https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/tycoons-son-loses-french-court-battle-with-siblings-over-mona-lisa-of-ferraris-w5k3fmhzx Tycoon’s son loses court battle with siblings over ‘Mona Lisa of Ferraris’ July 17 2021, 12.01am The Cour de Cassation, France’s highest court, has ruled that Patrick Bardinon, 64, the tycoon’s eldest son, was wrong to sell the so-called “Mona Lisa of Ferraris” — a 1964 250 GTO — to a Taiwanese businessman for $48 million (£35 million) in 2014 without permission from Jean-François, 62, his brother, and Anne, 67, his sister. His siblings dismissed his claim and argued that he had taken it from the collection one morning before daybreak and auctioned it in the US without their knowledge. The Cour de Cassation came down on their side after upholding a lower court ruling that “the gift of a car to a child who has just had a road accident is not a usage and custom”. It ordered Bardinon to pay his siblings €52.3 million (£45 million), representing the auction price for the 250 GTO along with interest. The family made its fortune in luxury leatherware, with Charles Lindbergh wearing one of its bomber jackets on the first solo flight across the Atlantic in 1927. Image Unavailable, Please Login Pierre Bardinon with one of his classic Ferraris in about 1990 ALAMY But Pierre Bardinon, who inherited the family business in the 1960s, was more interested in cars than planes. He amassed a collection of about 60 classic Ferraris, including four 250 GTOs, whose overall worth has been estimated at up to €450 million. He kept them in a museum on his property in Saint-Avit-de-Tardes in central France. The tycoon acquired much of his collection at a time when there was little interest in classic cars. In the early 1970s, for instance, when he went to buy a racing car he was asked by the salesman if he would like to take a rusting Ferrari hidden beneath an old blanket as well. It was the GTO 250 that later sold for $48 million. He is said to have paid the equivalent of a few hundred pounds for it, and a few hundred more to do it up. In 1963 Bardinon also created a racing circuit in the grounds of his house, which was frequented by celebrities and professional drivers such as Jackie Stewart and Jim Clark. He died in 2012. Some of his Ferraris have been sold to pay inheritance tax, among them a 1957 335S Spider Scaglietti once driven by Stirling Moss, which fetched €32 million. But at least 20 remain in the collection. French media say they have been impounded pending the settlement of the inheritance dispute.
As a notary I know uses to say - better a bad arrangement than a good trial. This dispute has probably incurred a lot of lawyers fees that will be lost for the Bardinon family.
