Passing of JimK. RIP

[M813rc]

It is with a very heavy heart that I share the news of the passing of Jim Green, known on SS as JimK, on the evening of June 13th 2022.

While Jim was an "interesting" character, and not easy to get to know well, he was one of the kindest and most generous people I have had the pleasure to meet, always willing to offer help to fellow MVers.

I met Jim through SS when I started my V100 restoration and he immediately offered his assistance, he being a V100 restorer himself.
Over the years we traded V100 parts and knowledge, and became good friends.
Jim was a gifted machinist and metalworker, he was able to accurately reproduce rare V parts, and items he made found their way into several V100s, including mine and Dave/HellonwheelsV100. Many of my spare parts ended up in Jim's recently completed V100.
My V would not be what it became had it not been for Jim's help, advice, and parts.

I was fortunate in having Jim visit in Texas several times, and got to know him well personally. I'm sorry the planned reciprical trip to upper New York won't happen now.

When a box of parts arrived from Jim, you knew who it was from without looking at the address because it was always sealed with loads of silver duct tape. The duct tape was enough of a running gag that my better half made him a complete wallet out of duct tape, which he was highly amused to receive.

Jim also loved movies, he had a huge archive of them and used to send me stacks of DVD movies. He introduced me to several of what are now my favourites, including The Guard, and Sean of the Dead.

Jim, you will be missed here, and I look forward to the day we meet again. I am proud to have called you friend.

Cheers

 

[Guyfang]

RIP Jim.

 

[kendelrio]

Rest in Peace, Jim..

 

[royalflush55]

Prayers for the family!!!

 

[Mullaney]

.
Thanks for sharing your time with us Jim.

 

[BKubu]

My thoughts and prayers are with Jim and his family.

 

[SCSG-G4]

We are diminished!

 

[m715mike]

I am sad to read this.

I'll echo everything Rory said about Jim. We don't have enough men like Jim Green and I'm sorry to see him go.

I first started following JimK on the old Yahoo Stolly message board in the mid-2000s. The work he did to his Alvis Stalwart and the work he did with it (i.e., used the crane to lift trusses when building his shop) was simply impressive. I lost track of him after that and was pleasantly surprised to later connect with him on SteelSoldiers.

As Rory mentioned, Jim was generous and kind. Not only did he go out of his way to help fellow MV enthusiasts, but he did the same for veterans of our military. And dogs... Jim loved dogs.

Jim was intelligent. He would seek knowledge and master it. He was well read and to say he was a movie buff is an understatement.

Jim was extremely talented. His concrete work and carpentry were better than any contractor I know. But to listen to Jim, that was the easy stuff and he was not interested in the easy stuff. He enjoyed (and was really good at) working with metal, whether that was machining parts in his basement or welding something he designed. His attention to detail was second to none.

Beginning in 2005, I admired Jim and look up to him. From what I could tell via the internet, JimK had many qualities that I respect. I had the opportunity to finally meet Jim in person last October. I was full of mixed emotions on the trip up to New York. I was excited. I was finally going to meet JimK in person (someone I had looked up to for a long time). I was also excited because I was going to inspect his Stalwart and hopefully purchase it. I was nervous. What if Jim Green was nothing like my idea of JimK? I got to know Jim pretty well on that trip. Looking back, I feel silly about the nervousness. Jim Green was an amazing guy, and Jim Green was far better than any idea I had of JimK.

We made a deal on the Stalwart that weekend. I am very proud to be the current caretaker of JimK's Stalwart! I intend to keep that truck for a long time and I intend to finish the restoration that Jim started.

Jim and I were emailing last week. Everything seemed normal. He was bitching about the government and sharing progress on his V100. Selfishly, I wish I had more time to enjoy his friendship.


Jim - Rest in peace Sir. You will be missed.

 

[m715mike]

Here is the Stolly in action helping to build Jim's shop:




Jim use to trailer the Stolly to car shows. He loved going to car shows!

 

[M813rc]

Anyone confused by the 5-ton pulling the Stalwart - yes, it is an M813, but Jim did some engineering modifications to it including a turbo, which necessitated switching the air filter from the left fender to the right (M54 style). Jim was a very talented guy.

Jim, Dave/HellonwheelsV100, and I were all restoring our V100s at the same time. I was lucky in having gotten a good stash of original parts when I got mine. Jim was able to reproduce parts we all needed, based on one of my originals, and any of the parts he replicated always turned out nicer than the factory part did!
A good example is the flip-up crew seats inside - I had one original, but needed two, Jim and Dave both needed two each. I made a detailed measured drawing of my original seat and sent it to Jim, he produced replicas for all of us. Comparing his to the original, his was much more refined in its construction.

