A MOTORS enthusiast has claimed he was conned by a TikTok star after buying a supercar that had been stripped of parts.
Antonio Montanino purchased the Lamborghini Murciélago off celebrity mechanic Mat Armstrong.
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Antonio, 33, from Bedfordshire, agreed a fee with the influencer for the car – which an employee of Armstrong’s told the Sun was £30,000 – before he says the star reneged on some of the deal.
Antonio claims Armstrong was supposed to provide him with dozens of key parts so he could restore the second-hand motor himself on his own YouTube channel.
He alleges Armstrong ignored the agreement before eventually offering to buy the car back at a further £30,000 profit.
Former maths teacher Antonio said he refuses to sell the car and the stalemate has now lasted over 12 months.
He told the Sun: “He’s trying to use these parts as leverage to buy my car back. I’m a person of principle.
“Even if he said £100,000 [more], I’d still say no. Categorically, I bought the car a year ago, it’s not for sale.
“It’s just a control thing. He’s trying to wave his money around… all I want to do is build my car on my channel and have done with this.”
He added: “I’m completely happy with the car, there’s no issue there – it’s all the parts that are missing.”
These include gear selectors, steering wheel cowl, interior mirrors, speaker covers, wheel arch liners, key fob and brake discs – some of which are custom made by Lamborghini.
Antonio explained the Murciélago is his “dream car” and he’d been looking to buy one for 18 months before he ended up making a deal with Armstrong at the end of 2023.
He had initially agreed to purchase it off a different dealer before Armstrong nipped in and bought it to take back to his garage in Leicestershire.
However, Antonio was able to persuade him to sell the motor onto him.
Antonio said: “When I went to view the car he said he was keeping the engine gearbox CCU (clutch control unit), but the rest of the car is going to be complete as I viewed it, which I agreed.”
He then paid that November and returned the following month to pick it up.
Antonio said: “It was quite dark and I said there’s all these bits missing. He said ‘oh yeah, I just wanted to see what was interchangeable with my car’.
“I didn’t think anything of it at the time. He said ‘just make a list of the parts and I’ll get them for you and you can come and collect them’.”
Antonio said the next day he sent Armstrong a list of the parts he needed.
However, he claims after some back and forth Armstrong eventually went silent.
After multiple attempts to reach out to him, Antonio said Armstrong told him in June last year he had the parts requested.
However, Antonio said he struggled to set up a specific time to go and collect them before one of Armstrong’s assistants said the influencer wanted to buy the car itself back in November.
“I said ‘it’s not for sale’. He let slip he’d bought another car and basically wanted to do up another Murciélago on his channel.”
Antonio gave the assistant the number of someone else he knew who was selling the same model.
Antonio went to collect the parts – of which there are around 30 – last month.
He made the two-and-a-half hour journey with his girlfriend in the days before Christmas but said Armstrong only had two parts to give him, as the others had been “lost”.
“I said ‘no, you don’t just lose Lamborghini parts… you’ve obviously got them.”
Antonio said when he asked how long it would take to get the other parts, Armstrong joked “it might be a few years”.
“He started laughing in our faces. When they did that it ticked me off the wrong way, as it would,” he explained.
Antonio’s girlfriend began recording Armstrong and his assistants, who then also started recording them, he claims.
Eventually, Antonio left with the two parts, but said during the meeting Armstrong “kept trying to offer to buy the car back when I told him it wasn’t for sale”.
He theorised: “They’d already planned to keep my parts and buy my car back. It was like his programmed setting, but it’s not going to work with me.
“The way I feel is if he wants to offer £30,000 extra than what he bought the car for, which is obviously not for sale, why doesn’t he just give me the money for the parts?
“I gave him the number of a guy who has the car he wants, and he didn’t buy that one. So why does he want my car so badly?
“He’s got the money, go and buy another one. There’s plenty more available.”
Antonio also claims Armstrong removed all the centre caps off the car’s wheels before selling it to him, for reasons he doesn’t understand.
He posted a video about the standoff on his own YouTube channel last month and said he’s received private messages claiming Armstrong has done similar to other customers.
“I’m happy to know I’m not the only one being screwed,” he said.
Antonio claims last month he received a “prank” call from someone laughing at him and on Christmas Day was sent an abusive Instagram message from a new anonymous account.
He said of Armstrong: “He just needs to sort it out as a man, but no, he’s playing these little child games. He’s basically just hoping it goes away.”
LAUGHED OFF
Armstrong laughed off the allegations when the Sun approached him at his unit in Mallory Park, Leicestershire.
A friend filmed him under the bonnet of another Lambourghini, as he said: “We did offer to buy it back off him to sort it all out.
“It is not something we would really want to talk about.”
Asked about the prank call and abusive messages, he laughed and went inside.
A colleague explained: “Look, we are on about paying him an extra £30,000 because the parts aren’t there.
“We sold the car for £30,000 to him. We have said to him we will buy it back for £60,000 because he is not happy with what he’s received.
“There is no profit for us, we are taking a £30,000 loss. We feel that is a fair solution to the problem.
“He is trying to make a big deal out of it but we are trying to offer him a solution.”
The Sun has contacted Armstrong for further comment.
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