Sylvester Stallone is suing the owner of a car company over a vehicle the movie star insists was stolen from him 15 years ago.

The Rocky star claims the custom-built 1950 Mercury, which featured in his movie Cobra, was driven away from a storage garage in 1994 and Stallone never saw the car again - until recently.

Ironically, the Cobra car is now in the possession of a collector who rents out vehicles for movies.

In legal papers, filed in Los Angeles, Stallone claims he asked the car's current owner to hand over the keys - but he has refused.

In the suit, obtained by TMZ.com, the actor/director claims he came across his stolen car while looking at vehicles up for auction on the internet. He claims the one-off vehicle is worth more than $250,000.

As well as the return of the car, Stallone is demanding $3 million (#1.9 million) because the car company's website allegedly used his name and image to promote the auction without proper permission.