Meet the Classic Alfa Team

Richard Norris
Owner
richard@classicalfa.com

It was always in the blood! 

His grandfather was Sid Greene (owner of fifties F1 racing team Gilby Engineering) , and his uncle Keith Greene drove in 6 world championship Grand Prix races & later managed a number of teams including Alan Mann Racing & the Brabham Alfa F1 team in a racing career spanning 30+ years.

Somehow the passion for Italian cars (his grandfather ran a Maserati A6GCS & a 250F with Gilby) must have filtered down and Richard's Alfa ownership started at 18 with a succession of Alfa Suds during the mid 1980's. This led on to a love of Alfa roundtail spiders & Bertone GTV's and having collected & restored a number of cars during the early 1990's whilst working as a recording engineer, he started to acquire a reputation around the UK Alfa scene for having a large amount of used rare 105 series spares. Realising there was some demand, Richard spent many a weekend dismantling rusting wrecks & trawling around the country searching out ex-Alfa dealers who still had original new old stock. This mushroomed during the 1990's into a part-time business & when he decided to leave the music industry after nearly 15 years, he formed Alfaholics with Alfa restorer Richard Banks in 1999. Four years later Richard decided to set up on his own and established Classic Alfa.

Richard has a 7 year old daughter Lara with his wife, Katie and a 3 year old son Jack. His current collection is: - 1966 GTA 1600 stradale RHD, a 1961 Giulietta SS and his well-known very low mileage unrestored 1972 1750 GTV. 

Giles Amos
Technical
giles@classicalfa.com

Despite studying East European languages, Giles only ever wanted to work with old cars. He first managed a village garage over 20 years ago which later became Brands Hatch Morgans and he joined Classic Alfa in 2006. He has owned more than 70 classic cars including 12 Alfas and 7 other Italian cars & is trying to reach a target of 100 classics before he is banned from driving! Can anyone identify the rare Italian cars he is with in the two photos? 

He recently owned an ultra-rare RHD Giulia Super Estate which was an interesting sight at speed round the Goodwood circuit. He currently co-owns a 1750 GTV Mk2 with Parts Manager Simon Mawbey with a trick engine under development (see below).

His fleet isn't limited to Alfas but includes a 1974 Jaguar XJ12 Coupe and what he describes as "some boats" but his wife calls "the floating scrapyard". Giles works on his cars day and night and has a fully equipped workshop at home - pity his neighbours as he fires up the compressor or operates the hydraulic press at midnight in the loft. He loves answering customers' questions about how to fit this or that part so please keep the questions coming. 

Giles is married to Rachel and they have two small assistant mechanics.

** As of 1st January 2012 Giles has moved to Abu Dhabi with his family. He will continue to answer emails and provide quotations via email but will no longer be in the office to take telephone calls. ** 

Simon Mawbey
Manager
simon@classicalfa.com

Simon has joined us in 2009 after 14 years with a main dealer as Parts Manager & previously in the early nineties as a parts man at Caterham Cars. He has a great love of classic cars & bikes having owned a number of Alfas, including until recently a GT Junior & still owns a Lancia Monte Carlo, a 1976 911 and an old Norton Commando bike. His father, despite being in his early eighties, still smokes around in his 1978 Alfa Spider which Simon has maintained with him over the last 25 years. .

He co-owns a 1750 GTV with Giles. Together they are developing a 2000cc Nord engine with a centrifugal supercharger, air-to-air intercooling, Jenvey fuel injection and Omex fuel and ignition management which they hope to slot into their car in time for Classic Alfa’s 2013 trackday.

Tom Bouet
Parts Manager
tom@classicalfa.com

Tom joined Classic Alfa in the summer of 2010. He had spent a year working at Halfords (Britain’s largest car accessory retailer) and was always a keen petrol-head having owned four Renault Clios by the age of 18. However, it didn’t take long to be weaned off French hot hatches and Tom soon convinced his father, already the owner of a classic 1964 Mercury Park Lane Sedan, to snap up a Dutch blue 1750GTV Mk2 that came up for sale. The transformation was complete and the blue 1750 drove in nearly every session at our 2011 Track Day at the hands of Tom and his parents.

