Concorso Posted March 20, 2019 Share Posted March 20, 2019 This car was stolen from a Wiscojnsin's restorer's amateur shop, alog with all the paperwork. Later restored by Paul Russell. Still later sold in Europe for $7 million. But then a US car fan recognized it and contacted the victim who tried to sue to get it back. There was supposed to be a court ruling in 2018 so I wonder if anyone knows what the result was. The Wisconsin man has died in the meantime but at least his relatives could have the car. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 20, 2019 Share Posted March 20, 2019 Interesting story. I'd like to know the outcome as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ted sweet Posted March 20, 2019 Share Posted March 20, 2019 if insurance paid its no longer his car Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1937hd45 Posted March 20, 2019 Share Posted March 20, 2019 Wonder who the Wisconsin owner was. Bob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nick8086 Posted March 20, 2019 Share Posted March 20, 2019 1938 Talbot Lago T150C 'Lago Spéciale' cabriolet $276,986 (€207,000) 2013 Bonhams. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alsancle Posted March 20, 2019 Share Posted March 20, 2019 Nick, that can't be the same car although they do reference Wisconsin. The Bonhams car is nice enough, just not 7 million nice enough. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
8E45E Posted March 20, 2019 Share Posted March 20, 2019 There will be NO recent 'stolen car tale' as dramatic (especially for the legal sleuths) as this one: Craig Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
8E45E Posted March 20, 2019 Share Posted March 20, 2019 (edited) 7 hours ago, ted sweet said: if insurance paid its no longer his car That is correct. It they paid out the owner for it, they now own the car and make an attempt to acquire it. It will be interesting should they want to proceed with it as a lot of paid hourly time and money will be consumed on their part in order to retrieve it. Craig Edited March 20, 2019 by 8E45E (see edit history) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curti Posted March 20, 2019 Share Posted March 20, 2019 5 hours ago, 1937hd45 said: Wonder who the Wisconsin owner was. Bob I saw the car just a couple of months prior to the theft. His name was Roy Leiske. Lived in Milwaukee. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1937hd45 Posted March 20, 2019 Share Posted March 20, 2019 13 minutes ago, Curti said: I saw the car just a couple of months prior to the theft. His name was Roy Leiske. Lived in Milwaukee. Thank you. I did a google search and found that information. Sad story. Bob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mercer09 Posted March 20, 2019 Share Posted March 20, 2019 so was it 7 mill or a few hundred thou? good story............... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graham Man Posted March 20, 2019 Share Posted March 20, 2019 (edited) https://www.autoblog.com/2018/08/14/rare-1938-talbot-lago-heist-lawsuit/ The ruling... https://www.wisbar.org/NewsPublications/InsideTrack/Pages/Article.aspx?Volume=10&Issue=13&ArticleID=26502 The car??? 1938 Talbot Lago T150 C teardrop coupe (not sure if this is the actual car) another stolen in pieces and completely restored now car. It will be interesting if they get the car back, my guess is the insurance company that paid out on the car is the next lawsuit... Edited March 20, 2019 by Graham Man (see edit history) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1912Staver Posted March 20, 2019 Share Posted March 20, 2019 It does not sound like the car was insured when stolen. Greg in Canada Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Harwood Posted March 20, 2019 Share Posted March 20, 2019 I don't see any mention of an insurance payout in any of the linked articles. That would certainly complicate things, but it would also bring the financial and legal might of an insurance company to bear on the suit (obviously they'd want the car if they paid a claim--it's a windfall for them as much as anyone else). The complicated thing is going to be tracking it back to Europe and finding whomever received it circa 2001. The shop that performed the restoration should probably expect to be served and to cough up records, and if there are other owners in the chain subsequent to that, they, too, should expect to hire lawyers. Additionally, it seems that it was sold at auction at some point, so that auction company will likely have to intervene in some way. In short, eveyrone who has touched the car since 2001 is going to get sued. For something worth $7 million, they're going to be willing to buy a lot of lawyering to chase them all down in various countries. Whether Europeans are bound by US court decisions is something that remains to be seen and my guess would be that the plaintiffs in this case, who apparently have a legitimate claim to the car, are simply going to sue the current "owner" hard enough to force him to climb the tree himself and shake loose whomever had their hands on the car prior to him. There's some indication that he may have known of the car's cloudy history by virtue of registering it under an LLC, but then again, many large collectors have LLCs just for the purpose of owning their cars, so that alone isn't a real good barometer of his intent or knowledge. He did decline to return the car, forcing a court case, and perhaps he's hoping he can outlast them financially. I don't know. The first step is this next court ruling, which will determine how everyone else proceeds. It's going to be ugly and the only ones guaranteed to come out ahead are the lawyers. It sounds like the current "owner" is rolling up his sleeves for a fight, and it will depend on how the review of the current judgement goes with the court. If they rule in the defendant's favor and the statue of limitations has expired, the plaintiffs might be SOL. If they uphold the current ruling, then it's going to get all kinds of interesting and a lot of people are going to get sued on two continents. Kind of makes our reasonably-priced cars look more appealing, doesn't it? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graham Man Posted March 20, 2019 Share Posted March 20, 2019 Sure sounds like an inside job, you would have to be pretty cool to walk around looking for the all original paperwork. I am guessing someone had to put the car back together to sell it? Lots of questions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1937hd45 Posted March 20, 2019 Share Posted March 20, 2019 This is the easy way to understand the Talbot. Bob https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=Jay+Leno+Mullin+Talbot&view=detail&mid=DA46C795C59BE77C4400DA46C795C59BE77C4400&FORM=VIRE Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curti Posted March 20, 2019 Share Posted March 20, 2019 9 hours ago, mercer09 said: so was it 7 mill or a few hundred thou? good story............... Roy Lieske is the individual in Milwaukee the car was stolen from. He had one son. and he was killed in a aircraft accident about a year prior to the theft. Roy had no wife, or other relation. when he died I understood that his home and a bunch of classic cars all went to the state. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
West Peterson Posted March 20, 2019 Share Posted March 20, 2019 One report says it went to his cousin, who is the person suing for possession. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mercer09 Posted March 21, 2019 Share Posted March 21, 2019 It is a sad day when anything ends up with the state................... remember being at Hershey in the mid 70s and seeing one of these in the field on the Wendys side............... left a lasting impression on me. Never saw such a beautiful car in my life. definitely a piece of sculpture! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curti Posted March 21, 2019 Share Posted March 21, 2019 Could be West ! My evidence is 'hearsay' not admissible. I wonder what happened to the Pierce,Marmon, L-29 & 810 Cords , the old air craft engines etc. Not to mention the machine shop. There were just path ways going thru that place. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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