Moss Manager – Christopher Nowlan

From Moss Motoring 1983

In our continuing efforts to spotlight the key people who help to make it all happen here at Moss Motors, we would like to introduce our Product Development Manager, Christopher Nowlan. Chris’ involvement with British sports cars began at the tender age of 17, with the acquisition of a ’53 TD in 1968. As a native of Needham, MA, he soon met a neighbor whose budding MG-T-Series parts business gave Chris an opportunity to learn the British auto parts business from the ground floor.

Within weeks of his high school graduation, Chris made his first buying trip to England where he contracted to have a variety of reproduction MG parts manufactured. He also gained invaluable experience in purchasing obsolete stock inventories and negotiating with the original component manufacturers in England for the continuance of components otherwise obsolete through normal factory channels.

Chris’ personal interests paralleled his professional activities. His first TD was replaced by a $350.00 ‘rolling chassis’ TC that Chris spent three years restoring. Through perseverance, he constructed virtually a complete new wood-framed body shell and learned the rudiments necessary to do all his own paint and body work.

Chris won a first place award at a national New England MG-T Register meet with his beautiful, supercharged, cream and green TC, and then went on to win the coveted Premier Award at his very next national meet. This was (and still is) a considerable achievement for a 21 year old part-time college student! A TF 1500 was acquired in the early seventies and served Chris well for a number of years, as year-round, daily transportation.

Chris still enjoys reminiscing about racing that trusty green TF at Limerock, CT; long distance trips in driving New England blizzards; hand-crank starting the car on every cold morning; the trip back from Cape Cod in a legitimate hurricane when the top blew off and he continued undaunted in the driving rain back to Boston.

Other cars came and went, some of them more memorable than others, but most all were British sports cars. Although a dyed-in-the-wool MG enthusiast for over fifteen years, Chris has owned a ’58 D.H.C. Morgan, three Triumph TR3’s, and currently owns a ’64 Jaguar XKE as well as a ’48 MG-TC, ’58 MGA and a ’67 MGB-GT. Chris hopes to complete a Concours frame-up restoration of the TC this winter, and promises to drive it on a regular basis after making the Concours circuit for a year or so.

Chris’ career with Moss Motors began in 1975 with an offer from Al Moss that he “couldn’t refuse”. His early responsibilities were varied and at one time included Product Development, Art & Advertising, Catalog Development and Quality Control. Due to rapid growth of the Moss organization, some of these challenging responsibilities have been delegated to other departments. The accompanying article covers Chris’ current areas of responsibility. Chris’ leisure time, (when he is not working on his own cars), is largely split between cycling and redecorating his recently acquired Santa Barbara hill top home.