Yes! The stolen Alfa Romeo 6C is back where it belongs!

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A good start of 2020 for the family Branderhorst. Do you remember the story of the stolen trailer including Alfa Romeo 6C 2500 Touring Cabriolet just before the start of the Mille Miglia in 2018? This story had luckily enough a happy ending which we already reported on the 19th of January 2019. The police of Brescia found the Alfa in an abandoned barn in Northern Italy. We promised you an exclusive interview with the owner when the car would be back in his garage. We kept our promise! Only last week the car returned and we spoke to Ad Branderhorst and his son Jeroen. Ad told us exactly what happened from the moment he received the bad news...

Mille Miglia 2018

"It is the 3rd of January 2020 when we finally got back our 1942 Alfa Romeo 6C2500 Cabriolet. A great reunion as a family with our beauty which we had to miss for 20 months. A lot happened during those months. Let`s go back to the very beginning, back to the Mille Miglia of 2018.

With great enthusiasm, we prepared ourselves to participate in the world greatest classic car event, the Mille Miglia which was held from the 16th till the 19th of May 2018. Sunday the 13th of May, our great mood collapsed horribly. My wife received a call in the early morning from our son back home in The Netherlands, telling that a closed trailer with our Alfa in it was stolen during the night in a small village near Brescia. Disbelief and great disappointment control your mind and we were full of disbelief what happened: our family sportscar which we owned for almost 20 years was gone. The car means a lot to us as it also has a comprehensive history which goes back to 1942. Including participation in several ice races – giving it the nickname 'Ice Alfa' and all the great moments and memories with the family! We immediately had to make decisions on how to go further. Calls and appointments with the authorities and 'the team' were made on what to do and how to communicate the news.

In no time many people and companies shared the news via social media and the theft was communicated worldwide. We are still very grateful to all people who shared it. This contributed to the fact that the stolen trailer with our car in it would not easily travel unnoticed over the roads. Of course, we were also afraid that the car already left Italy and perhaps we would never see it again. We received several tips, but unfortunately, none of them could help. Our thoughts were thrown back and forth, but we still wanted to participate in the Mille Miglia.

Participation with the 6C2500 Berlinetta

The organisation of the Mille Miglia was very loyal and helpful, so we could enter the rally with another car. Our 1944 6C2500 Berlinetta, which is the sister car of the Cabriolet, had just been completely restored. Although it was hardly tested, we decided to transport the car to Italy. On Monday the 14th of May, the Berlinetta arrived at the Fiera in Brescia for the technical inspection. They carried out all the checks and got the seal at the Piazza della Vittoria. In the meantime, we were very busy with all the appointments with the police, the insurance company, detectives and other journalists from various television stations and newspapers. It felt like we were living in a film and life was a real roller coaster with lots of emotions.

After our meetings, my wife and I took the car for a 'testdrive' and we drove about 80 km on mountain roads. The start of the Mille Miglia was on Wednesday and every stage that we finished felt like a real victory!

Once we left Brescia, we literally left the theft behind us and fully focused on completing the Mille Miglia with the Alfa Romeo Berlinetta. All went well, only the dynamo did not work very well. This meant that we had to change the battery multiple times.

We even won the Coppa Clemente Biondetti, which is the award for the most beautiful Alfa Romeo of the Mille Miglia 2018. The cup was given by the granddaughter of Clemente Biondetti, winner of 4 Mille Milglia’s. Despite the terrible days before the start, we had a great race, together with our son and daughter who participated with a FIAT 1100 and also finished.

November 2018 and beyond

We completed the rally but there was still a lot of uncertainty about the Alfa Romeo 6C Cabriolet. Would we ever see the car again? Time passed... But then in November 2018, we received the news that the thieves were caught by the Italian police. Many different reports in the newspapers and on Italian television followed. A respected newspaper even reported that the car was found and already on its way back to the owner, which was unfortunately not the case as it was still a mystery where the car was. Hope was raised that the car would be found after they caught the thieves. But then it stayed quiet for a couple more months... UNTIL the 19th of January 2019!

The police called around noon that they found the car that morning! They found the Alfa in an old shed - a true barn find you can say - not far away from Brescia. The car was luckily in a very good condition and it seems it was handled with respect. We were very pleased about that, as you can imagine. Our telephones were ringing the entire day and many people congratulated us. And again the feeling dominated that this could not be real, but it was!

The police of Brescia did an incredible job finding the car! We even had the opportunity to see our gem at the police station last year. What followed was a period with many formalities. But after almost a year since our 1942 Alfa Romeo 6C2500 Cabriolet was found, it is back where it belongs!

Currently, the car is being inspected and will be prepared for some great rallies. Later this year we will also participate with the Alfa 6C Cabriolet in the Mille Miglia!

A special thanks goes to the Squadra Mobile della Questura di Brescia – Polizia di Stato, the organisation of the Mille Miglia, Team Villa Trasqua, the team of MCW Putten, insurers Kuiper and Hiscox, the team of PreWarCar.com, the Italian, Dutch and other international press, all people who supported us during and after the Mille Miglia and all people that shared the news via Social Media. Grazie mille!"

On behalf of the PreWarCar.com and PostWarClassic.com team we would like to congratulate the passionate family Branderhorst with the return of their beloved Alfa Romeo 6C Cabriolet. We hope to see them in action during the next Mille Miglia.

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