R.I.P. Joe Vittone

I found out via another forum, that my good friend Joe Vittone passed
away February 23rd. For any of you that don't know who Joe was, if you
have ever modified a VW to make it a little faster, handle a little
better, or just wanted to personalize your Bug, you owe the
opportunity to do so, to Joe. You see, he was the founder of EMPI,
back in 1956, back before the name EMPI wasn't aligned with offshore-
made, poor fitting, non-working, cheaply-made, junk.
I had the pleasure of knowing Joe, though my association with VW
Trends and Hot VWs, and managed to spend numerous hours with him, and
his wife Helen. A finer man, and a bigger class act, you'll never
find.
Rest In Peace, Guiseppe Vittone. The VW world weeps for you

wrote:
> I found out via another forum, that my good friend Joe Vittone passed
> away February 23rd. For any of you that don't know who Joe was, if you
> have ever modified a VW to make it a little faster, handle a little
> better, or just wanted to personalize your Bug, you owe the
> opportunity to do so, to Joe. You see, he was the founder of EMPI,
> back in 1956, back before the name EMPI wasn't aligned with offshore-
> made, poor fitting, non-working, cheaply-made, junk.
> I had the pleasure of knowing Joe, though my association with VW
> Trends and Hot VWs, and managed to spend numerous hours with him, and
> his wife Helen. A finer man, and a bigger class act, you'll never
> find.
> Rest In Peace, Guiseppe Vittone. The VW world weeps for you


My condolences to his family.. I have the highest respect for him,
although I never met him or talked with him. It's a shame how the Empi
name was dragged down after what he had done to build it up.

> wrote in message
...
>I found out via another forum, that my good friend Joe Vittone passed
> away February 23rd. For any of you that don't know who Joe was, if you
> have ever modified a VW to make it a little faster, handle a little
> better, or just wanted to personalize your Bug, you owe the
> opportunity to do so, to Joe. You see, he was the founder of EMPI,
> back in 1956, back before the name EMPI wasn't aligned with offshore-
> made, poor fitting, non-working, cheaply-made, junk.
> I had the pleasure of knowing Joe, though my association with VW
> Trends and Hot VWs, and managed to spend numerous hours with him, and
> his wife Helen. A finer man, and a bigger class act, you'll never
> find.
> Rest In Peace, Guiseppe Vittone. The VW world weeps for you


I'm sorry to hear this, Dave... Thanks for posting to let us know, I didn't
know Joe personally, but he was a "legend" in the vw field and all the
"old-timers" and "long-timers" know of him... My condolences to you, his
family, all his friends, and the vw world in general for this loss...

That's a shame. I've been a follower of him for years and years.

Randy