolls at Windsor Garage. In 2005, the garage notified Straus that his account was massively in arrears and that the cars would be auctioned off if he didn't pay the more than $20,000 he owed.
Straus - who was in his 80s and suffering from dementia - sent a check. But the garage allegedly did a bait-and-switch and applied the payments to arrears he owed for two far less valuable cars he was keeping in another facility owned by GMC.
The garage then purportedly held sham "public" auctions for the cars, with its corporate alter ego getting the Duesenberg for a $0 bid and the Rolls for an unknown amount, the suit says.
In December 2005, the company sold the Duesenberg to Leno - who'd been lusting after it for years - for $180,000.
