A classic car dealer is locked in a High Court battle with a super-rich US collector over the world’s most expensive car and its missing gearbox.
Racing driver and supercar trader Gregor Fisken, based in Kensington, west London, is fighting lawyer Bernard Carl over the $44m (£37million) sale of a 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO in October 2017.
Just 39 of the cars were built by Ferrari between 1962 and 1964 and the model has, for decades, been regarded as the holy grail for the world’s wealthiest car collectors.
Now chassis number 3387GT, the second GTO ever built, is at the centre of a court fight.
Supercar dealer Gregor Fisken with wife Carolina outside London’s High Court (left) and US lawyer Bernard Carl (right)
Mr Fisken’s company Gregor Fisken Ltd (GFL) suing Mr Carl, demanding that the ‘unique and special’ original gearbox, which had been removed from the car, now be delivered to them.
Mr Fisken’s company bought the vehicle – for the highest publicly verified price ever paid for a car – from Washington DC-based Mr Carl, who also has a London address in Chester Square, Belgravia.
The company immediately sold it on to a wealthy anonymous collector, Judge Richard Pearce was told at the High Court in central London.
Chassis number 3387GT has an illustrious history.
It had been driven to first in class and second overall at the 1962 ’12 Hours of Sebring’ by Phil Hill and Olivier Gendebien, a famed motorsports pairing who had also won the ’24 Hours of Le Mans’ for Ferrari previously.
Mr Fisken’s company bought the vehicle (pictured) for the highest publicly verified price ever paid for a car – from Washington DC-based Mr Carl
William Hooper, for Gregor Fisken Ltd, told the court that when 55-year-old Mr Fisken’s company bought the car, they knew it did not contain the original gearbox.
But they believed that Mr Carl could later obtain it from where it was being held by another classic car dealer in the US.
‘Mr Carl undertook to use his best efforts to recover and deliver up the gearbox, in consideration for Gregor Fisken Ltd accepting the GTO without it,’ he told the judge.
Mr Carl located the gearbox, but the parties fell out, after he said the other dealer wanted $25,000 ‘release monies’ to hand it over, Mr Hooper said.
Chassis number 3387GT (pictured) has an illustrious history. It had been driven to first in class and second overall at the 1962 ’12 Hours of Sebring’ by Phil Hill and Olivier Gendebien, a famed motorsports pairing who had also won the ’24 Hours of Le Mans’ for Ferrari previously
The bad feeling grew during subsequent exchanges between the parties as to where handover of the part should happen and, if the gearbox was to be delivered to England, who should pay for shipping and the release fee.
Mr Fisken’s company is suing for ‘specific performance’ of the contract, demanding that Mr Carl hand over the gearbox – which is currently being stored by the other US dealer.
But Mr Carl claims he does not have to, as GFL ‘repudiated’ the contract of sale by refusing his proposal that they pick the gearbox up in California, and claims that Mr Fisken’s company now have no title to it.
In a letter, he stated that he ‘considered that he had tendered the gearbox’ and that the ‘purchase agreement was terminated’ without it having been delivered, the barrister said.
Mr Carl is alternatively arguing that ‘if the purchase agreement subsists and he is obliged to deliver the gearbox to GFL that he is entitled to $500,000 for so doing,’ Mr Hooper explained.
In the witness box, Mr Carl said he had offered both the car and the gearbox to Mr Fisken’s company, but at a higher price of $44.5m. The $500,000 is due under the contract for his work in locating and obtaining it.
Mr Carl is also insisting that ‘GFL does not have title to sue on the purchase agreement’ because, as it sold the car on straight away, ‘it was contracting as a ‘mere agent’ for a principal,’ the barrister added.
Mr Hooper told the judge: ‘The disputes relate to the GTO’s original gearbox…which has not been delivered to GFL.
‘GFL seek an order that Mr Carl turn over the gearbox.
‘Mr Carl refuses to turn over the gearbox and maintains that he has no obligation to do so, that the purchase agreement has been terminated for GFL’s alleged repudiatory breach of contract and that title to the gearbox does not lie with GFL.’
Denying that GFL have no right to sue, Mr Hooper said: ‘GFL is a high-end classic car dealer…As a dealer, GFL needed to have its own buyer lined up prior to entering into a contract with Mr Carl.
‘The gearbox was included in the price of the GTO…cash consideration for the gearbox was clearly paid as part of the price for the GTO.’
And he told the judge that Mr Fisken’s company insists on having the gearbox itself, not cash in kind.
‘The gearbox is a unique and special item. Damages would be inadequate,’ he said.
The part would help restore the GTO to its ‘original and complete state,’ he continued.
‘The restoration of original parts to cars of this nature is of great significance.
‘This is not simply about the unique nature of the gearbox itself, but the restoration of the GTO’s provenance.
‘It is, as noted by Mr Fisken…a ‘travesty that it has not been reunited with the GTO’.’
GFL also says its ‘business and reputation risks being undermined or damaged if the gearbox is not returned,’ the judge was told.
‘GFL has property and title in the gearbox and thereby a right to delivery up and immediate possession,’ he said.
Mr Carl could only ever claim a $500,000 payment under the contract if it turned out that the gearbox was in another person’s hands and additional formal steps or legal action were required to get it back, he added.
But Mr Carl told the judge in evidence: ‘The gearbox and the GTO are worth more together than apart.
‘It makes commercial sense (to unite them) and I never opposed the idea.
‘From the beginning the idea was that I would give him the car and the gearbox and he would give me $44.5m.
‘It would put the car and the gearbox together and that would be a good solution.’
The hearing continues.