The Fake Porsche Martini – Classic Car Enthusiast (Almost) Taken for a Ride

Gerd Rohlfs (42) from Dortmund had, until recently, mostly good experiences buying classic cars – but for his last purchase he decided to consult Kurtz Investigations Dortmund to be on the safe side, a decision that proved to be the right one. Thus the IHK-certified investigators of Kurtz Detective Agency Dortmund were able to save Mr Rohlfs from fraud and major financial loss.

 

The collector from the Ruhr area is no naive newcomer when it comes to old and youngtimers. As the owner of four cars from the years 1968 to 1986 (two Porsches, a Mercedes and a Jaguar) he is almost a veteran; the hobby has shaped the client of our Dortmund detectives since his childhood. Therefore he grows suspicious when he finds an online listing offering a rare Porsche 924 special model at a suspiciously low price: the object of interest is a “Martini” Porsche, released in 1977 in the colours of the Porsche-Martini works team. These models are quite rare (only 3,000 units worldwide) and are accordingly traded at prices well above those of a standard production model: while ordinary Porsche 924s of the same year are already available for around €8,000, the Martini special model commands €25,000–30,000.

Porsche 924 “Martini” year of manufacture 1977; Kurtz Detective Agency Dortmund, Copyright Michael J Brown; Detective in Dortmund, Private Detective from Dortmund

Porsche 924 “Martini” year of manufacture 1977

However, the client of Kurtz Detective Agency Dortmund finds a local listing claiming that an “original” Martini Porsche is available privately for under €20,000. From the outset Mr Rohlfs smells something fishy: “On the classic-car market bargains are the absolute exception – when cars are offered unusually cheaply, something is usually wrong.”

 

The client of our Dortmund private detectives contacts the private seller. “The man appeared respectable, by no means the type of dodgy used-car dealer from the corner. The car was in perfect condition, the mileage was plausible and the registration document was present. Above all, the specific features of the special model, the decorative stripes and the orange-red interior, seemed flawless and original,” says Rohlfs. The seller claimed to have purchased the car only shortly before and now needed, for family reasons, a vehicle with a little more space, hence the favourable price. So apparently everything was in order?

 

Our client signs the purchase contract and pays €10,000 in cash, because according to the seller there were still “many interested parties” – the remainder was to be brought on collection a week later. However, Rohlfs is uneasy: the car appears original, but as Rohlfs knows the authenticity of this special model can only be conclusively proven by an original new-car invoice bearing the remark “World Championship Edition” – and, unfortunately, no such document exists. Consequently, Rohlfs decides, “based on a gut feeling”, as he later describes it, to commission the IHK-certified investigators of Kurtz Investigations Dortmund to gather potential evidence of fraud.

As a first step, our Dortmund investigators conduct an internet search, which quickly reveals the following problem: normally the manufacturer can verify the version in which a given vehicle was delivered using the chassis number. Kurtz Investigations Dortmund makes contact at the Porsche works in Leipzig, but even there the research proves difficult because Porsche itself cannot provide a certificate of authenticity in this case, since the car was built at Audi and the corresponding documentation is not held there.

 

The detectives of Kurtz Detective Agency Dortmund therefore pursue another approach: by tracing the three previous owners recorded in the registration document, to which Rohlfs had access, it should be possible to reconstruct whether the vehicle was ever in its original condition or whether “improvements” had been made. And indeed – the first owner had unfortunately died in the meantime, but the second was located: Eckhardt Neumann had bought the car in 1992 in Düsseldorf from the first owner. Neumann is contacted by colleagues from Kurtz Detective Agency Cologne at his current residence in Köln and kindly agrees to provide detailed information. He remembers the car well: a 1977 model, snow-white, low mileage – and definitely not the Martini special model. He had resold it in 2002, though he cannot recall the buyer’s name. Thus it is already clear that the vehicle is not an original special edition as claimed. But was the seller acting fraudulently, or had he himself fallen victim to a scam?

