Well I am no lawyer, but how do we know that if Kress had shown up that the outcome would have been any different. Perhap Kress got some legal advice that he might lose if he showed up or maybe he got advice that he might prevail if he did not show up or maybe he got advice to sell the car outside of the United States and get money while he still could.
In the future, if anyone considers purchasing either the car in Europe or the Hasselrig/Wesselink car (if it ever gets finished) it seems like registry clues you into what you need to know.
The Hasselrig/Wesselink car is being built with a new chassis and body, which to me means it will be a nice replica, but with a CSX serial number attached. The registry says the Hasselrig/Wesselink car will use original numbered trunk and doors and some other parts from the wreck. However John say the doors and trunk are not from CSX 2049. So maybe that can be corrected in a later registry. Although the registry says original numbered trunk and doors, it does not say what serial numbers were on those originally numbered trunk and doors, hmm ...
The registry also mentions an air car out there. So if you are out shopping, you should be trying to figure out whether you are buying the replica with the original serial number as allowed by Califorinia or the air car with parts of the original chassis. Regardless of which one you might buy I doubt either of them will command millions of dollars. And who knows, maybe some people would prefer the air car and pay more for that knowing that it has some of the original chassis in it over a replica with the serial number but likely no parts from CSX2049.