Factory Fresh: Driving A Restored And Concours-Winning Ferrari 330 GTC

Three years. About a thousand days. That’s how long it has taken for UK classic car specialist Bell Sport & Classic to turn a Ferrari 330 GTC from forgotten barn-find into a best-in-the-world concours winner.

It isn’t the most obvious classic Ferrari to lavish so much time and effort on, but that’s sort of the point. Instead of going down the predictable route of turning a 250 SWB or 365 GTB/4 Daytona into the best example on the planet, Bell Sport & Classic turned its attention to a lesser-known model from Ferrari’s back-catalog. It’s a move that has undoubtedly earned it more attention as a result.

And what a remarkable result it is. Finished in its original color of Verde Chiaro Metallizato (light green metallic; Italian just sounds better, doesn’t it?), but with a fawn-colored interior, replacing the original black at the new owner’s request, it’s a car as distinct as it is desirable.

Unveiled in 1966, the 330 GTC borrows its chassis from the 275 GTB Berlinetta and an engine from the 330 2+2 Coupé, but where the latter has two smaller seats in the rear for children, the GTC is strictly a two-seater, albeit with additional luggage space ahead of the trunk.

Both versions of 330 are powered by a four-liter, V12 engine designed by Gioacchino Colombo and producing 300 horsepower at 7,000 rpm. Also appearing in members of the revered Ferrari 250 family, it is a masterpiece of a power unit; tractable and torquey at low speeds, with a willingness to rev and rev all the way to the limiter, while producing one of the greatest automotive soundtracks of all time.

Before getting behind the beautiful wooden steering wheel and click-clacking the open-gate shifter into gear, it’s worth diving deeper into the painstaking restoration process undertaken by Bell Sport & Classic that took this Ferrari from non-running barn-find to concours winner.

“Ferrari built 600 examples between 1966 and late 1968 and this example was built during the initial year of production,” says Peter Smith, head of acquisition and sales at Bell Sport & Classic. “It first came to us six years ago having clearly had a good amount of use. The car initially sold into Switzerland, had spent time in the US, and was eventually found in Venezuela. Although the engine wasn’t running and it had been repainted blue, literally every nut and bolt was original, so it was a good example to start with – but we all knew we could make it as close to perfect as possible.”

Two points that demonstrate just how much effort Bell Sport & Classic put into this restoration concern the black paint applied to the inside of the wheel arches and engine bay, and the color of the fuel tank. Of the former, Matt Wilton, who oversaw the restoration project, said: “It took three attempts before we were certain we got exactly the correct and original degree of shine and tonality.”

On the latter, the unusual original color of the 330’s gas tank, Elliot East of Bell Sport & Classic explains: “Despite having been painted black at some stage – as most have been – when the car was new, its twin fiberglass-coated fuel tanks were painted a pale turquoise blue. It’s not an easy color to match, and some might argue that it’s not important as the carpet hides the tanks. But it’s important to use, and that’s why the fuel tanks are once again finished in period-perfect turquoise after we found an original area of paint inside of the necks and color matched it.”

Inside, the original black interior was replaced by fawn leather requested by the new owner, who acquired the car mid-way through the restoration process. Rather than being a bespoke choice, Ferrari Conolly VM 218 fawn leather was available as an option to 330 GTC buyers when new, and for this restoration the upholstery was matched with period-correct carpets, headlining and vinyl, all sourced from Italy and produced by O’Rourke Coachtrimmers & Suppliers of southern England. Although the foam padding and leather is new, the seat frames are original, along with the belt fittings and buckles which have been restored to as-new condition.

A 1980s cassette player had been fitted at some point in the car’s life, but this was removed by Bell Sport & Classic and replaced with an original Beck Europa radio. It is the exact type as would have been fitted from new, but restored and invisibly upgraded by audio specialist ChromeLondon to have modern internals and Bluetooth connectivity.

The exact weave of the floor mats was also carefully recreated, and today the car is provided with a pair of every-day mats happy to soak up some dirt, while those made to match the originals are stowed in the trunk, ready to impress concours judges at a moment’s notice.

The concours mats are, mercifully, intended to mostly go unused, because Bell Sport & Classic wanted to ensure the 330 GTC drove as well as it looked. Once the engine was stripped down, refurbished and rebuilt, it endured two days of testing to check for oil leaks, before being fitted back into the car and subjected to 500 miles of road testing. “We restore cars, not just to be sat on a concours lawn, but driven and enjoyed by their owners,” says Smith.

And so to the driving. Like most Ferraris of this era the experience is dominated by the engine. But whereas in a 250 SWB the car feels like an eager dog yanking at its leash, ready to charge to the rev limiter, the 330 GTC feels more civilized. It is happy to cruise at a canter through town, the engine entirely unstressed but ready to deliver a surprising amount of torque in one higher gear than you think it needs.

The steering is nicely weighted, with some of the initial slack that is commonplace in cars of this era, but starts to communicate clearly when a few degrees of lock is applied. It only takes a couple of minutes to get used to, and paired with the lightness and compact dimensions compared to modern performance cars, the 330 GTC is easy to place on the road. Its size also means you can navigate narrow country roads and pass oncoming traffic without feeling a sudden urge to breathe in, and the thin A-pillars and relatively upright windshield help to fill the cabin with light. The lack of seatbelts is as weird as ever, but they could be retrofitted if the owner so chose.

Although powered by a closely related V12 engine, the 330 GTC is a far calmer drive than members of the older, smaller-capacity 250 family. It lacks the rawness of a race-bred 250 SWB, and is instead better suited to daily driving duties, like a 250 Lusso – but at around $750,000 for an immaculate example, the thick end of a million dollars cheaper.

But this is still a V12 Ferrari, and one that isn’t in any way short on performance. The 330’s laid back demeanor soon vanishes with a prod of the accelerator in second gear, the cabin quickly filling with one of the greatest-ever automotive soundtracks. The 330 is claimed to reach 60 mph in around 6.5 seconds, and in period had a top speed of 150 mph; hair-raising stuff for 1966.

Whereas modern supercars dispatch straights in the blink of an eye, the 330’s performance gives its driver more time to enjoy their surroundings. The soundtrack, of course, but also the wooden Nardi steering wheel, the wonderful aroma of leather, the light but communicative steering and, of course, the lovely open-gate gear shifter. Everything takes a bit more effort than in a modern car, both physically and mentally, but once you dial into the 330 it’s a total joy.

Bell Sport & Classic may have picked an oddball – at least in the rarified world of deciding which classic Ferrari to restore next – but the execution is top-drawer. The company has now set its sights on restoring a short-nose Ferrari 275 GTB, but of course we’ll have to wait a few years to see the result.