Billy McNair - Novato. Very Sad Day - European Performance - Memorial March 10

[Eric Moe]

novwe1.jpg (48.25 KiB) Viewed 1449 times

[Eric Moe]

door3.jpg (501.66 KiB) Viewed 1430 times

door4.png (2.3 MiB) Viewed 1430 times

door2.jpg (3.03 MiB) Viewed 1430 times

door5.jpg (2.03 MiB) Viewed 1430 times

moving memorial. Billy would have loved his daughter's Led Zeppelin solo performance and talk, and his wife's (X) talk, and others. I think it was 300 total. Generous of the family to include this "porsche" crowd.

[Eric Moe]

b0.jpg (2.57 MiB) Viewed 1430 times

[Dan Macdonald]

Eric
Sorry we didn’t meet. What car did you drive?

[Eric Moe]

We should have put on nametags with model and year ! I wish I had shown up in a wife-pleasing A Coupe, but have not bought one yet But even better for yesterday was being able to drive Billy's 78SC with the 98 x 70.4 original Stuttgart screamer he used to race. My wife opened the ashtray to find many of Billy's cigarette butts, and turned on the radio to find a vintage Eric Clapton cassette playing. I have to make sure nobody ever empties the ashtray!

billyashtray.png (751.71 KiB) Viewed 1400 times

wifeshot.jpg (2.74 MiB) Viewed 1400 times

[Steve Proctor]

So sad to see this. Some years ago, I think might have been the Porsche 50th anniversary in Monterey, I had driven the ol' Speeder up from Tucson and after, visited my daughter who lived in SF at the time. Once in Monterey, I heard a squeak and determined that it came from the right rear axle. You might remember that at the time, Brad Ripley had related that some of the axle rebuild kits had washers that were not properly hardened and even though properly torqued and cotter pinned, with use, the washers would collapse over time, resulting in hubs that were loose. A the car show, when I told Max Handley I was going to SF after, he recommended I drive across the GG Bridge and visit Billy. He was booked, but got me in and torqued the heck out of that axle nut enough that the car was good to return to Tucson and for quite some time thereafter. Later, I had to replace the hub and axle due to spline damage, but had Billy not taken care of me, could have been a disastrous drive home. RIP

[Nils Levine]

If anyone has a way of getting a message to Billy's son Corey, I'd love to get in touch with him about an engine rebuild that was in progress when Billy fell ill.

[Dan Macdonald]

Nils, I'm pretty sure I've seen your engine in the shop. Contact me via email and I'll get you contact info.
dmaia@aol.com

[Dan Macdonald]

The news is that Corey McNair, Billy's son, is going to work for the local Porsche dealer. As part of his employment they are sponsoring him to go to the Porsche school for training.
Corey is vacating the old shop in Novato by the end of April, but he has secured a new shop in Sonoma where he will do part-time wrenching on customer's cars.
That shop should open very soon.
Stay tuned...