‘I loved it, so I decided to restore it and do it properly’
1966 Alfa Romeo Giulia GTC Philip Joisce, East Berkshire
You don’t see many of these around. Tell us a bit about it, Philip?
‘Only 99 right-hand drive GTCS were built. I found it in 2002 and decided to just refresh it mechanically and have it resprayed. The engine and gearbox were completely rebuilt, by specialist Bob Dove. It has sports cams now, so it’s probably developing 110-112bhp. It was fitted with Alfaholics’ lowered suspension, dropping ride height by an inch or so, and the Dunlop front discs were replaced by Girlings. It was when we came to put the wider GTA alloy wheels on that we discovered the issues body-wise…’
Oh dear. That sounds rather ominous…
‘The driver’s side rear tyre was rubbing on the inner wheelarch on sharp cornering. I bought a GTV repair panel and took it to a local bodyworks. The next day, I got a call to come in. They’d cut the wheelarch away and it turned out the B-pillar was so rusty it wasn’t really connected to anything; same with the A-pillar and inner sill, which had pretty much disintegrated. The other side turned out to be similar.
And you had no inkling of the issues before they were discovered?
‘It had been so very well bodged, it was impossible to tell. The so-called “bit of play” in the steering box turned out to be the front end of the car moving around!’
You must have faced a tough decision about whether to carry on?
‘Well, I’d spent about £4000£5000 on mechanical parts by that point. Selling all those bits and scrapping the car was the sensible decision. But I’d bought this Alfa because I loved it, so I decided to restore it and do it properly. It took a period of four to five months.’
Have there been any other problems since then?
‘It’s been very good, although the water pump went en route to the Goodwood Revival, which created a weakness in the head gasket – that blew en route back from another Revival. But it did get to within four miles of home. We used two litres of mineral water to get it back.’
How much is it used now?
‘It goes to various events, shows, and gets to park at the side of the track at Goodwood Revivals. It’s also been driven around Castle Combe circuit. That was fun! It’s unusual, practical for long journeys, will cruise at 70mph, has all-round disc brakes and is small enough to enjoy on minor roads. And people just enjoy seeing it. They often come up and say they’ve never seen one before. I’m pleased to let people see it.’
‘It’s been around Castle Combe circuit. That was fun!’