Hi everyone,

I’m hoping this reaches the right corner of the Subaru community—this is a bit of a long shot, but I figured if anyone might recognize this car, it would be enthusiasts.

I’m trying to trace what happened to my old Subaru WRX, which I owned from brand new.

Details:
- 2006 Subaru Impreza WRX (Hawkeye)
- Crystal Grey Metallic
- Right-hand drive (originally from South Africa)
- Factory leather seats and sunroof
- VIN: JF1GDGKD36G053952

Identifying details from when I owned it:
- South African plate: VWL 617 GP (Gauteng)
- “Subaru Centurion” sticker on rear window
- Subaru Owners Club banner on windshield
- Sleeper, looks mostly stock / unmodified with the exhaust being the only give away.





I’ve attached a few photos of the car.

I bought the car new in South Africa in 2007 and owned it for about 15 years. When I moved to Canada in 2011, I kept the car back home with the intention of eventually bringing it over.

In 2020 during COVID, I arranged to ship it to Canada. Unfortunately, the South African shipping company went bankrupt while the vehicle was in transit. The car made it as far as Belgium (likely Antwerp), and after that I lost all visibility. The intermediary shipping company in Belgium never responded to my attempts to contact them, and I was never able to recover the car.

I realize it’s very possible the car was auctioned off or re-exported, and there may be no records—but I’m holding onto a bit of hope that it ended up in the hands of an enthusiast somewhere.

If anyone recognizes this car from the photos, the plate, or the VIN, or has seen something similar come through an auction/export, I would genuinely love to hear about it.

Not looking to reclaim anything—just hoping for a bit of closure on what happened to a car that meant a lot to me.

Thanks so much for reading,
Viktor

 

That is so sad to hear mate. Were you able to claim on any insurance?

 

That is awful to read man, sorry to read, that must've been so stressful.
If the shipping company went into administration, then I suspect it got sold to re-coup some money for the shipping company's debt? But that would be theft??

There's a chance it's in a container somewhere, who knows, it could re-surface one day. Was there any paperwork in the car that gives someone your contact details etc?
Sometimes legal battles can go on for years, so you never know, all the cargo could be being held somewhere still.

Have you tried to contact the Belgian customs / authorities?

 

Thanks both, really appreciate the replies.

Unfortunately insurance didn’t cover it given the circumstances around the shipping company going bankrupt — it was a bit of a perfect storm during COVID.

From what I’ve been able to piece together, it sounds like it likely would have been sold off through some kind of port or liquidation process, but I was never able to get any confirmation.

I did try contacting the intermediary shipping company in Belgium at the time (likely Antwerp), but never got any response, and after a while I hit a dead end.

I suspect it probably ended up being auctioned or re-exported somewhere, which is why I figured it was worth posting here on the off chance someone might have seen it or remembers something similar coming through.

Really appreciate you taking the time to respond

 

I would try to report it as stolen in Belgium than it will be in EU database as such.
Maybe to late now.

 

Thanks, I appreciate the suggestion.

From what I understand it likely wouldn’t qualify as stolen in a legal sense, as it seems the shipping company going bankrupt probably triggered some kind of lien/auction process rather than outright theft.

At this stage I’m more just hoping to trace where it might have ended up rather than pursuing anything formally — figured the enthusiast community might be the best chance of that.

Really appreciate you taking the time to respond