Cars Owned By Rock & Republic Founder Drive Toward Auction Block

Interested in a luxury car with some history?

A rare, vintage Mustang or high-class, high-speed Aston Martin, which have gone from the founder of pricey denim maker Rock & Republic to the center of a bankruptcy-court battle to an auction block, could be yours, if you make a winning bid later this month.

The official charged with liquidating the leftovers of Rock & Republic’s business is kicking off a contest for myriad assets on July 26. (The company’s intellectual property was sold out of bankruptcy earlier this year for $57 million.) He picked Great American Group to arrange for a live webcast auction, which will feature everything from the cars to computers and printers to “racks of denim jeans and thousands of yards of denim and leather material,” according to a release from Great American.

While we’re familiar with the allure of a great pair of jeans, we suspect the cars are what will bring in the crowds. After all, the value of these vehicles—which include a 2006 Bentley Continental Flying Spur, a 2006 Aston Martin V8 Vantage and a 1965 Shelby Mustang GT 350 SR—can’t simply be measured by their horsepower or design. You also have to consider what they’ve been through over the past few months.

The vehicles have been dragged through bankruptcy proceedings, after the official manning the liquidating trust created in the wake of Rock & Republic’s confirmation and sale accused company founder Michael Ball of holding them hostage. The trustee, David K. Gottlieb, filed a series of motions intended to force Ball to loosen his grip on valuable assets, including the cars, that Gottlieb said actually belonged to the bankruptcy estate.

“Ball’s refusal to turn over the liquidating trust’s assets is just another example of a pattern of reckless actions and complete disregard for [the] bankruptcy process that has burdened the estates for many months,” Gottlieb said in court papers last month.

In response, Ball claimed he had already returned the cars and filed an objection to the trustee’s motion seeking the turnover of the assets. But he ultimately stood down on a related issue, agreeing to refrain from interfering with the wind-down process and pledging to allow the trustee “unfettered access” to the California space where the company’s remaining merchandise is being stored. Now, the cars are poised to go on the auction block.

Even though some of his old rides are being wrested away from him, we’re sure the auction won’t dampen Ball’s love of luxury vehicles. The New York Post Tuesday dug up an old video of the Rock & Republic ex-president on YouTube, professing his dedication to all things automobile.

“I buy a car about once a month, sometimes twice a month—I match my cars to my sneakers,” the newspaper quoted him as saying in the video. “Cars are a part of me, and I will spend millions and millions more.”