Moss Crew – Research and Development

From Moss Motoring 1983

We would like to take this opportunity to’ say a few words about the people who work so enthusiastically in our various Research and Development departments. Eric Bishop received his education in Journalism at San Jose University. Being a member of a long-time racing family gives Eric, the proud owner of a 1966 MGB roadster, his interest and experience with mechanics and sports cars. Fusing his interests, Eric started at Moss in 1981 in Sales and moved into catalog development thereafter. A native Californian, Eric enjoys spending his time off backpacking, sky diving and lying very still on the beach.

Wally and Chris making sure our T-series crankshafts are just right.

Craig Cody has owned a variety of British sports cars that include a number of Jaguars, TR’s and an MGA. Craig’s current mount is a beautiful red MG-TD which he commissioned Classic Car Company to restore in 1980. Craig drives the car nearly everyday (who wouldn’t, his other car is a Porsche 914!). Last year he racked up over 15,000 miles on the TD and still wins awards at local car shows. Before joining Moss Motors, Craig spent twelve years in the hotel and restaurant management field which enabled him to be transferred around to such places as Alaska, Hawaii, and Texas. Craig’s interests, besides vintage sports cars, are gourmet cooking, collecting clocks and Chinese export porcelain. His current goals are to acquire and restore an XKE, and race his TD in vintage competition.

Wally Harraman, the “Old Man” of the R&D department, started out his British auto parts career in 1960 with a five year stint at Flint British Motors in Phoenix, AZ. Wally quickly mastered the intricacies of the BMC parts business, and still remembers superseded part numbers that haven’t been used for twenty years! Wally moved to Santa Barbara in 1965 specifically to join Moss Motors. During the next eleven years he handled a number of positions, including Division Manager of the Moss Motors’ chain of general foreign auto parts stores. Regrettably, we lost Wally in 1975 when we discontinued our retail stores to enable Moss Motors to concentrate on building our’ vintage’ mail order business. During the next few years Wally gained further experience as R & D buyer for Clenet Coachworks (the now-defunct exotic car manufacturer). Most fortunately for Moss, we were able to rehire Wally in early 1982 and hope to have him with us for many years to come. Wally can always be counted on to get the job done, and has been responsible for developing many exciting projects since his return to Moss Motors. Wally’s outside interests include golf, sports, gardening and paying off his brand new 280ZX and slightly used Cadillac Coupe deVille! Maybe some day he will find that low mileage Austin Healey he keeps talking about!

Eric and Eric trying to sort out some of the complexities of the late MGB roadster.

Eric Wilhelm is a recent transfer from our Start Your Engines subsidiary in Beltsville, MD, where he was employed since 1977. Eric held a number of positions at SYE, including body shop welder, Service Department Manager, buyer, etc. His years of hands-on experience, particularly in the Triumph field, makes him a real asset to our R&D effort. Eric has a degree in anthropology from the University of Maryland, which perhaps explains his interest in decaying sports cars. His east coast collection (now scattered around the Washington, D.C. area), includes a Triumph Mayflower, XK-150 d.h.c, Jaguar Mark X, two MG ZA Magnettes, one MG ZB Magnette, and a VW camper. Now that he is getting settled in California we are sure it won’t be long before he starts a collection of rust-free sports cars! Eric’s other interests are restoring antique guns, hunting and photography.

Tom whistling a tune while waiting for the typesetter to finish a page of the new complete MGB catalog.

Tom Digenova is a recent transfer from Art & Advertising and has adapted well to the more technically oriented requirements of catalog development. His new responsibilities at the same time provide the opportunity to express artistic talents and contribute to the highly polished, professional look of our catalogs. Tom has attended Santa Barbara City College as well as Ventura College, where he earned a degree in Fine Arts. As a native Californian, his interests run towards the outdoors where he regularly engages in mountain sports, swimming, volleyball and surfing. Tom is a would-be sports car enthusiast; all we have to do is convince him of the reliability of Lucas electrics!