Overview
- Williams filed a claim at the High Court on Wednesday seeking the physical return of an FW23 or more than £1 million in compensation for the car it says vanished after being lent to a Telford garage.
- The car was loaned to Autotech Performance Ltd in 2015 under a formal Historic Car Loan Agreement and Williams says it terminated that loan and asked to inspect the vehicle in 2021 but received no reply.
- Williams alleges former director Peter Thorpe told liquidators the car was his and arranged for its removal after Autotech entered voluntary liquidation, a claim the team says gives grounds to seek return or damages.
- Thorpe denies claiming ownership, says he does not know the car’s whereabouts, and cites memory problems following a 2018 stroke while also disputing Williams’s £750,000 valuation by calling the vehicle a non‑running show car.
- The FW23 is one of only nine chassis and is part of Williams’s controlled heritage collection, so the case will test how loaned heritage assets are treated in insolvency and whether liquidators or individuals can transfer such items.