Comedian Jerry Seinfeld settled a pair of lawsuits over an allegedly inauthentic classic Porsche that he sold at auction for $1.54 million.
Seinfeld, who now hosts the Netflix show ‘Comedians and Cars Getting Coffee,’ sold the 1958 Porsche 356 A 1500 GS/GT Carrera Speedster at an auction in Florida in 2016, under the pretext that it was one of the few of its kind to sport a certain factory-original paint job and interior color combination.
In 2019, the buyer of the car alleged that the color scheme was, in fact, not factory authentic, and sued Seinfeld.
Seinfeld apparently felt he too had been duped, and sued the dealer that he purchased the Porsche from.
Both lawsuits have now been settled.
Seinfeld, an avid collector of cars, sold the Porsche as a part of lot of 17 cars he auctioned off through Gooding & Company in Florida, raking in a total of $22.2million.
Seinfeld advertised the Porsche as being one of the few ever made with a factory finish of Auratium Green with a black interior.
The car was purchased by the Channel Islands-based Fica Frio Ltd., for $1.54million.
But when they determined that the car was not factory original as advertised they demanded that Seinfeld purchase the car back and pay damages.
Fica Frio Ltd. said that Seinfeld agreed to do so, but after he didn’t repurchase the car in a timely manner they filed suit in February 2019.
“Jerry has no liability in this matter, but he wants to do the right thing,” Seinfeld’s lawyer told the New York Post at the time. “And is therefore bringing this action to hold European Collectibles accountable for its own certification of authenticity, and to allow the court to determine the just outcome.”
Seinfeld had purchased the Porsche in 2013 from European Collectibles in California for $1.2million, after being made the same assurance he would later stake that the car was entirely factory authentic.
He filed a complaint against the dealer once it became clear they had sold him the car under false pretexts.
“Mr. Seinfeld, who is a very successful comedian, does not need to supplement his income by building and selling counterfeit sports cars,” the complaint read.
Both lawsuits were reported closed in a Manhattan court on June 1. Their details are not known.
