Father Takes Son to Court Over Cars

Here's a bit of news from the world of cars that will probably not surprise you as much if you understand the iconic status enjoyed by the Lancia Stratos. An Austrian man is taking his son to the court over not one, but 4 of them.

The Telegraph reported Ernst Hrabalek had lent four Lancias to his son Christian. An automotive consultant and designer by profession, Christian apparently put up the cars - a 1971 Stratos HF, 1975 HF Silhouette Turbo, 1975 HF Stradale, and 1975 Stratos Safari - for show at the Meilenwerk Classic Car Museum (Berlin) in 2011 as an endeavour to establish himself in the industry. However, the report adds, he failed to return the cars to his father since he allegedly believed they were a gift and not just a loan from his father.

The father son duo has now taken this dispute to the UK's High Court. Did I forget to mention the total value of the four Lancias? That will be a neat $3.2 million, which Ernst Hrabalek had intended to use as his retirement fund. Considering the millions involved, and the fact that acquiring a Stratos is no mean task, I am not really surprised it came to this.