Gerald's (in this section we will call him by his full name!) story begins with his parents, Albert and Ruby. On the 16 November 1941 Ruby gave birth to Gerald - the eldest son of three boys. They went on to have two further sons John and Martyn who were born seven years apart respectively and have also been heavily involved with cars from a young age. Gerald was a bonny baby and full of mischief from the very beginning. Gerald's streak of mischief and capacity for affection never left him and got him into more than a few scrapes along the way.

Albert Marshall

Ruby Marshall

Ruby, Martyn, John and Gerald on a family holiday

Albert owned a chain of Builder's merchants in North London and indeed used to race MG's when time and finance permitted. Ruby worked in a shoe shop before marrying her childhood sweetheart. Ruby and Albert were married for 55 years before his death in 1993.

It was through Albert that the young Gerald gained his love of cars and motor racing. Like any protective father, Albert was very much against "any son of his" racing. However, when it became apparently obvious very early on that Gerald was not only intensely passionate about "motorsport" but was also extremely gifted, it was a foregone conclusion, and there was no point in either Albert or Ruby trying to persuade Gerald not to race.

Albert at Brands 1958

Albert was a great lover of cars and competed in sprints and driving tests (in a Dellow) before doing some circuit racing with the MG Car Club in an MG Magnette. These events made for a great family day out and is undoubtedly where all three sons got their love of cars, speed and competition. Unfortunately Albert had an accident at Snetterton in 1959 and this made him very anti-racing.

Gerald’s own dalliance with all things mechanical started off at a very young age in the immediate post-war years playing with tractors and caterpillar tracks before moving on to mopeds (an NSU Quickly) and motorbikes (a BSA Bantam and a Panther), racing around the streets of Wembley. His love of bikes and tractors continued throughout his life and there was always a bike of some sort to be found in his garage and when space permitted there would always be a tractor or two hidden away and with Gerald’s many farming friends he could never avoid the temptation of getting on a tractor (or combine harvester!!) and re-live his youth.

After a stint working in the family business it became clear that the retail business definitely wasn't his forte and he went on to work with Martin Lilley at the Barnet Motor Company.

In latter years Albert and Ruby were to become Gerald's proudest fans and delighted in his many achievements.

From a car point of view Gerry’s first car was an old Ford Poplar, which got the Marshall treatment (including Bellamy modifications), but he decided it wasn’t quick enough and too unreliable, so he moved on to an Austin A35, which was the first car he owned that he competed with, but not to begin with.

Gerry’s first competition event, without the family, was with his great friend Philip Morris in Philip’s MG Y-Type and he would continue to watch other friends such as Roger Bunting, John Miles and Martin Mulchrone but it would still be a while before Gerry’s first official competition outing, as he was lacking parental consent.

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