[Mattk]

You can't contract to sell something for nothing. The rule of consideration. There must be quid pro quo. If the initial purchaser had paid just a single cent, it would be fine, but that didn't happen. This was wrong right from the start.

Things can change title even without contracts and consideration, but even if that is the case, it doesn't appear that statutory requirements were met. As the article says, no auction could have occured if the sale price was nothing. It doesn't seem there is any evidence one occurred. Nevertheless, there is no evidence of fraud either. It just seems to be shoddy book-keeping.

The most likely scenario is that the Windsor Garage must pay damages to the Straus estate for conversion. In the absence of fraud, Leno gets to keep his car.

My first thought was why the contract wasn't frustrated by Straus' dementia. The bloke was clearly mentally incapable of fulfilling the contract with any real effectiveness.