Before I go on to the
nuts and bolts aspects of car restoration I have to get something else out of the way as soon as possible. I hope that
one of the constructive ways this blog can help me is with my search for the previous owners of the
Alfatross. Their input could be critical
for the ongoing nuts and bolts work. But where do you even start such a search?
There used to be “six degrees of separation” between you and
anyone else on the planet. Now there are
only two: you to the Internet and the Internet to whomever you’re separated
from. Case in point: I have the original
license plates for the Alfatross. In 1989 I
contacted a guy in Italy who does plate traces and Bingo! He sent me a
photocopy of the registration for the Alfatross when it was first purchased in
1955.
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| The Alfatross's original license plated from 1955 |
It showed that Dr. Alessandro
Costantini Brancadoro of San Benedetto del Tronto was the first owner. I searched for Sr. Brancadoro on Google only
to find his obituary, published in 2009. Bummer. If I had searched a few years earlier I might have been able to speak to him in person! But all was not lost. The obituary contained critical information
that I could use to continue the search. He was a famous heart surgeon
and important community member of San Benedetto.
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| I know you can't read this. The original photocopy is dark and the handwriting is very difficult to read anyway. |
Here’s where the two degrees of separation
comes in: I looked up the City Council of San Benedetto and wrote to the
President, Sr. Marco Calvaresi on New Year’s Eve. Two days later I got a reply. It turns out that Sr. Calvaresi is a friend
of Dr. Brancadoro’s grandson, Giuseppe, and he graciously supplied contact information. I immediately wrote to
him, asking if anyone in the family remembered the car. Were there any photos of Dr. Brancadoro and
his Alfa together?
Giuseppe wrote back just as quickly to say that yes, he thought
there are some photos of his grandfather and the Alfa. He would look for them, scan them, and send
them to me—if he can find
them. My fingers are crossed!
