TWO PHOTOS DISCOVERED THAT MAKE THE DIFFERENCE

STARTING POINT
The history of the car was partially known at the outset. Its original ownership by Count Franco Mazzotti, one of the four founders of the Mille Miglia, and its Brescia license plate BS 15073 were established, as was its later re-registration in Milan (MI 73396) and Savona (SV 5912). The car’s Argentine provenance and its rediscovery in Uruguay in poor condition during the late 1970s were also known. However, several aspects remained unclear, including the precise sequence of ownership, the configuration of certain unique body details, and the extent to which previous restorations had altered original features.

RESEARCH
The research process combined archival investigation, period photography, official registration documents, and judicial records from Argentina. A decisive breakthrough came with the discovery of two exceptional photographs taken by Corrado Millanta in June 1940. These images proved crucial in documenting the car's original configuration, captured immediately after Mazzotti's ownership, after it was delivered to Lana. They revealed several distinctive elements that had either been modified or lost over time: the Mille Miglia red arrow replacing the Touring “Superleggera” script, the pressed-steel wheels with cooling slots and chrome hubcaps, the three parallel chrome strips beneath the headlamps, the specific Alfa Romeo badge used in that period, and the delicate pinstriping along the body sides. These visual sources provided objective evidence, allowing the restoration to move beyond conjecture and return the car to its documented 1938 configuration. Further archival work clarified the full chain of ownership. The Argentine “Título del Automotor” confirmed the car’s presence in Buenos Aires and its transfer to Libero Brielli in 1982. Court records from April 1988 reconstructed in detail the dispute between Monnanni and Girelli, unexpectedly preserving valuable technical descriptions of the car’s condition at that time. These documents made it possible to trace the car’s movements between Uruguay and Argentina and to better understand the transformations it had undergone. Research also confirmed the period of ownership by Count Niccolò “Nico” Lana, Piaggio test pilot, situating the car within an unexpected aeronautical context in Liguria during the early 1940s. The combined analysis of photographic, documentary, and judicial sources ultimately allowed the restoration carried out in 2023 to be grounded in verifiable historical evidence. The result was not merely a cosmetic intervention, but a philological reconstruction of the car’s identity, restoring those distinctive features that make chassis no. 815074 one of the most individual and historically layered examples of the 6C 2300 B Mille Miglia Berlinetta Touring.