The Alfa Romeo 6C Platé built in 1948-49 was built by Italian racer Luigi Platé, whom based the design on a 1934 Alfa Romeo 6C 2300 Gran Turismo. He was so enthusiastic about motorsport that he started his own team with motified cars for competition.

The original engine of the 6C 2300 was retained on this unique creation, while the tubular chassis made by Platé had a few distinctive features such as using the chassis tubes to feed oil from the reservoir to different components. The hydraulic brakes designed by Platé and the semi-independent suspension set this car apart from its peers. This Platé Speciale received the certificate of origin in September 1948 and officially sold to Luigi Platé in March 1949.

The car was seen in competition with Susa-Moncenisio race with driver Paolo Soprani behind the wheels. It was then sold and later shipped to America. It didn’t resurface until 1984 when John Murphy acquired it and decided to give a complete restoration. Unfortunately the aluminium body was too fragile to be restored and a replica body was built. Since then it has appeared in various concours.

The car is going under the hammer at official Retromobile auction by Artcurial on 8 February. It was sold at US$291,500 in a Bonhams auction back in 2016 and now has an estimate of US$ 457,500 – 572,000, proving vehicles can be a fruitful investment if you have targeted the right machines.