Adam Levine, frontman for the pop-rock band Maroon 5, is learning the hard way how a classic car can be misrepresented at even the highest levels of the hobby. Various outlets reported this week how Levine is suing a renowned collector dealer for selling him a Maserati Ghibli drop-top with fudged ID numbers in exchange for two very-real Ferraris, a 1972 Ferrari 365 GTC/4 and a 1968 Ferrari 365 GTC.
Of course, the internet sneered at Levine, seemingly basking in the afterglow of a rich guy getting screwed (guess what - he has more than enough money to weather the indignity of driving a doctored Maserati.) The bigger issue is that the selling dealer provided authentic documentation that matched a real-deal factory convertible living overseas; the obvious fly in the ointment was that Levine noticed after the purchase transpired that the VIN, build plate, and various stampings on the car had been altered after the fact to match the documentation. The devil was in the details as the font style on the stampings and plates didn't match what Maserati used in 1971, but Levine took the seller's word that the car was a genuine, factory-built convertible without checking those details against what the factory was using.
The real oversight here was that the Maserati was apparently pulled from an auction in 2015 over concerns that it was misrepresented. This, to me, is where Levine and his people should have aborted the transaction, or at least greater due diligence when a high-profile car like this which would undoubtedly have many suitors leaves a major auction circuit under a cloud of suspicion.
We see time and again how a lack of digitization and deep paper trails of high-dollar cars can lead to unfortunate situations like these. As collectors and enthusiasts, we should all have higher standards, especially of dealers that make a good living selling cars like the one in question.