Jay Leno and the Model J Duesenberg in 2006
Posted on 01/15/2009 7:28:51 PM PST by Coleus
Jay Leno, car thief? The gearhead "Tonight Show" host is being sued for his $180,000 auction purchase of a classic car that once belonged to a Macy's heir. The daughter of late hot-wheels enthusiast John Straus says the owners of the E. 76th St. garage that housed the 1931 Model J Duesenberg for more than 50 years schemed to get Leno the car through a phony auction. "It was a sham," said Nathan Goldberg, a lawyer for Straus' daughter, Wendy Lubin. "It was designed by the garage company to provide Jay Leno with an unlawful private sale." The car had been in the Straus family since 1931, when Straus' dad, Herbert, had it delivered to the family's home in Red Bank, N.J.
John Straus bought the Duesenberg from his mother, and in the early 1950s put it and a 1930 Rolls-Royce in the Windsor Garage on the upper East Side. "This car meant a lot to this family," Goldberg said. "It was a precious family heirloom." The suit, filed yesterday in Manhattan Supreme Court, accuses the Windsor Garage owners of taking advantage of John Straus' dementia to cook up the 2005 sale to Leno, who lusted after the Duesenberg. "Leno knew this car was not for sale, and Straus had made that clear to him," said Goldberg, adding that it is worth more than $1.5 million. A lawyer for Leno and the garage said the cars went on the block only after Straus became "extremely delinquent" in paying his storage fee.
"Mr. Leno bought the car in good faith," lawyer Bruce Bronster said. The garage's director of maintenance ended up with the Rolls, the suit says, when the company in 2005 refused to accept a $36,000 check from the ailing Straus for garaging the cars. "They took advantage of a man suffering from a debilitating illness," Goldberg said. Nonsense, Bronster said. "The allegations will be proven in a court of law to be untrue," he said. In the 2007 book "The Hemi in the Barn," Leno told how he concocted a tale to keep other prospective buyers away after Straus refused to sell it to him.
The suit says the car is in Leno's Big Dog Garage in Burbank, Calif., with a slew of other classic cars and custom motorcycles. Straus, whose grandparents co-owned Macy's and perished aboard the Titanic, died in May at age 87. "Even to his dying day, when he was approached by car enthusiasts about the Duesenberg, he would become entranced," Goldberg said. "That car was a part of his family."
Sour grapes.
Leno car thief??? why?? He has a Burger King gold card!! Why steal?? =o)
I thought he was Italian-American, not Roma.
Someone know what's going on here?
$180,000 for a Duesy? Quite a steal.
An article on Jay’s website, Jay Leno’s Garage, talked about this car. IIRC, the story was that the garage’s elevator had been replaced, and the Duesenberg didn’t fit on it anymore.
“Sour grapes”.
Not necessarily. The car is worth more than $180,000, even unrestored.
What's a pigeon drop operation?
I saw something about the Dusenberg on one of the TV history type shows. I am almost certain a value of over a million was mentioned.
It does sound like a scam deal to me.
So you agree. I take your money, I give you half the money in the purse. You figure you've made out like a bandit.
By the time you realize it's just a $100 bill wrapping a wad of paper, your money is down the street and gone.
That's a simple on.
A more advanced one involves investing in fiber optic systems. You end up matching funds with the "investment partner". Only he doesn't really put any money up.
That's the Terry McAuliffe technique.
What J. Leno was into here was a garage guy who said "I can get you the car cheap", even though the issue at hand was the $36,000 rent.
J. said, "OK, get me the car" and he puts up $120,000 for the car. The garage owner gets J.'s money and he's down the street. J. gets the car for $120,000. The heirs get nothing ~ they are out $1.2 million.
J's crime here is that he was party to a double drop ~ and he had to moxy up some cash to get in on the deal, but he knew both sides of the deal ~ which is a pretty sophisticated operation typical of the way a MASTER DOER would handle it.
Italians don't do this. Gypsys do!
J just did a double deal. Guy's gotta' be pure Roma ~
Was he raised in an orphanage perhaps?
These allegations against Leno are absurd.
He’s a decent guy. He’s part of the same Antique Car Club as my parents who are into this. He’s a really nice guy. This is sour grapes.
The storage place owner only gets to keep what he is owed, and the balance must be paid to the property owner/customer.
Scenario A (Lawful):
Customer owes storage place $100. Property is sold at fair auction for $3000. Customer gets $2900 and storage place gets $100 (plus costs of auction).
Scenario B (Unlawful):
Customer owes storage place $100. Property is sold to man who pays storage place $200 under the table and buys the property in "sweetheart deal" for $1200. Customer receives $1100 and storage place gets $100 (plus costs of auction and keeps $200 under table money).
I still don't understand though. How did the garage have the authority to sell the car to Leno?
Good stuff! I’m in the car biz and we’re ALWAYS looking to steal a car. In an ethical way of course.
By state law (and contract, usually) the storgae place can sell the customer’s property for non-payment of charges (after notice and time). Same thing with apartments and landlords. Read the fine print the next time you hire a moving company or a lease. This language is in that contract, too, most likely.
That they used a double pidgeon drop model to do the deal is simply amazing.
It's like the old senile man fell among thieves ~ which he did.
I'm thinking Leno is going to go to prison for this, and I'd just bet the cops are looking into a lot of his business deals over the years. You don't just start doing double pidgeon drop operations out of the blue!
“$180,000 for a Duesy? Quite a steal.”
That’d for sure, in the 1950s Otis Chandler had a standing offrt out for any Dusengerg no matter what condition as long as it was complete of $250,000 cash.
I hate to say it, but this doesn’t pass the smell test. The only way Leno could have gotten that car for that little money is if there was a scam taking place and he was in on it. He knew the legitimate owner was getting cheated. Shameful, but not surprising. He lusted after that car and chose to do the wrong thing.
There is such a thing as being too much of a yuppie and I’ve always despised Leno after his treatment of Linda Tripp. This one does not really surprise me.
Generally, if you sell property on the basis of nonpayment of storage fees, it had better be at a well advertised, very public auction. Particularly for this type of property.
We conduct them; not so worried about the $500 car...but if I came across something like this (or even a $50,000 car)it would be consigned to Barrett Jackson or Mecum...if for no other reason than to cover our rears legally.
That car should have never been sold in any other manner.
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