A Florida man who operated a classic car restoration shop in upstate New York has been sentenced to 24 months in federal prison for defrauding his customers out of more than $2.5 million in payments for work that was never completed, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Clark P. Rittersbach, 51, of Cape Coral, Florida, owned Concours Classic Motor Cars, a Macedon-based business specializing in the restoration and sale of vintage automobiles. Because high-quality restorations can take years—and many of his clients lived out of state or overseas—Rittersbach was able to exploit the lengthy process, prosecutors said.
To maintain the illusion of progress, Rittersbach sent customers text messages and emails claiming that specific stages of restoration had been completed. In reality, authorities say that in many instances the work was unfinished, and in some cases had never been started.
In 2019, Rittersbach reportedly texted a customer saying that work on a Duesenberg engine was complete and requested a $25,000 payment. The customer wired the funds—but investigators later determined the work had not been done. In another case, a client entrusted him with restoring a 1964 Porsche. Rittersbach emailed updates describing completed tasks and asked for payment, but prosecutors say none of the work he described had actually been performed.
According to federal prosecutors, Rittersbach’s pattern of sending false updates helped him buy time while he attempted—often unsuccessfully—to finish the projects. Over a four-year period, he defrauded customers out of approximately $2,536,308.64.
