For years, Grant Limbach tinkered with his father's antique cars and accompanied him on rides in a rare 1936 British-made Railton convertible.

After Fred Limbach Jr. died in 1996, his son's life took some hard turns. In 2005, the city of Pittsburgh seized his Troy Hill home for about $5,000 in unpaid property taxes. Grant Limbach faded from view, leaving his belongings behind.

The city last week resold the building for $45,000 to a company with connections to Mayor Luke Ravenstahl's administration. Until city officials decide what to do with it, the Railton -- one of about a dozen cars the city ordered hauled away from the Lowrie Street property -- is under a roof at the city's Strip District tow pound.

Where Mr. Limbach is -- or whether he has a roof over his head -- nobody seems to know.

"He lacks social skills. I don't know if he had any real friends beyond grade school," said Fred Limbach III of Washington, D.C., who isn't in regular contact with his brother.

Grant Limbach, 55, inherited the Railton and the Lowrie Street building -- a house-warehouse-garage combination with a market value of $90,400 -- from his father.

Even though the city resold the building for about nine times the amount of overdue taxes, Mr. Limbach, if he surfaces, gets no money back; the excess went into government coffers.

But there was no reason for Mr. Limbach to lose the building in the first place. By all accounts, he could have sold the steel-blue Railton, paid the taxes and had money left over. In addition, the building contained other items -- less-valuable cars, plus a piano, furniture and tools -- that also could have been converted to cash.

Mr. Limbach didn't liquidate assets. In fact, city real estate manager Mary Lou Tenenbaum said, he didn't even ask to remove personal property from the building.

Fred Limbach III, 63, said his brother is an eccentric who may not have been able to manage his affairs.

City and Allegheny County officials said they offer hardship payment plans and other tax-related services to residents with special needs. But somebody has to ask for the help, said Michael McCabe, special counsel on tax collection for the city, county, Pittsburgh School District and Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority.

After a public auction in January, a judge approved the sale of the building to Troy Hill Property LLC. The company president is Carol Dzamko, whose son, Jeff, is a friend of Yarone Zober, Mr. Ravenstahl's chief of staff. Mr. Dzamko also is a former leader of a North Side civic group.

City policy requires a buyer to close on a property within 30 days, but the city gave Troy Hill Property until last week to close -- something that irked rival bidder Mario Badamo of Cranberry.

"It isn't normal," he said.

Ms. Tenenbaum said the city has given other buyers months-long extensions, too, and she and Mr. Dzamko said Troy Hill Property received no special consideration because of mayoral ties.

"The finance department operates in a nonpolitical environment. We treat each buyer individually and equally," Ms. Tenenbaum said.

Weeks before closing, Troy Hill representatives posted "No Trespassing" signs on the doors of the building and began working at the property. When told of the work, Ms. Tenenbaum said that wasn't appropriate.

Mr. Dzamko said the company was doing cleanup work, not renovation. The signs were intended to discourage squatters who had broken into the building, he said.

Mr. Dzamko said he didn't know whether Grant Limbach was one of the squatters.

After the city seized the house in 2005, Mr. Limbach continued living there. In 2006, the city went to court to have him evicted. Court records showed the county sheriff's office had a difficult time finding Mr. Limbach to serve him with the eviction order. The records don't reflect where deputies found him.

Ms. Tenenbaum said the city usually sells a property "as is" and lets the buyer dispose of leftover contents, much less likely to be high-end cars than crack pipes, rodent-infested appliances, trash and "pots of food left on the stove."

In this case, she said, the city removed the Railton for safekeeping. She said the city has considered selling the car and turning the proceeds over to the state for Grant Limbach to claim one day.

Police brought in a salvor, a company under contract with the city, to remove another dozen or so cars. They were of little value and likely were crushed, Sgt. George DeVault said.

City officials said they were unaware of any plan to compensate Mr. Limbach for those cars, which the police department described as "abandoned."

Fred Limbach Jr. purchased the building in the 1960s as a base for his commercial painting and wall-covering business. The sprawling space also enabled the McCandless resident to indulge his hobbies -- collecting old toys and old cars.

At the time of Mr. Limbach's death, according to an inventory of his estate filed with the county Department of Court Records, he had a toy collection valued at $34,450. In 1996, his second wife, Betty, donated at least part of the collection--52 items--to Westmoreland Museum of American Art.

Mr. Limbach also owned more than two dozen antique cars, including a Packard, a Ford Model T and a couple of Hudsons. The Railton, acquired about 40 years ago from a car enthusiast who needed money for medical care, was his favorite, one he and Grant liked to take to car shows, Fred Limbach III said.

With curvaceous fenders, a white rag top and gleaming chrome grill, it looked -- in old photos Fred III provided -- as if it belonged in a Humphrey Bogart movie.

Fairmile Engineering Co. of Cobham, England, built Railtons from 1933 to 1939, then turned out a few more after World War II, according to the Railton Owners Club.

In all, the company built about 1,350 Railtons, which were billed as a less costly alternative to the high-performing Bentley, and only about 200 are still road worthy, club secretary John Gould said. He estimated that 20 or so made it to the United States.

The cars have a small, if devoted, following.

"Many people, even people who are involved with cars, are not particularly familiar with Railtons," said Tom Wilson of Memphis, Tenn., who owns a 1937 Railton convertible. "I've only, in person, in the U.S., seen one other."

The condition of Grant Limbach's car isn't known. In the county estate inventory, the car was valued at $14,500. Mr. Gould said a Railton in top condition could fetch $60,000.

At some point, Grant Limbach began living in the Lowrie Street building. He took care of the antique cars but never held a regular job, Fred III said.

Fred Limbach Jr. began selling off the antiques before he died. Besides the Railton, the estate inventory listed only two other cars, a 1965 Chrysler and 1993 Lincoln. It's unclear how the other vehicles got to the property before the city towed them.

In April 2005, the city offered the Lowrie Street property at one of its periodic treasurer's auctions. It wasn't sold -- either because no one bid on the property or no one offered the minimum acceptable bid of the $5,000 or so needed to cover back taxes and costs.

The city then took title to the property. That's not uncommon. In all, the city took title to more than 20 properties that failed to sell that day.

In 2009, North Side resident Stephen F. Brady offered $15,000 for the building. The city went to Common Pleas Court to seek approval of the sale and to wipe out any outstanding public and private debts so Mr. Brady would have clean title to the building, a benefit not offered at the treasurer's sale.

Troy Hill Property, Mr. Badamo and two other parties filed objections with the real estate department, calling $15,000 an inadequate purchase price. A judge then scheduled another public auction, which Troy Hill Property won.

Mr. Dzamko said he was unaware of the 30-day rule for closing on a property and would have closed sooner if he'd been aware of it. He said he never asked for special favors and noted that he paid three times more than the city was willing to accept from Mr. Brady.

Mr. Dzamko said he has various plans for the building, including using it for a sign-making business.

Around Lowrie Street, former neighbors and business people said they don't know where Grant Limbach lives but occasionally see him riding around on a bicycle -- a ride far different than the one he used to share with his father.

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