Slicks Garage, of reality television fame, forcibly opened for repossession of two Cadillacs
PALMETTO -- A locksmith from Discount Lock & Key supervised by Manatee County Sheriff deputies broke into Slicks Garage in Palmetto to recover two cars Tuesday because the garage has been shut down, and it and all of the contents have been put up for sale.
Sean Roe, on behalf of his Jacksonville-area business Salor Motorsports, filed court charges to recover two 1959 Cadillacs, a total value of $10,000. According to Manatee County court documents, Slicks Garage failed "to make repairs and improvements to the vehicles as agreed."
The state shut down the garage at the end of August, soon after the owners Christian "Slick" Humphrey and Jane Hunter left Palmetto for Miami where they planned to open another garage and have been negotiating deals for a reality television show. After the state shut them down, the couple put the Palmetto garage and "all of its contents" up for sale.
Problem is, they don't own all of the contents and Roe went to court to make sure his cars were returned before the property was sold.
Slicks Garage was at the center of a reality show on the Discovery Channel called "Highway to Sell." Roe heard about Slicks through the Discovery Channel show and contacted the shop for work on his two hobby cars. The cars are owned by Salor Motorsports.
"It seemed pretty legit," Roe said of Slicks Garage in Palmetto.
Roe brought the cars to Slicks in October 2014 and said he was told they would both be ready in summer 2015. Work on the first car Roe dropped off was estimated at $30,000 and the quote for the second car was $7,000. Roe said he paid the required 50 percent deposit for both cars, a total of $18,500.
He had no trouble contacting Humphrey, also known as "Slick," until he wanted to get his cars back.
"I have thousands of text messages full of promises and excuses," Roe said. "As soon as I found out the building and all of its contents were for sale, I contacted my attorney in Jacksonville to be able to break in and get my cars." He made the trip to Palmetto from Jacksonville with two trailers and a crew of helpers.
Gene Kennedy of Kennedy Construction Groups, based in Ellenton, is interested in buying the property. He toured the dusty insides of Slicks a couple of weeks ago, and when reviewing the pictures he took during the tour he saw animal carcasses lying on the floor in multiple spots.
Slicks Garage in Palmetto was shut down near the end of August by the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.
Jane Hunter, Humphrey's wife, told the Herald she believed the shutdown stemmed from a misunderstanding over the format and content of the shop's invoicing and estimating forms.
Humphrey deferred comment to his lawyer, Jim Delgado of the Palmetto law firm Kallins, Little & Delgado, who said in an email, "sorry, I never litigate cases in the press."
Janelle O'Dea, business reporter, can be reached at 941-745-7095 or follow her on Twitter@jayohday.
This story was originally published December 22, 2015 at 5:36 PM with the headline "Slicks Garage, of reality television fame, forcibly opened for repossession of two Cadillacs ."