Profile – Bill Marshall

Archivist
Bill Marshall

“It is the cars that get you here, but it is the people that bring you back”. NAMGAR is in great part about people. We all arrived at NAMGAR in different ways. Some are original owners of their MGAs, for others, an MGA was their high school or college car. Many I suspect are like me and purchased an MGA later in life when the desire to experience a vintage sports car clouded their better judgment. We dutifully registered our cars and counted on the organization to provide us with technical advice or perhaps point us to whom we could turn to in time of need.

My story begins in 2005 when approaching middle age, I asked my wife if I could have a girlfriend. “No” Karen replied sweetly and after that expected setback, I suggested perhaps a sports car. To this she replied “yes”, and the search was on for the ‘proper’ vintage machine to capture the romance of top-down wind-in-our-hair on back country roads under-the-warm-rays-of-the-summer-sun motoring. After pondering and rejecting many marques, I kept returning to the MGA as the car that best captured the allure of British motoring. This led us to NAMGAR, membership in our local chapter, and of course … the people.

New and inexperienced, we read about others’ adventures in MGA! and dreamed of an opportunity to find those country roads and experience traveling to a national GT. We became active in our Mid Atlantic Chapter, attended all their drives and social events and began to meet the people who would confirm the portion of the adage that “it is the people that bring you back”. I was surprised when an email arrived from former NAMGAR treasurers and fellow Mid Atlantic Chapter members Butch and Judy Smith inviting us to join their caravan to GT-31 in Gatlinburg, TN. I replied to Butch that perhaps this was sent to us in error as the others on the list were established NAMGAR GT veterans. “No,” came his response, “Judy and I want you to join us”. Butch provided me with advice on how to prepare the A for the journey and Judy provided Karen with advice on how to pack for 10 days in the cavernous MGA boot. Once in Gatlinburg, we were introduced to their NAMGAR friends and were immediately made to feel welcome by all. We have driven our MGA or MGC to each GT since, with the exceptions of GT-32 and GT-46, continuing to grow our circle of NAMGAR friends with each experience.

Karen and I served as NAMGAR Chapter Coordinators from 2012 to 2014, and I as NAMGAR Historian from 2010 to 2014. It was this role as Historian that led me to my current position as NAMGAR Archivist, the guy storing boxes of everything from the earliest issues of MGA! to print photographs to GT contractual records. If you need to know what vegetable was served at the GT-14 banquet dinner, I’m your guy!