My long time friend Bill Jennings passed away on 6/27/20. Most everyone here did not know him, but many have seen some of his work and never knew it. I first met Billy at Super Chevy Sunday at Maple Grove PA in 1982. I had a parts stand there and he was standing directly in front of me directing traffic. Over the 2 days of the meet we got to know each other pretty well. I would see him time to time when I went home for visits, but a few years later when I moved home to start my business we became good friends. Billy was a drag racer and loved his Chevy's but would go out of his way to help anyone work on their cars. He didn't care if it was another brand GM car, or a Ford, or even a Mopar, but was always there to help. He also really liked Buicks. One of his friends bought a 69 Stage 1 new, and always talked about them taking it drag racing and how good the car ran. Billy knew I was into the Buicks, from making the Buick upholstery, and introduced me to Jim Hawthorne who owned many Buicks including the 69 Motion Equipped GS. Over the years, he would drive by my house almost every night and see if the garage lights were on. If they were he would stop to see what I was doing. He had a 70 Chevelle Coupe SS 454 4-speed car and I could always hear him driving by. I actually repaired pieces of the body and built a convertible frame for the car. Boy did that tighten everything up. Anyway, he loved to see what I was fabricating for the cars. Once he saw me welding pieces of metal together to rebuild the front edge of a 70-72 passenger side inner fender. He was used to Chevys, and didn't understand why I was fixing that junk instead of buying one new. I told him these pieces were not reproduced for the Buicks so you had to fix it if you needed one. (This was before the repair kits were developed) He hung out with me until I got the thing finished and was amazed at how good it looked. When it came time to start working on the X-Camino body, Billy was there. I would spend 3 days preparing parts and then Billy would come over to help hold the panels while I welded them on the shell. Then we would repeat the process. Years before Billy had a valve go bad in his heart (He always told people he "burnt" a valve.) so he was on blood thinners. If he got a cut he would bleed & bleed, so he had to be careful. Anyway he knew I needed help on the car and never gave it a second thought. I would make him wear a long sleeve flannel shirt and gloves, and would tape the gloves to the shirt so they could not come off. I remember seeing him sweating to death during the summer while we worked on the car, but he never complained. There were so many things he helped me with while working on the cars, that I could not begin to list them. He was also instrumental with my purchasing the 69 Motion Equipped car, by loaning me money so we had enough to get it on the day of the auction. I just wanted to let you guys know a little about my friend of 38 years, and hope you will think about him a little when you look at the X-Camino, as there is some of his work there. Thanks for letting me talk about my friend. Duane
Sounds like a great guy, Duane. Sorry to hear about his passing, but sounds like you had a fantastic friendship. I will remember this post whenever I see the X-Camino posted. Prayers sent for you, his family, and other friends.
Duane, I am sorry to hear of the loss of your long time friend Bill. My condolences to you and his family. Not many people have long time friends like that in today's world.
It’s a shame how many good people you first hear about in an obit. Bill joins that list. Sorry he passed. Thanks for telling his story. Patrick
So I’m not your only friend who is/was amazed by the Sheet Metal Magician of Rutledge? Sorry to hear this Duane. I know how close he was to you and remember you mentioning him all the time. Please find and post a picture of Billy so we can all see him. God Speed, Billy!
Here are 2 pics of Billy from last January when I took him to see the 69 at Nicks. The first one shows Billy on the left, Gene Hill in the middle, and Nick on the right. Duane
Thank you for sharing such a nice friendship, and sorry for your great friend passing.. I can see the full flannel hoodie
A friend like that is a rare thing. I'm sorry to read this news Duane. Thanks for sharing the story of your friendship with Bill.
