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The allure of owning a fully restored 1957 Mercedes-Benz 190SL was enough to get Bruce Springsteen’s drummer, Max Weinberg, to hand over $125,000 to a car restoration business in Florida. However, Weinberg alleges instead of performing on the agreement, the company took his money and used it for personal expenses, leaving him with nothing.
These celebrities love their Mopars.
Weinberg has in turn filed a lawsuit for $375,000 against Aurther Siegle, family members of Siegle, and Investment Automotive Group Inc. through the courts in Plam Beach County, reports the Associated Press.
Instead of spending the initial sum of money on obtaining a solid Mercedes-Benz 190SL, Weinberg says the shop presented one with plenty of rust and other damage so extensive the classic car couldn’t be restored to like-new condition.
Sadly, we’ve seen plenty of people, both celebrities and regular folk, get taken for a ride by car restoration shops. There are many legitimate businesses that buy and restore classic vehicles for customers, but it’s not uncommon for customers to claim they never received a car or got one with shoddy restoration work done.
The report indicates that even though local law enforcement investigated this case and concluded the Siegles did use Weinberg’s $125,000 deposit to cover personal expenses, no criminal charges were filed. The drummer handed that money over about three years ago.
Ultimately Weinberg’s dream was a classic Mercedes he could enter into Concours shows, meaning it would need to be nearly perfect. Believing he had found the perfect shop to perform such work, he plunked down the deposit, only later concluding he’d been had.
While there certainly are no guarantees when working with a car restoration shop, you should do research before putting a deposit down with one. Talk with former customers, look up online reviews, etc. so you get a better idea of what the business is like and whether others have experienced problems.
