Wednesday, February 22, 2023

A classic car dealership took "active steps" to conceal red flags about the authenticity of an uber-rare 1971 Maserati, and is now being sued by Maroon 5 lead singer, Adam Levine, to undo the $950,000 deal — or get paid enough damages to make it right.


in the lawsuit, Levine's lawyers attest that Burbank dealer Rick Cole convinced the Levine's representatives to trade two classic Ferraris in return for what the dealer claimed was a rare 1971 Maserati Ghibli 4.9 Liter Spyder.

The lawsuit, filed Friday in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California by the Adam Levine Living Trust, alleges that classic car dealer Rick Cole or his agents faked documentation and chassis and engine authentication marks on what was represented as one of only 25 or so 1971 Maserati Ghibli 4.9 Liter Spyders ever manufactured.

But the lawsuit says it later turned out that there are “serious questions” about whether the Maserati (valued at $850,000) is authentic — and that Cole took “active steps” to conceal the red flags.

“It is now readily apparent that Cole was well aware that the vehicle is not the actual [Maserati], and that the vehicle has a substantial cloud over its identity, authenticity, and provenance, crippling its market value to a figure far less than that paid

Cole’s website says he’s spent decades as an “Auctioneer to the Stars,” claiming he’s sold more than 20,000 cars and worked with Frank Sinatra, Robin Williams, Sylvester Stallone and Jay Leno. Levine is listed on the site among the other A-listers.

According to Friday’s lawsuit, Levine’s trust agreed with Cole in early 2021 to swap a 1972 Ferrari and a 1968 Ferrari, valued at a combined $950,000, in return for the Maserati and $100,000 in cash. But the trust’s attorneys say that when the rare car was later put up for resale, it was revealed that an identical Maserati with the same vehicle identification number existed elsewhere

Also mentioned in the lawsuit is “the Real 1241,” the actual car given that VIN, which according to the lawsuit was actually sold several years ago to British luxury car collector Clive Joy and “has been in Switzerland ever since as part of Clive Joy’s collection, under the care of legendary race car driver Christian Trabe.”

The lawsuit says that a deeper investigation then revealed big red flags, including that the disputed Maserati had been withdrawn from a 2015 auction over serious concerns about its authenticity, including incorrectly stamped markings on the chassis. And the trust’s lawyers say they believe that Cole subsequently tried to fix those defects, though he still left “giveaways” that the car was not authentic.

“This demonstrates that, after the questioning of the authenticity of the vehicle at [the 2015 auction], someone tried to make the vehicle appear authentic by reproducing or stamping a new chassis plate to make the writing seem more like that used by Maserati at the time, in an obvious attempt to convince a potential buyer,” the trust’s lawyers wrote. “Upon information and belief, it was Cole and/or his agents who made these changes.”

The lawsuit also claims that Cole “repeatedly discouraged” the resale of the case, since he “obviously feared that if the Trust marketed the Vehicle, it would eventually learn the truth concerning its lack of authenticity and corresponding decrease in market value.”

“The identity of the Vehicle is, at the very least, in serious doubt,” the lawsuit says. “It is not the Real #1241. It may be an original Ghibli Spyder in which someone got a hold of the engine and then stamped the Vehicle to try to match the engine. Or, it could just be a converted Ghibli Coupe, in which the original chassis plate was removed and replaced with plate number AM11549S*1241* in an attempt to make the Vehicle more attractive.

“But either way, the Vehicle is not authentic, has no identity and/or has a very questionable identity, which seriously undermines its value.”

In technical terms, the trust is suing Cole for various forms of misrepresentation, breach of contract, and fraudulent concealment; it’s seeking a court order rescinding the sale of the vehicle, or an award of damages of at least $850,000.

https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/story/2023-02-22/adam-levine-lawsuit-maserati-ferrari-classic-car-dealer?consumer=googlenews

Rick Cole’s was actually the first Monterey collector car auction way back in 1986. He recognized the sales opportunity presented by the throngs of enthusiasts and collectors in town for the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance. Subsequently, a Rick Cole sale was held every year into the ‘90s.

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