My love of Alfa Romeos, especially the Alfasud, started with my apprenticeship at Thompson and Taylors in Cobham, Surrey in 1980.
Later I moved to Bell and Colvill in West Horsley where I experienced such things as Alfasud Turbos, Alfetta Turbos and spent several years working on their right-hand drive Spider conversions. In that time I also worked with Lotus and Maserati. I was also lucky enough to do some work on Bobby Bells Tipo 33. During this time I owned the majority of my Alfasuds, which currently stands at 57!
In 1996 I started working as the Alfa Romeo Technician at Spur Garage Wimbledon, until 1999 when I left to concentrate fulltime on Justsuds. After selling Justsuds, I started work at Spur Garage in Hampton Court who were a Seat Dealer. I spent 10 years selling cars for Spur, then 5 years in their Service Reception.
I am currently working for Peter Smart Classic Alfas as his Technician, building engines, gearboxes, doing restoration work and preparing and running race cars.
In 1994 Graham Heels and I took over the running of The Alfasud Register for the Alfa Romeo Owners Club, which we did until 2002. Running the Register made us aware of the lack of parts available to keep the cars on the road. So in 1998 with my now wife Joanne, we set up Justsuds, successfully supplying parts for Alfasuds and Sprints. We also invested in having modified stainless steel exhausts made, we had headlight surrounds manufactured and we had specialist spring kits made. We were keen to only supply original parts or good quality parts, Second-hand parts were a last resort! We sold Justsuds in 2001.
Ian Brookfield