And echoing what Michael said above - Jim thought all this was easy. For me, working on the V100 restoration proved to be a steep learning curve, I had never tackled anything like that before. Mechanics and metal work were not in my list of strong talents. But when I ran into something that confounded me, Jim would patiently talk me through it until my thick head managed to wrap itself around what he was telling me.

Cheers

 

[USAFSS-ColdWarrior]

Rory,
Yet another good soldier has left this earthly company. Yet at the same time, we rejoice at his having joined the ranks of heavenly realm.

I pray that you and all his family - both by blood and those stronger connections - will be comforted by the Holy Spirit in this time of loss and grief.

In Jesus' name I pray.


John

 

[Valley Rock]

Condolences, RIP

 

[JD4044M]

Sad to hear another Good One Moved On! We will never have another bunch like the Old Vets! Good part is he enjoyed his life and worked on the stuff he loved till the end! I hope I do the same then go quick when needed.

 

[Buck Wampum]

With the passage of some time, I can add my post to this thread. I met Jim in 1984, when I was painting a trucking terminal building as a summer job before college, and Jim was one of the drivers there. He had a 1970 GTO with only a driver's seat in it (Jim was working on the power train and the interior would come later...) and I had a 1969 Cutlass that I had just bought. My car had issues, but at least it had more than one seat......

My car needed work, having been ravaged by the road salt of Syracuse winters. I had to replace brake lines, shocks and springs, with every bolt being corroded and immovable. Jim's direction to me was to get started on the project, and when I got stuck on something, to call him. Well, he ended up being called a lot, because I needed his torches to cut just about any bolt I tried to remove and Jim also taught me how to do double-lap flares for brake lines. Jim's method of teaching was brilliant- he would not do it for you, but would get you over the rough spots, as long as you showed initiative to get the project started and see it through after he got you jump-started. He'd leave as soon as the project was going again, because he wanted me to master it. Brilliant teacher! That began a friendship of almost 40 years, and Jim was like a brother to me.

It was only because of Jim that I learned so much about mechanical things. If you were willing to learn, he was always willing to teach. Same rules applied when I bought my first house in 1996. Jim helped me get over the hump in putting on my first roof, pouring my first concrete and countless other adventures.

He was amazingly smart. I finished college and graduate school and went on to a 30-year career in the pharmaceutical industry. I've worked in Dow-component companies and a Silicon Valley start-up, spending years working with many brilliant people, but in all those years I never met anyone who I considered smarter than Jim. His innate curiosity and love of a challenge drove him to ever bigger and better projects, culminating in his V-100 restoration, his magnum opus.

When I first saw the shell of his V-100, I told him he was crazy..... After 5 years of him working on it, I thought he was merely nuts. By year nine or so, I had to admit I was intrigued and began to learn more about V-100's. His dedication to restoring it was infectious. When he rolled it out in 2019, I was standing in Camillus, NY at the Memorial Day parade when Jim pulled up in it. What a sight to behold! He shuttled me to three parades that day and I had a glorious time. I was hooked and started to look for a V-100 of my own. When I found one, Jim was, as always, generous with his knowledge and continued his tradition of getting me over the humps of ownership, especially in my rookie year. My vehicle was a nice cosmetic restoration but had no brakes, a failed clutch and a transmission that was down to functioning only in 1st and Reverse.

After 18 months of work, my vehicle was finally roadworthy in early June 2022, but Jim had a stroke the following week and never got to take it for a test drive, something that I will always regret.

I'm staggered by the loss of Jim and hope time will soften the blow, though I doubt it will. Having such a great friend for so many years means that you pay a very stiff price of grief when that person is gone. The only thing worse would be if I'd never had a friend like that in the first place......

Gone, but never forgotten.

Scott Mullen
Riegelsville, PA

 

[Buck Wampum]

I am sad to read this.

I'll echo everything Rory said about Jim. We don't have enough men like Jim Green and I'm sorry to see him go.

I first started following JimK on the old Yahoo Stolly message board in the mid-2000s. The work he did to his Alvis Stalwart and the work he did with it (i.e., used the crane to lift trusses when building his shop) was simply impressive. I lost track of him after that and was pleasantly surprised to later connect with him on SteelSoldiers.

