Mr Tuke is suing Mr Derek Hood and his company, JD Classics Ltd, for around £9 million, with success

Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

Terrible situation if you have a car being restored at JD right now. Guess the administrators will be trying to establish what belongs to JD and what doesn't. Guess that is tricky if you car is fully stripped down there!

I would not be surprised to see Bonhams or RM announce a sale of the stock sometime soon?

 

I understand JD Classics belongs to hedge fund Charme Capital Partners, managed by Luca di Montezemolo's son Matteo Di Montezemolo.

http://www.charmecapitalpartners.com/who-we-are


Marcel Massini

 

Supposedly Bonhams Goodwood last weekend had a quite a few with more going into the trade over the last couple of weeks

 

Yes there were some indeed (I think the 365GTC4 in the sale was one). I've heard (admittedly second hand) rumours that JD's banks are holding the titles on a lot of the stock though and presumably will want to get their money (or as much as they can get) back as quickly as possible and a mass auction would be the quickest way to do that.

 

If they have X amount of cars on hand, and owe the banks (I’m assuming it’s not all privatized money) on those liens, won’t the sale of their in stock vehicles recoup back the millions and millions that may be owed?

 

I think Charme led the group of investors but they don't own all of it. Still, it was them who put the ex Lotus CEO in charge.

 

So Mr. Hood got his money out before it all went belly up?

 

Derek Hood has left the company quite some time ago already.

Marcel Massini

 

That would all depend on what representation and contract JD has with their bank. Much of their stock will have been purchased by JD Autos using finance and those cars will effectively be owned by whomever financed their purchase. Other cars will clearly be owned by another party (the vehicles owner) and will be there for sale on commission or restoration and that should equally be clear, apart from perhaps discussion over the ownership of parts removed during restoration, one would hope they have decent contracts. Its not unheard of for a dealer to take a car for sale on commission but to use that vehicle as security for a loan, making false representations about their ownership. Depending on exactly the contract between JD and their financiers this would allow the financier to claim a financial interest in the vehicle and could make getting ownership back very hard. Yes it would be an illegal act by whomever signed off that J.D. Autos (should that actually have happened) owned the vehicle and accepted financing against it but proving that happened can and ownership take years and lots of lawyers fees.

Best wishes to anyone caught up in this.

 

All those cars that JD advertised in the British magazines every month.....were they the company's inventory or consigned to them by their owners?

 

Said it before, say it again, investing in old bangers is dumb.

 

Rumour (unconfirmed) is the Jaguar Heritage has bought it.

 

If Talacrest or Kidston is anything to go by, probably a mix of sold on behalf/commission and actually purchased as inventory for onselling, the original case swung on Mr. Hood representing cars as being sold for a vendor without disclosing the vendor was JD cars itself creating a conflict of interest and leading to claims for misrepresentation, yes/no? Anyway, certainly many major UK dealers buy cars at auction to then sell themselves, their financing allowing them to snap up a bargain. John Collins of Talacrest paid record amounts for the Bertone 250SWB at Gooding Pebble Beach and then offered it almost immediately, at what must have been an even higher amount so there is real world precedence for either style of trade. The problem with taking inventory rather than commission sales is that you have to finance the acquisition and take the risk that the car might sit on the books for a year or two at x% interest p.a. and there goes your profit but then again with the risk comes a much greater reward.

 

Judgement: Your considered opinion. Judgment: Court order.

 

Right, I'm aware of the different levels of risk, costs, etc., associated with selling from inventory and selling on consignment. I was just curious as to how JD was selling. They certainly had some delectable cars.

I'm late to this thread so I'm also wondering....was it the lawsuit that forced the company into administration, or did they have other financial problems as well? To me, this is not the ideal type of business to be owned and managed by a hedge fund. What is Hood's situation? Is he in a position to pay the judgment?

Thanks.

 

I had a 50/50 chance and I got it right. Time to play lotto!

 

Since this topic has very little, if anything to do with any specific Vintage Ferrari model(s), shouldn't it be moved to more appropriate forum section ?
Business or General Discussion or... ?

 

#30 Essex Rich List http://www.essexlifemag.co.uk/people/who-s-the-top-50-richest-in-essex-1-5252029

It is also alleged elsewhere that conveniently he remains just a poor car dealer but his wife is now extremely rich including owning their house

So it is likely that the answer to your query yes but no to any judgment now or in the future

 

So he has taken the money and left the new owners to carry the can for his actions.

 

Although I have little sympathy for someone 'investing' in cars, it is always best to assume that auction houses, restoration shops, dealers/brokers/buyers are there to extract as much money out of you as possible and usually with as little ethics as possible, and act accordingly.

The Bill Gates set up - have someone helping you with your money, employ another person to check their work and employ someone to check both of them.

He had WAY too much trust in what is essentially, a used car dealer.

 

The investor is as much an idiot as JD. Takes a 2 second google to figure out if you're overpaying (massively!) for a car or not.

 

Suspect firm will not recover due to the greedy actions of a few in the top of the company, as the reputation will be toast.

 

Yes and no a lot of the cars he (or JD) brought were the ones not often seen on the open market - an XKSS for example. Also look at the delta on reported prices paid on 250GTO's recently you would need to put a value on individual chassis rather than the model in general which would be more that a quick google.

Having said that putting all your financial eggs in one basket with no or limited oversight is idiotic.

 

Even if an off-market car....can easily compare recent sales of similar cars. If I was charged 20% more than a car recently sold in similar condition, I'd have some question marks....let alone being charged double