An MG Legend Passes On

NAMGAR member and founder of Moss Motors, Al Moss, passed away on Tuesday, September 25, 2012. Former NAMGAR Registrar, Don Holle, recalls how he and Al met and their long-time friendship. (Photo courtesy of Moss Motors).

“Al and I first crossed paths, although we didn’t know it, in 1959 while he was an official of the California Sports Car Club and I was a budding Phil Hill wannabe in my MGA and a Devin special a little later. We finally met at the NAMGAR GT at Lake Tahoe in 1999. Al was being honored with the Mac Spears award and I had the honor of joining him and his Lynda and other NAMGAR officers for dinner. Al and I soon realized we had some commonality in our past Southern California racing experience. We’d both lived in Santa Barbara at the same time and had a few common acquaintances, including the remarkable Ken Miles. Our friendship took root. How could you not call Al a friend after getting to know him.

“A few years later, in the early 2000s, Al, now living in Sedona, took on the task of putting on an MG weekend there. Great organizer, he treated friends and MG folks to what he called the High Country Tour or HCT. He’d organized similar events when living in California known as the Hearst Castle Tour or HCT. Clever? My Linda and I participated in the three Sedona HCTs he hosted and always had a wonderful time. In the third one we volunteered to help with the event and Al made me the Vortex Chairman in order to answer questions about the mysterious vortexes and crystals that supposedly accounted for weird happenings around Sedona. From then on, I was known to Al in emails as “VC.”

“If you knew him you know that Al had a great sense of humor. There was a twinkle in his eye whenever he was pulling your leg. You always knew when dining out with him and meeting a new waitress that he would inform her before giving his order that “we belong to a strict religious sect that doesn’t believe in tipping.” After a momentary lapse, she knew by that twinkle that he was pulling her leg. I’m sure Al Moss stories could fill a book.

“To know Lynda and Al and call him a friend has indeed been a privilege. Last May we met with them for dinner on our Arizona visit, not realizing it would be the last time. Godspeed, Al Moss, and may we all live a life as full as yours and have as many friends”.

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