Bob Dean’s $10million classic car collection is up for auction after being seized by his bankers | Economic news

More than two dozen classic cars owned by struggling retirement home owner Bob Dean, a collection that includes a 1930s coupe owned by a prominent member of the French Resistance and several vintage Corvettes, will be on display. auction later this month after the vehicles were seized as collateral for an unpaid $10 million loan.

According to court records, Baton Rouge-based Investar lent Dean the money in August, before he became embroiled in controversy for sending nearly 1,000 residents of his Louisiana nursing homes to a warehouse. after Hurricane Ida. Dozens of Dean’s customers have died after spending time in sweltering and fetid conditions, although only a handful of deaths have been directly linked to the storm.

Since then, Investar has filed foreclosure actions against Dean Classic Cars LLC in Missouri, New Hampshire, Mississippi and Georgia. Seizure orders were issued, according to court records.

Earlier this month, an Upson County Superior Court judge in Thomaston, Georgia, found Dean in contempt of court for failing to appear at a hearing where he would have been required to provide bail. additional charges or be imprisoned. The court has issued an arrest warrant for Dean, according to the Upson County Clerk’s Office.

One of Dean’s legal representatives said Dean was unable to comment because he has dementia. Dean first said through attorneys in February that he was unfit to sit for depositions or other legal appearances due to his condition. Investar and its lawyers declined to comment.

Over the past few months, Investar has successfully taken possession of Dean’s vintage cars in various locations across the country. These cars will be auctioned June 25 at the Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum in Birmingham, Alabama.

A rare and rich collection

Lawrence Green, CEO of Henderson Auctions, said Dean’s 28 cars will be part of an auction of up to 100 classic automobiles. Dean had been a collector and dealer of vintage cars for decades. Green said his collection includes gems.

“It’s very rare to have an auction of bank seized classic cars, period. But this is a particularly large collection with some very rare and high-value examples,” Green said.

The car with the most interesting history, according to Green, is the Delahaye 135 Coupe des Alpes Chapron Roadster.

Built in 1937, the first owner of the coupé was a young French industrialist called Cyriel Depery, who joined the French Resistance after the country was taken over by the Nazis.

The car auction background features a photograph of Depery and other members of the Resistance driving the Delahaye through the streets of Depery’s hometown of Annecy, Haute-Savoie, France, the August 20, 1944, upon his release.

Green said he believed Dean acquired the car last year.

Probably the most valuable of Dean’s cars up for auction, Green said, is a 1939 Bugatti Type 57C Gangloff Coupé. There were just over 700 of the sleek touring cars built by Jean Bugatti between 1934 and 1940 and the one at auction has been restored to “Competition” level.

“There are probably only a handful of these models in this condition in the world,” Green said.

Restored antiques, flashy racing cars

There is no reserve price for the Bugatti or any of the other seized vehicles. The price Dean paid was not disclosed, but the model has sold at auction for between approximately $800,000 and $1.5 million over the past five years. according to Classic.comthat follows these prices.

The collection Dean seized includes other impeccably restored antiques, such as a 1938 Peugeot Darl’mat and a 1939 Packard Twelve Cabriolet. There are several racing cars, such as a 1967 Sunbeam Tiger, a 1964 Cheetah and a Lola T96-50 from 1996. There are also several Chevrolet Corvettes from the 1950s and 1960s.

The auction will include a few curiosities, like vintage Ford work trucks and a 1970 Plymouth Hemi Cuda that has just 87 miles from new.

Old Work Trucks

The Plymouth was bought straight from the factory by a man named Phil Reardon who intended to turn it into a drag racer, Green said.

Reardon raced the car 30 times before dying prematurely of natural causes. The car has since been owned by collectors and dealers who only drove it to move it in and out of showrooms and warehouses.

While the rarest and most sought-after cars in the collection are expected to draw seven-figure auctions, some cars fetch between $250,000 and $600,000, Green said.

The 1958 Facel Vega FV-4 Typhoon, for example, was the first non-customized vehicle made by the same French company that produced the Delahaye. Although it had a more prosaic style than the first custom-built cars, the context of the auction indicates that the cars were popular with Hollywood movie stars and socialites of its day.

“The Facel Vega has a Chrysler engine but the interior features were very luxurious for 1958,” Green said.

Other legal battles

The foreclosures come amid several legal battles Dean has faced in recent months.

The Louisiana attorney general has opened a criminal investigation into last year’s incident. Dean tries to get the licenses of his seven nursing homes reinstated after the state of Louisiana revokes them.

In addition, Dean resists federal government efforts to ban him from housing residents who receive assistance from federal programs.

Meanwhile, dozens of nursing home residents are also suing Dean for the conditions at his facilities.