MTFCA Forum

Im sure many of you know Bill Bennett from Visalia,Ca who is the head mechanic for the Blain Foundation and a major part of the Ragtime Racers. Unfortunately we got a shock and we lost him early this morning. This was a sudden loss and is still very much just sinking in. Please think of him and all his family blood or oil related. We will all miss him for his passion and his vast knowledge in all things old.

I'm happy to have know Bill. He will be missed.

Oh, Shoot! I was hoping for some good news. So very sad. Our condolences to his family and close friends.

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February 3, 2025

Bill and his love for our hobby will be missed greatly.

Those who have assisted Bill Bennett over the past 4 years in keeping the Bakersfield Brass Era/ PreWar Swap Meet going are committed to carrying on Bill’s legacy. If there is a path to a 2025 Bakersfield Swap Meet in Tulare, CA., this team will find it. Keep positive thoughts.

Announcements will follow as information becomes available.
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I hope that’s true Steven. It’s what Bill would want for sure. We should call it the Bennett memorial swap meet. It’s awfully late but if anyone has the connections you know them. Anything I can do I am available

Very sorry to hear this,

R.I.P. Bill

He & I had several phone & email conversations over the years & his passion for our hobby was always apparent!

Some years back I got to experience his sense of humor when out of the blue the phone rings the day before the swap meet was to start & he says "Hey Bill, I just met somebody & for the 1st time in my life I could tell there was something wrong with him just by a handshake & you know who I am talking about" . As soon as he heard me laughing hysterically, he hung up!

God Bless
Bill
https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/thr ... ed.614419/

RIP Bill,

He was helpful and a very supportive guy helping us with the MTFCA display a couple years in a row. Super great guy. Prayers to the family.

A week ago, I received the sad news of Bill’s passing. Since then, it has been hard for me to find the right words to express how I feel. So instead, I’ll share some memories and reflect on the remarkable ways our lives crossed.

My dad was an auto shop instructor at Mt. Whitney High School starting in the early 1970s. Since the pay was only for 10 months of the year, he took on a summer school class to supplement his income. But he quickly realized the students were different from the regular school year—they didn’t have the same drive to get work done. So, he ended up failing them all, except for one student who worked hard and earned an A. Unsurprisingly, the following year, the administrator told my dad there was no funding for the auto shop during the summer.

Fast forward to about 15 years ago. My dad and I were walking through the Bakersfield Swap Meet. I was on the hunt for Model T parts, while my dad was looking for Model A parts. As we walked, he had his eye on a Model A Phaeton, but I had no idea he was interested in buying it. We also ran into a couple of my dad’s old students—Tim McMaster from Hanford Auto Supply, and, of course, Bill Bennett. I don’t know how they figured out who my dad was, but Bill shared the story of how he had been the only student to pass my dad’s class. They likely hadn’t seen each other since that class, yet here they were, reconnecting at the swap meet.

After the swap meet, my dad mentioned that he really wanted to contact the seller of the Phaeton. I posted on the MTFCA forum and quickly got in touch with the seller then buyer. He recognized me from my name, and that when I started learning his name: Bill Bennett. Bill had some Model T parts at Bakersfield and mentioned he had more at his place. Now the word “more” is true, but it would also be true to say that Bill had parts to build less than 15 million Model Ts. When I visited him, he shared that many of the parts came from the Model T he had been working on when he was just 11 years old. In fact, my car now has an axle that Bill worked on when he was a young boy—how amazing is that?

Over the years, Bill was always there to answer my Model T questions, no matter how basic they might have been. His patience and helpful advice were invaluable, and we often ended up chatting for hours. More than once we were bad influences on each other. I quickly learned that asking Bill to talk me out of a project was like two addicts advising each other. Hopefully no one asks who located Bill's first couple Packard trucks!

Bill shared with me his dream of writing a book on the Model TT, an area that Bruce McCalley’s encyclopedias hadn’t fully covered. While Bill never wrote that book, the story of Bill’s life had a lasting impact on me, and so many others locally, regionally, and nationally. Bill’s tireless efforts organizing the swap meet, which eventually moved from Bakersfield to Tulare, were often done with no reward except for a few heartfelt thanks from those of us who benefited from his work. But Bill’s contributions went far beyond that. He was involved with several clubs and, of course, was a key figure in Blain Motorsports.

Bill’s legacy will live on in the lives he touched and the countless hours he gave to our community. I feel lucky to have known him and will forever remember the impact he made on my life.