If you didn’t know, comedian and funny man, Jerry Seinfeld, has quite an impressive Porsche collection. Seinfeld is the proud owner of a 1955 Porsche 550 RS, a 1973 Porsche 911 Carrera RS and a 1986 Porsche 959, to name but a few. Recently, however, Seinfeld has found himself in a bit of a conundrum due to an altercation at an auction where one of his Porsche’s were sold.
It has come to light that Seinfeld’s ‘authentic’ 1958 Porsche 356 A 1500 GS/GT Carrera Speedster that went under the hammer for $1.54 million (approx. R22 million) back in 2016, isn’t as authentic as the buyers first thought. As a result, the buyers, a company named Fica Frio, have decided to sue Mr Seinfeld.
According to when the car was listed, it is”one of approximately 56 GS/GT Carrera Speedsters built with alloy panels” and “believed to be sole example originally finished in Auratium Green.” The 356’s “extremely rare type 692/0 four-cam engine” is also said to be an “award-winning restoration completed by European Collectibles.”
Why did they buy it if it wasn’t authentic? Well, when Fica Frio wanted to sell this ‘mint’ example again they had it inspected by an ‘expert’ who consequently deemed the car to not be original as first presumed. The issues arose when there was a lack of documentation regarding the restoration of the car.
Seinfeld does seem to be the bad guy in this story, but he did apologise to the owners and offered to repay the purchase price. “[I want to] offer my apology for this nuisance and assure you that you will be completely indemnified in full and not have to keep the car and get all your money back,” he said. “I did want to apologize to you personally for that happening.”
“[I] would also love to know how your guys figured it out because…my guys did not, I guess, see anything amiss with the car when I bought it,” Seinfeld apparently said in a voicemail message to the company.
Unfortunately, Fica Frio claims that Seinfeld has not stuck to his above mentioned words, and now want the full price plus additional “costs incurred” paid to them. Seinfeld’s lawyer, Olin Snyder, on the other hand states that Seinfeld is trying to figure out where the issues crept in. “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,” said Snyder.
Snyder requested the necessary evidence from Fica Frio to prove that the car is indeed unauthentic.