Bill McGrath was brought up in County Kerry in Southern Ireland in the forties, son of a boatman and the elder child of a traditionally large Irish Catholic family. His earliest memories revolve around a love of motor engineering and the internal combustion engine and as soon as he was legally able to work, he cut his teeth in local garages.

During those austere days, motor engineers had to be both resourceful and multi-skilled and neither quality has left Bill in the years since. He also proved his intuitive ability to solve problems and was recognised as having a ‘feel for the steel’. However, as the fifties dawned, Bill realised that he would have to go to England if he was to have a career in the motor trade.

Having re-located to Hertfordshire, he took a job at the Dante Engineering Company in Luton. Dante specialised in making Austin 7 specials and this new discipline only added to Bills range of skills and enthusiasm.

When Dante folded (its principles moved on to greater things included Robin Read who went to Lotus and Jem Marsh who founded Marcos), Bill worked for a tuning concern in North London and his tuning parts for Renault Gordinis were exhibited at the Racing Car Show.

A new wife and family led Bill to taking a more managerial job at a busy garage near St Albans in the early Sixties. He was to stay there for over a decade, confounding the senior management with his insistence on being in the workshop all the time but generally running a tight and always honest ship.

The spirit of adventure had not left him however, and with the nascent drag racing scene in the UK breaking at nearby Santa Pod, a little light competition was on the cards. A tired 1948 Triumph Roadster was obtained as a part exchange and soon lightened and fitted with a Jaguar 3.8litre straight six. ‘Gloink’ as the result was known provided some excitement and the chance to express Bills engineering philosophy. Over the years, Gloink developed into a highly competitive quarter miler, with fuel injection designed and built by Bill himself. At the end of its development the old Triumph Roadster (although hardly recognisable as such) was able to put in a 12.1 second quarter on methanol. The only problem was that Bill’s wife Pat was faster behind the wheel than he was.

The first Maserati

But it was the discovery in 1973 of a forlorn Maserati 3500GTI that was to change the course of Bills life forever. Pat had seen the car in a local builders yard and having been pushed into going to see it, Bill was so enchanted by the twin cam twin plug engine and majestic Touring of Milan styling that a deal had to be done. At the time, he knew nothing of these cars, but soon pulled the ailing motor to pieces and began to teach himself the idiosyncrasies of the Maserati engine.

Although frustrated by the lack of information and parts available in the UK for this car, Bill set to rebuilding the straight six engine (a holed piston had taken it off the road) and once more back to health, the car provided family transport for years to come.

Through connections with the Maserati Club UK, Bill learnt of other owners of these cars who had similar problems and who did not benefit from Bill’s vast engineering experience. They began to look to him for advice and soon his evenings were filled with Maserati work.

A Company is born

In 1976, Bill took the plunge and left his day job to form Bill McGrath Maserati. In those early days, the company was sometimes only a one-man band working from a farm barn in Redbourn, Herts. However, a fastidious restoration of a Maserati A6G 2000 Frua Spyder for John Duggleby created a lot of media attention (the car was featured on the cover of Thoroughbred and Classic Car in 1980) and as the reputation for inspired engineering and honest service on Maserati road cars spread, the company slowly but surely expanded until in 1984, a move to a modern industrial unit in the village of Kimpton set things on a sound footing.

Welcome Biturbo

Maserati underwent another of its many renaissances in the UK in 1986 as a new concessionaire for the marque was appointed and now with a small but loyal team around him, Bill applied to become a dealer for the new Biturbo range. A meeting with the directors was arranged at Kimpton and as they arrived, Bill’s opening comment was to apologise for the lack of showroom. As the group were simultaneously bowled over by the sight of so many beautiful Maserati GT cars in various states of undress, they all agreed that a showroom was superfluous and for the first time, Bill McGrath Maserati became an official Maserati dealer.

Success with the Biturbo brought even wider recognition of the company’s talents, yet the business was now growing fast and Bill realised that in order to protect his first love of engineering, someone else would have to run the business. A chance job application from a newly graduated student in Automobile engineering and restoration was to have a profound effect.

Bill McGrath's 3500GTI, the car that started it all.