Tom has since acquired an Alfa of his own, which coincidently was previously owned by Giles and Richard around 5 years before! Although not concours the white GT Junior has been treated to a handling kit, GTA wheels and a 2 litre engine and should be a regular at some track days this summer. However, the love of the French hot hatches had never quite gone and Tom has recently bought a Renault Clio Williams to keep the Alfa company in the garage.

When not preparing orders and dealing with telephone enquires there is nothing Tom likes more than dismantling wrecked cars for used parts, the rustier the better!  

Andrew Stevens
Website
andrew@classicalfa.com

Andrew joined the Classic Alfa team in 2008. He had been working at the Pitstop Bookshop (Australia's largest motoring themed bookshop) for the previous eleven years and had recently been restoring his own metallic gold 1750GTV to show condition. He has owned it for over 20 years and driven it over 100,000 miles. Having purchased many parts from Classic Alfa during his restoration, when he and his wife relocated to the UK from Western Australia (bringing his GTV with him) Andrew got in touch asking if we had any vacancies. Initially assisting with the huge task of relocating at the end of summer 2008, he is now assisting us with the ongoing development of the website and helping customers out with his knowledge and experience of rebuilding and driving his own car. He still can't get used to English weather though!

John Roberts
Parts Sales
john@classicalfa.com

John joined the team in January 2012 having spent nearly 40 years in the motor trade with 18 of those years as either Parts or Service Manager or both, for various Alfa Romeo main dealers.

His passion for Italian cars started in 1983 when he owned a Lancia HPE but the real love affair commenced in 1990 with the first of a succession of company car Alfas. Humble beginnings with a 33 progressing through a couple of 75’s then 156’s. His current daily driver is a 159 in limited edition “black” version – inspired by the opening scenes of the Bond film Quantum of Solace.

The classic Alfa obsession started in 1999 with a 1964 step front Sprint GT which he had for 7 years and since 2007 has been the proud owner of a 1972 Montreal in rare factory right hand drive specification.

John is married to Jan and has a son and daughter who, as yet, haven’t contracted the Alfa virus!

Fred Baker
Dispatch/Used Parts

Fred has owned his 2000 GTV since 1974 and has been a member of the Alfa Romeo Owners Club for more than thirty years. He maintains the car himself so there isn't much he doesn't know about them. Fred retired as a driving instructor in 1999 and then switched from being a customer of Richard's to packing and sending all the parcels as Classic Alfa grew. 

Now, as well as overseeing the dispatch department, Fred manages our vast second-hand parts store. Alongside his GTV and a 164, Fred has a collection of classic motorcycles (also self-maintained) - two Velocettes (1958 & 1964), a 1982 Moto Morini and a stunning BSA Goldstar and used to compete in trials at the highest level from 1946 until the mid 1970's.

Konrad Dluzniak
Dispatch
dispatch@classicalfa.com

Konrad joined Classic Alfa in August 2011 straight from his native country Poland and his meticulous nature, combined with Fred’s expert tuition, resulted in a noticeable lift in both the packing quality of every box which leaves here and the amount of parcels which we could despatch each day. His grandfather was a professional rally driver and a love of all things automotive was passed down from him. He also loves music, sport and films and takes a huge amount of pride in how your orders leave here. He welcomes any constructive comments.

Ronald James
Dispatch / Fulfillment
dispatch@classicalfa.com

Ronald joined Classic Alfa in December 2011 having been a complete petrol head from the age of 5. He sold himself to us (despite there not being a job offered here at the time!) with his boundless enthusiasm and positive attitude. He has just bought his first car but can’t wait for his 25^th birthday to come round so he can get classic car insurance, buy a Spider project and get his hands dirty.