For years, Randy Wilcox has been a tireless volunteer for the preservation of historical buses.
Wilcox, a member of AACA/Museum of Bus Transportation Board of Directors, was recently named a William H. Smith Fellow. Fellows are individuals who have provided outstanding service to the museum.
“Randy is an industry stalwart, well known and respected throughout the motorcoach industry,” said Ken Presley, United Motorcoach Association Vice President of Legislative & Regulatory Affairs & Industry Relations/COO. “Randy has been and continues to be a tireless volunteer for the museum. The recognition is well-earned.”
Wilcox brings a mechanical background to his volunteer role. He started his bus career in the shop, and he ran shops before moving into used coach and then new coach sales. For the past year, he has been Senior Account Representative for Irizar USA for the northeast U.S. region.
“I’m basically the fleet and the repair and all that side of it,” Wilcox said. “That’s what I’ve been doing since January 2020. Obviously, we had a slow start because of COVID. Everything was shut down. But since then, it’s back at it.”
Wilcox has focused on organizing the annex, organizing donated parts and overseeing the volunteer schedule for the workdays.
His eight- or nine-hour workday is even longer when the commute is factored in. He lives in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, outside of Philadelphia. It’s about a two-hour drive.
Path back into the industry
Wilcox has been with Irizar for about a year. Before that, he spent decades with MCI until being laid off in 2020 during the pandemic. He had two years off until Irizar reached out to him with a job offer in 2022.
“I had never been without a job since I started working on buses after graduating from high school in 1976, so it was time to take a break,” he said. “Obviously, the bus industry is all I’ve ever done, and the bus industry had come to a screeching halt. I did projects around the house. A couple of friends of mine have antique buses, and asked me to come in and work on them.”
One was Tom McCaughey, who recently donated five antique buses to the museum. Wilcox also helped out a friend who owns U.S. Coach & Equipment Sales in Vineland, N.J.
In addition to his work on buses, Wilcox is a volunteer firefighter.
The William H. Smith Fellowship was created in 2019 to recognize those who have made noteworthy contributions to the institution. William H. “Bill” Smith was the Executive Director of the Pennsylvania-based Antique Automobile Club of America, a position he held for 17 years.The AACA Museum and AACA Library and Research Center were formed under his leadership. Smith served as president of all three organizations.
