Celebrities

The Real Reason Wayne Carini Got Sued (And It's Not What Fans Expected)

The Real Reason Wayne Carini Got Sued (And It's Not What Fans Expected)
Image credit: Legion-Media

Wayne Carini — the clean-cut face of Chasing Classic Cars, the guy you'd trust to babysit your '59 Ferrari — got dragged into a lawsuit over a rare 1934 Pierce-Arrow coupe.

And no, it wasn't because he flipped it for a fortune or scammed anyone. It was a boring, bureaucratic disaster: title trouble.

Here's what actually happened.

In the early 2010s, Australian collector Robert Richmond paid restorer Gary Dixo to buy, restore, and ship the Pierce-Arrow to him. The car never arrived. Dixo went bankrupt. The car floated around in legal limbo for years.

The Real Reason Wayne Carini Got Sued (And It's Not What Fans Expected) - image 1

Then in 2017, Dixo — who no longer legally owned the car — sold it to Gullwing Motors. Gullwing asked Carini to appraise it. He did, valued it at "around one" (presumably $100k), and bought it.

Carini thought the title was clean. It wasn't.

Here's what happened next:

  • Carini resold the car to RM Auctions for $250,000
  • RM Auctions then sold it to a private collector
  • That collector poured money into restoration
  • Richmond resurfaced, said "Hey, that's my car"
  • RM froze the deal
  • Collector: stuck
  • Richmond: furious
  • Carini: in court

In 2020, Richmond sued everyone — Wayne's companies (F40 Motorsports and Carini Carrozzeria) plus Gullwing Motors — claiming the Pierce-Arrow was sold without his consent. And the court agreed.

What the judge ruled:

  • Dixo's sale of the car was illegal
  • Carini and Gullwing acted in good faith
  • They still had to return the car and refund the money

So, no fraud, no malice — just one missing signature and a whole legal storm for a car that wasn't even worth what it cost to fight over.

Key financials:

  • Original Pierce-Arrow value: approx. $100,000
  • Carini's resale: $250,000
  • Lawsuit year: 2020
  • Court ruling: Return the car and pay back the money

Oh, and this wasn't the first time Carini's business faced heat. Back in 2010, a buyer filed a public complaint over an $8,000 Lamborghini Gallardo luggage package that never showed up. It was resolved quietly after some legal nudging.

Fans online had mixed feelings — some calling him a flipper, others defending his record. Forums lit up. Reddit had opinions. You know the drill.

But in the end? Carini wasn't sued for cheating anyone. He was sued for trusting a broken paper trail. A clean-cut dealer got caught in someone else's mess.

And if there's one thing the collector car world hates more than rust, it's a bad title. Wayne paid up, returned the car, and didn't ghost anyone. He didn't have to — the court said he acted in good faith — but he handled it. That's more than some dealers would do.