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Evening all,
One of the places that was definitely on my list to visit on our first tour in Belgium was the “Lost Alfas†– a clue in the title what this entailed. Six Alfa Romeo 1960s sport cars left to rot in the bowels of an abandoned castle somewhere in Belgium.
We woke at 5am, ate, got dressed and prepared to drive the hour to the place where we knew they were located. After finding a place to park, we decided to walk to the area where the castle was and negotiate our way through. After several attempts at walking across a field or two, exploring several barns and a courtyard and seeing lights on in the house, we reported back to the others that the castle was over the gate but no clear way to get to it from where we were situated. On this news, one of our guys went for a walk to find an alternative route. Within five minutes the correct place to get in was found. We then made our way down the driveway in the emerging light of sunrise towards the castle.
On arrival at the castle, we ventured through the grass and found an archway underneath the castle, this looked promising so pressed on a little further and discovered the cars and this beauty.
#1
On discovering this, we all quietly gathered in the room just inside the garage to set up ready for the early morning’s photography, silently happy that we had succeeded in finding this gem.
A little bit of history
Alfa Romeo Automobiles S.p.A. (Italian pronunciation: [?alfa ro?m??o]) is an Italian manufacturer of cars. Founded as A.L.F.A. on June 24, 1910, in Milan, the company has been involved in car racing since 1911, and has a reputation for building expensive sports cars. The company was owned by Italian state holding company Istituto per la Ricostruzione Industriale between 1932 and 1986, when it became a part of the Fiat Group, and since February 2007 a part of Fiat Group Automobiles S.p.A.
Alfa Romeo has competed successfully in many different categories of motorsport, including Grand Prix motor racing, Formula One, sportscar racing, touring car racing and rallies. They have competed both as a constructor and an engine supplier, via works entries (usually under the name Alfa Corse or Autodelta) and private entries. The first racing car was made in 1913, three years after the foundation of the company, and Alfa Romeo won the inaugural world championship for Grand Prix cars in 1925. The company gained a good name in motorsport, which gave a sporty image to the whole marque. Enzo Ferrari founded the Scuderia Ferrari racing team in 1929 as an Alfa Romeo racing team, before becoming independent in 1939.
From what I have found on the internet, the cars in the garage were as follows:
Giulia 1600 Spider hardtop (red) (’62)
Giulia 1600 spider Hardtop (Blue) (’62)
Alfa Romeo 1300 Sprint (’64)
Alfa Giulietta 1300 SS Super Sprint (’61)
Now you’ve had the story, on with some photos from the morning.
Technical
I tend to try to shoot on a low ISO even on a full frame camera and the morning’s light and cramped conditions, alternating between basic light painting with torches and low light natural photography was the order of the day. All photos were taken as HDR with +2 stop exposures tending to be 30 seconds.
#2
#3
#4
#5
#6
#7
#8
#9
Hope you guys enjoyed the read and the photos - conditions were cramped with 4 of us plus the light was very bad.
Tim
One of the places that was definitely on my list to visit on our first tour in Belgium was the “Lost Alfas†– a clue in the title what this entailed. Six Alfa Romeo 1960s sport cars left to rot in the bowels of an abandoned castle somewhere in Belgium.
We woke at 5am, ate, got dressed and prepared to drive the hour to the place where we knew they were located. After finding a place to park, we decided to walk to the area where the castle was and negotiate our way through. After several attempts at walking across a field or two, exploring several barns and a courtyard and seeing lights on in the house, we reported back to the others that the castle was over the gate but no clear way to get to it from where we were situated. On this news, one of our guys went for a walk to find an alternative route. Within five minutes the correct place to get in was found. We then made our way down the driveway in the emerging light of sunrise towards the castle.
On arrival at the castle, we ventured through the grass and found an archway underneath the castle, this looked promising so pressed on a little further and discovered the cars and this beauty.
#1
On discovering this, we all quietly gathered in the room just inside the garage to set up ready for the early morning’s photography, silently happy that we had succeeded in finding this gem.
A little bit of history
Alfa Romeo Automobiles S.p.A. (Italian pronunciation: [?alfa ro?m??o]) is an Italian manufacturer of cars. Founded as A.L.F.A. on June 24, 1910, in Milan, the company has been involved in car racing since 1911, and has a reputation for building expensive sports cars. The company was owned by Italian state holding company Istituto per la Ricostruzione Industriale between 1932 and 1986, when it became a part of the Fiat Group, and since February 2007 a part of Fiat Group Automobiles S.p.A.
Alfa Romeo has competed successfully in many different categories of motorsport, including Grand Prix motor racing, Formula One, sportscar racing, touring car racing and rallies. They have competed both as a constructor and an engine supplier, via works entries (usually under the name Alfa Corse or Autodelta) and private entries. The first racing car was made in 1913, three years after the foundation of the company, and Alfa Romeo won the inaugural world championship for Grand Prix cars in 1925. The company gained a good name in motorsport, which gave a sporty image to the whole marque. Enzo Ferrari founded the Scuderia Ferrari racing team in 1929 as an Alfa Romeo racing team, before becoming independent in 1939.
From what I have found on the internet, the cars in the garage were as follows:
Giulia 1600 Spider hardtop (red) (’62)
Giulia 1600 spider Hardtop (Blue) (’62)
Alfa Romeo 1300 Sprint (’64)
Alfa Giulietta 1300 SS Super Sprint (’61)
Now you’ve had the story, on with some photos from the morning.
Technical
I tend to try to shoot on a low ISO even on a full frame camera and the morning’s light and cramped conditions, alternating between basic light painting with torches and low light natural photography was the order of the day. All photos were taken as HDR with +2 stop exposures tending to be 30 seconds.
#2
#3
#4
#5
#6
#7
#8
#9
Hope you guys enjoyed the read and the photos - conditions were cramped with 4 of us plus the light was very bad.
Tim