As Rory mentioned, Jim was generous and kind. Not only did he go out of his way to help fellow MV enthusiasts, but he did the same for veterans of our military. And dogs... Jim loved dogs.

Jim was intelligent. He would seek knowledge and master it. He was well read and to say he was a movie buff is an understatement.

Jim was extremely talented. His concrete work and carpentry were better than any contractor I know. But to listen to Jim, that was the easy stuff and he was not interested in the easy stuff. He enjoyed (and was really good at) working with metal, whether that was machining parts in his basement or welding something he designed. His attention to detail was second to none.

Beginning in 2005, I admired Jim and look up to him. From what I could tell via the internet, JimK had many qualities that I respect. I had the opportunity to finally meet Jim in person last October. I was full of mixed emotions on the trip up to New York. I was excited. I was finally going to meet JimK in person (someone I had looked up to for a long time). I was also excited because I was going to inspect his Stalwart and hopefully purchase it. I was nervous. What if Jim Green was nothing like my idea of JimK? I got to know Jim pretty well on that trip. Looking back, I feel silly about the nervousness. Jim Green was an amazing guy, and Jim Green was far better than any idea I had of JimK.

We made a deal on the Stalwart that weekend. I am very proud to be the current caretaker of JimK's Stalwart! I intend to keep that truck for a long time and I intend to finish the restoration that Jim started.

Jim and I were emailing last week. Everything seemed normal. He was bitching about the government and sharing progress on his V100. Selfishly, I wish I had more time to enjoy his friendship.


Jim - Rest in peace Sir. You will be missed.

Mike- If you do a search on Facebook for " Power train removal from a spare V-100 Commando armored car", you'll see Jim and the Stolly in action, removing the powertrain from my V-100 parts vehicle.
Cheers,
Scott

 

[m715mike]

Hi Scott,

Jim shared pictures with me of that day you pulled the power train from the spare V-100. At the time, I was thinking about buying the Stalwart and interested in what the crane could do. Jim was more interested in talking about the V-100’s. The spare was on the side of his shop while I was up there. That was an awesome find!

On my trip up to Syracuse, I had planned for a full day to inspect the Stalwart and make a deal. Jim picked me up from a hotel by the airport in his 1970 GTO around 9am. The Stalwart inspection and deal was done by 11:30am. That’s when Jim said there was a car show one town over and asked if I wanted to go in the V-100. On top of that, he actually let me drive it on the way home. After the V-100 was back in its garage, we grabbed dinner and hung-out late into the evening. Again, we jumped in the GTO when it was time for me to head back to the hotel. We were talking about his car as he drove down the highway. That’s when he said something to the effect of, do you mind if I open her up. Next thing I knew, we were doing well over 100mph and you could tell that, in that moment, he felt young again.

The memories I made that weekend are priceless and I treasure them.

-Michael Johnson

 

[Buck Wampum]

Hi Scott,

Jim shared pictures with me of that day you pulled the power train from the spare V-100. At the time, I was thinking about buying the Stalwart and interested in what the crane could do. Jim was more interested in talking about the V-100’s. The spare was on the side of his shop while I was up there. That was an awesome find!

On my trip up to Syracuse, I had planned for a full day to inspect the Stalwart and make a deal. Jim picked me up from a hotel by the airport in his 1970 GTO around 9am. The Stalwart inspection and deal was done by 11:30am. That’s when Jim said there was a car show one town over and asked if I wanted to go in the V-100. On top of that, he actually let me drive it on the way home. After the V-100 was back in its garage, we grabbed dinner and hung-out late into the evening. Again, we jumped in the GTO when it was time for me to head back to the hotel. We were talking about his car as he drove down the highway. That’s when he said something to the effect of, do you mind if I open her up. Next thing I knew, we were doing well over 100mph and you could tell that, in that moment, he felt young again.

The memories I made that weekend are priceless and I treasure them.

-Michael Johnson

Well it sounds like you had a great time in Syracuse! Jim was always a great host and a wealth of information. I first rode in that GTO circa 1985, so that car has been a part of my life for most of my life! A memorable moment was a no-holds barred drag race late one night around 1990, with me running my 1970 Olds 442 versus his GTO. He had 3.08 gears in the Goat, so it had a crazy top end. He pulled half a car on me off the line. My 3.23 rear in the Olds let me hang off his rear bumper to 125mph, but I was redlined out at that point. That Pontiac can sure run.

I'm glad you got to meet Jim and glad the Stolly went to a good home. I changed my profile pic to one of Jim and I in his V. Happy times!