Joe Bunetic

[mikeh]

Just saw that respected carburetor restorer Joe Bunetic passed away recently.
https://mossfuneralhome.com/obituaries/joseph-joe-bunetic/

Great guy, local to me but I know he restored carbs for a lot of people. Jim Cowles used him, among others.

I'm sure more than a few SAAC members knew Joe!

[6s1640]

Great guy.  I was a regular with him.  I had him rebuild 12 carbs, two dual quads, two tri-powers, a couple 3259's.  I loved how much coloring he did, not too much.  All the carbs ran great.  Last time I talked to him, he was not feeling well and was no longer rebuilding carbs.  He will be missed.

Rest in peace Joe.

Cory

[FL SAAC]

Our sincerest condolences to his family and friends.

R. I. P.

[texas swede]

You helped me and my Swedish friends with our Holley carburetors over the years.
A very honest and nice man who went that extra step to make us all happy.
R.I.P. Joe.
Your customer and friend, Texas Swede

[JWH]

I am sad to hear this news. Joe restored/rebuilt the 2x 4s on our GT500. Not only did he do a great job on the carbs but helped with a lot of the extras that went with the carb like mounting nuts, etc.  And he was a great source for trouble-shooting. We lost a lot of carb knowledge with Joe's passing. Blessings on Joe and his family and friends.

[Special Ed]

Joe was a great ford man and knew 427 sohc as he even had a set of RARE 427 sohc exhaust manifolds the first set i seen back 35 years ago or so and he restored several carbs for me .RIP JOE

[Bob Gaines]

We lost another good one. RIP Joe.

[Kent]

RIP Joe.

[rockhouse66]

Sorry to learn this.  He had established a great reputation for himself in the hobby.

[NickG350]

RIP Joe....you were talented and left your mark.  You will be missed.

[Hov]

Sorry to hear of the passing of Joe Bunetic. When we were restoring 5R002 and 5S003 we wanted some things to look similar, so we had both carbs restored by Joe. After the various car shows with 003, I started to actually drive the car and noticed some hesitations at certain RPM's. When contacting Joe about this, he said send the carb back and he would fix it. Turns out the first week of production 715's had differences in the metering blocks than the later production 715's. Joe made the internal changes while obviously leaving the outside as they were. He was correct and the car pulled well in all the gears. After close to 200 miles of driving 003, we thought it was sorted out so Chuck Cantwell could drive the car on the Pebble Beach Tour. It performed well in all areas. I tried a couple times to pay Joe for his efforts but he would never accept any reimbursement. Since Bobby Rahal's '65 GT350 carb was also restored by Joe, he was proud to hear the 1st, 2nd and 3rd place winners in the GT350 class at Pebble Beach all had carbs restored by him.
As time went on we became good friends and he was also enamored with the Autolite In-Line carb as I was in high school. He sent me photos of some of his prior cars in the 1960's and 1970's, some SOHC powered and others with multiple In-Lines. I just saw those photos two months ago so I will see if we can get those scanned for the forum members to see. Nothing was stock or concours, but it was what typical hotrodders built back then if they had access to parts as Joe did.
He is still rebuilding carbs, just not for us.                 

[427heaven]

Rest in peace JOE... You were one of the kindest brightest carb guys on the planet. He restored a couple of sets of carbs for me my BJ-BK and BC BDS, total quality workmanship. So sad to lose another one of the good ones!

[hertzdonut]

Joe was a great guy! Drove the 200 miles back and forth with my 3259 that he restored and didn't want to
leave either time. Wonderful experience, wonderful man. Rest in peace Joe!

[Royce Peterson]

Joe restored a number of carburetors for me, going back to the 1990's. He did a pair of 2804 / 2805's for me - twice! Great guy and the carbs always worked fantastic. I will miss him.