Bogus Carrera Speedster?

[Craig Richter]

Yeah, but don't you just love Steve... and his cool toupee?

[Ron LaDow]

ABC Nightly news last night did a 60 second story saying Jerry sold a replica Porsche Speedster. Is it any wonder why people don't trust the media? I wonder if they'll do a follow up story when it's found Seinfeld did nothing wrong?? Seinfeld selling a replica, give me a break!!

When the F1 was being restored, Automobile Mag did a short story on it with a 'fact checker' getting the full list of page number, books, and authors regarding all the races, drivers, owners, etc.
When it came out two months later, they spelled my name right.

[Adam Wright]

Looks like the Seinfeld camp has released a statement,
"Seinfeld’s lawyer issued a statement that the comic’s been working “in good faith” to resolve this “frivolous” lawsuit, adding, “Nevertheless, Jerry is willing to do what’s right and fair and we are confident the court will support the need for an outside evaluator to examine the provenance of the car.”

[chris romney]

I imagine the attorneys are hoping the negative publicity will force Seinfeld to settle, regardless of whether they have a valid case or not. I thought transactions like this were all "caveat emptor". As previously mentioned, given all the transactions Seinfeld has done with no issues I would be inclined to give him the benefit of the doubt. In the unlikely event there is something incorrect about the car, wouldn't European Collectibles also have some liability? I'm betting the car was accurately represented. In the event Seinfeld wins the case, you can be sure that will get far less publicity than the initial filing of the case. It reminds me of Ray Donovan who was Reagan's Secretary of Labor. He was sued for larceny and fraud over construction of a line extension for the New York City subway. After he was acquitted he asked, "where do I go to get my reputation back?' I imagine Jerry will feel the same way regardless of the outcome.

[Charles H Jacobus]

I thought it was sold with a COA and Kardex.

Chuck

[Tim Herman]

The issue here is rather simple. This Speedster is a genuine Carrera GS.
The GT features were added or modified at a later date. I love it!
I have seen the car and 2 friends of mine examined the car and researched
its history.

[K. Ritter]

Interesting. Tim, curious what was unearthed during the research that led to the conclusion that the GT features were added later. Do you think that Maxted-Page perhaps found the same evidence? I wonder why the buyer/plaintiff here didn't set forth that evidence in the complaint. All still a mystery.

[Charles H Jacobus]

The issue here is rather simple. This Speedster is a genuine Carrera GS.
The GT features were added or modified at a later date. I love it!
I have seen the car and 2 friends of mine examined the car and researched
its history.

But wouldn't the COA / Kardex say that (except for the GT), Tim. And if so, that was provided at the sale so the buying should have known what he was buying.

Chuck

[Edwin Ek]

Interesting. Tim, curious what was unearthed during the research that led to the conclusion that the GT features were added later. Do you think that Maxted-Page perhaps found the same evidence? I wonder why the buyer/plaintiff here didn't set forth that evidence in the complaint. All still a mystery.

Evidence is not presented in a complaint. That comes later in the process.

[Andrew Larson]

Here is the Kartex for 84908:

Kartex 84908.jpg (45.76 KiB) Viewed 1844 times

By comparison here is the Kartex for 84912:

Kartex 84912 - 1958 Porsche 356A GT Speedster - Leo Levine.jpg (57.02 KiB) Viewed 1844 times

[Jim Alton]

If it's any help, the book Porsche Speedster Typ 540 Quintessential Sports Car gives the color of chassis # 84908 as 712 (Auratium Green) so there must be some records somewhere with information missing from that Kardex.

[David Pateman]

Jim, the color data undoubtedly comes from the Reutter book.
The difference in recorded information on the two cars is a bit surprising but not unusual in itself. That the trans # is missing from 84912, but present on the otherwise sparse 84908 is curious. It makes me wonder just who prepared the Kardex cards and what information sources they used to fill them in.

[James Davies]

The fact that a Kardex is mostly empty generally means that whoever was filling them in that day had other, more important things to do. Given that 84108 doesn't even have the warranty dates filled in, this is the only conclusion to draw from this document. The lack of information tells us nothing.

I would be much more interested what the Porsche production log and Reutter book has to say about the configuration of this car. From what Joris mentions above, Steve's book says this is a GT. That info is almost certainly from the Porsche production logs.

[Adam Wright]

The Kardex 1st page is also not the end all be all. My Kardex source gets me the first page we've all seen, but when I was at Rennsport the magic laptop at the Porsche tent had info I don't have, it looked like a 2nd page. Of course, it was no pictures, but I have my Kardex now, but I don't have everything Porsche has.

[James Davies]

Looking for myself in the Sprenger/Heinrichs "Carrera" book, it records all the Speedsters from 84903 to 84912 as GT body, GT engine, aluminum lids and doors.

The remarks for 84908: "Motor am 11. Juni 1958 verbaut. Bodenbelag schwarz. Verkauf von Werk." Not sure if the remarks come from the Reutter books or Porsche production logs, or the described 20-page Porsche document listing most 550 Spyders, 904 Carrers GTS and all but a few 356 Carrera GS and GT cars. Probably a mixture of all 3.

But "Verkauf von Werk", i.e. factory sale, might explain why the Kardex is empty.