Spanish police uncover trove of stolen modern classics

By: Alex Affat, Unique Cars magazine

Date: 14.05.2020

Cosworths, Lancer Evos, Lancias and more; all stolen from across Europe

Last week, Spanish authorities arrested a 42-year old man for the theft of an industrial generator back in April.

They traced the stolen generator to a large farm in Getaria, where they mistakenly stumbled upon a trove of stashed 80s and 90s era modern classics, stolen from all across Europe.

Local news outlet, El Diario Vascoe, states that many of the cars wore falsified chassis numbers and may have been destined for resale on the grey or black market. The cars had been sourced from as many as five different countries across the continent, so it certainly seems that these aren’t simply opportunistic thieves looking for unlocked cars on the street.

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These aren’t clapped-out basement models either, with most of the 26 cars recovered being rally or touring car homologations including: multiple Ford Sierra Cosworths, BMW M3s, a Mercedes-Benz 190E Evolution, a Lancia Delta HF Integrale, a Renault 5 Turbo, Peugeot 205 GTi and a swathe of Mitsubishi Lancer Evolutions from a variety of generations.

The unnamed 42-year old man was arrested for the theft of the generator, and forging vehicle chassis numbers; as well as weapon possession as further searches of the property yielded two handguns, ammunition, a tazer and a bundle of cash "of dubious origins".

Although now recovered by authorities, the fate of the collectible modern classics is unclear.

We hope they can be returned to their owners, but with many of the cars having been afflicted with tampered numbers and, in some cases, are many countries away from their home – this is no doubt a difficult task.

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