Gary Anderson

Contributing Editor

Deldee, Gary Anderson’s mother, believes she can pinpoint the exact moment he became a gearhead; it was at the age of four, after his first motor racing accident in his hometown of Racine, Wisconsin. Seems Gary was knocked unconscious in a head-on collision with a doorframe while drifting his toy Jaguar XK140 fixed-head coupe across the dining room floor.

Having survived that, as well as the trials of growing up and getting a proper education, young Gary has owned (in succession), a 1949 Chevy fastback, a 1954 Chevy Belair coupe, a 1959 Renault Dauphine, a 1968 Datsun 2000, and a 1964 MGB tourer.

After receiving his MBA in 1969,Gary toyed with the idea of an automotive career, taking a position with the Ford Motor Company in product planning. Unfortunately, he was forced to leave that position when he received an offer he couldn’t refuse from Uncle Sam and donned army green for two years from 1969 to 1971. Coming out of the army at a time when the U.S. auto industry was at its nadir (perhaps because of Nader) he declined to go back to Ford, and instead took a position with Merrill Lynch as an economist.

Gary didn’t really get serious about the old car hobby until he bought a very original 1960 Austin-Healey 3000 BN7 two-seat roadster in 1986. In 1987 he entered it in the concours at an Austin-Healey Club meet, where an unexpected first place win hooked Gary for good.

Taking a second place the next year, Gary decided that the Austin-Healey concours system was obviously flawed. So, with two other Healey buddies, he set out to reform the system, in the process becoming a co-founder of the Austin-Healey Concours Registry, which created restoration standards and judging guidelines now in use in North America, Australia, and Europe.

At the same time Gary was seduced into becoming editor of the Austin-Healey Magazine, the official publication of what is now the Austin-Healy Club North America, and thus he took the first steps in motor sports publishing.

While editing Austin-Healey Magazine, Gary accepted an offer from Motorbooks to write a book based on the Healey restoration standards. Co-authored with Roger Moment, the book Austin-Healey 100/100-6/3000 became a best-seller for Motorbooks.

Based on his experience with the Austin-Healey magazine and having written one automotive book, in 1996 Gary finally took complete leave of his senses and resigned from his quite respectable position as an economic development consultant with Stanford Research Institute to run away and join the motoring journalism fraternity. His initiation into this select band of benighted scribblers was by way of purchasing British Car Magazine, which he and his wife Genie co-published through the end of 2002.

While publishing British Car, Gary began vintage racing in a 1960 MGA 1600, which he has campaigned in the Wine Country Classic and two Monterey Historics, as well as in other West Coast vintage events. Gary and Genie also acquired a 1964 Jaguar Mk2, which they have driven to the Grand Canyon and back from their home in Los Altos, California.

In early 2003, the Andersons sold British Car to Motorsports Marketing. Gary worked for a year with the Motorsports staff as editor to re-launch the magazine as Classic Motorsports.

Gary has since been working as a freelance journalist, writing for several modern car publications while writing and editing a book on new MINIs. Just published by Gary’s company, Enthusiast Publications, the book Motoring—Getting the Maximum from Your New MINI is available through www.minimania.com. Gary is the voice behind The English Patient, one of Sports Car Market’s most popular columns. He and Genie now live in Las Altos, California.