Porsche Leipzig; Kurtz Detective Agency Dortmund, Copyright Molch-Entertainment; Private Detective Agency in Dortmund, Private Investigator in Dortmund

The nationwide enquiries by our Dortmund detectives bring clarity: the third and immediate previous owner of the car, who had acquired the Porsche in 2002 from Neumann, lives in Nürnberg and is also willing to meet with the investigators from Kurtz Detective Agency Nuremberg as part of the inquiries. The conversation reveals something astonishing: he had acquired the car in its original state, but had always been a fan of the Martini special model – which, as a student at the time, was beyond his financial means. He therefore decided to “tune” the car into a Martini look with a few minor modifications, which, he admits with a smile, “turned out very well”.

 

When he recently sold the enthusiast’s car with a heavy heart via an online classifieds market, he offered it (legally and in all conscience) as a “Martini replica” and conversion – for €7,800. The buyer remains vivid in his memory: “He came straight from Bochum with a trailer and a suitcase full of cash … An acquaintance who had accompanied him inspected the car, asked the questions rather than the seller and consulted with him.” They quickly agreed the deal; car and cash changed hands and the car was loaded onto the trailer. The acquaintance seemed to be the driving force, the Nuremberg investigators were told, while the buyer himself appeared almost extremely ignorant and uninterested, “as if he had given no thought to the car beforehand, which is rather unusual when purchasing a classic car.” And with a grin: “I also showed them my old 911, but they did not want it.” To conclude, our Nuremberg investigators were shown this “magnificent piece”, which looked roughly like this:

Porsche; Kurtz Detective Agency Dortmund, Copyright jason goulding; Commercial Detective Agency in Dortmund, Commercial Detective in Dortmund

his report from our Nuremberg colleagues makes the investigators of Kurtz Detective Agency Dortmund suspicious and prompts further enquiries. The investigators decide to observe the seller locally in Bochum for a certain period in order to collect additional findings – and indeed: the seller visits a used-car dealer several times who precisely matches the description of the acquaintance from the Nürnberger sale and who appears to be the driving force.

 

Directly after the surveillance, our Dortmund private investigators decide to take an assertive approach and confront the seller with the results of their enquiries. These are admissible in court because they are objective and corroborated by witness statements, a copy of the latest purchase contract and old adverts, and thus effectively corner the seller. Under the pressure of the evidence, he admits that he had acted on behalf of his “acquaintance” on several occasions as a private buyer and seller and that, on his behalf, he had sold lightly converted production models as more expensive special editions – a trend that has recently intensified, particularly with less expensive vehicles. “No serious buyer purchases a six-figure classic without an authenticity certificate,” comments the client of the Kurtz Detective Agency Dortmund, “but converting an old Kadett C into a GT/E or a Golf I into a GTI, people do not scrutinise authenticity so pedantically … Fortunately I decided to commission the Kurtz Detective Agency Dortmund to carry out the investigations; the investment was worthwhile: had the car been genuine, I would have made a bargain, but I am glad to have recovered my €10,000!”

 

Moreover, our client succeeds in obtaining reimbursement of the detectives’ fees from the “seller” under threat of reporting him to the authorities. He also warns them that he will keep a close eye on their activities in future and, where necessary, use the material gathered by the detectives of Kurtz Investigations Dortmund to put an end to the fraud.

It transpires that the seller owed his “acquaintance” several tens of thousands of euros; the acquaintance had then coerced him into conducting several purchases and sales of suitable models as a private individual in order to “repay” his debt.

 

A few weeks later Mr Rohlfs contacts Kurtz Detective Agency Dortmund again: he had discovered yet another similar fraudulent offer by the two previous perpetrators and had had enough. Although the seller had promptly returned the €10,000 deposit to the client of the Kurtz private detectives Dortmund, the continued joint activity could not go unpunished. Thus, when filing the criminal complaint the police can now be provided not only with the sequence of the Porsche purchase and resale to Rohlfs but also with the name and business address of the ringleader. Further clarification of this case by our Dortmund detectives must now proceed via the legal process.

Car Dealer; Kurtz Detective Agency Dortmund, Copyright GeorgHH; Detective Team in Dortmund, Detective Office in Dortmund

To preserve discretion and the personal rights of clients and persons of interest, all names and places in this case report were changed beyond recognition.

 

Author: Gerrit Koehler

 

Kurtz Detective Agency Dortmund

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44139 Dortmund

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