The Passing of a Legend - Joe Vittone

[John P]

I just received a message from CLF'er Glenn Ring letting me know that he heard that Joe Vittone, EMPI Legend, has just passed.

Stories in remembrance welcomed.

[bugnut]

Wow, sad news...   RIP, Joe, you were a legend in your own time!   

[Eaallred]

RIP. This is pretty sombering.   

[Eric Ellis (57HotrodVW)]

Rest in peace, Mr Vittone. Condolences to the Vittone family.

One of my fond memories was getting to meet Mr Vittone at the pre-event mixer for Bug-In 32. Not only did Mr Vittone take a picture with me in front of a large Bug-In 32 flag, but he also took the time to autograph prints of that shot that I sent him months later.

[kaferdave]

 
Mr. Plow, I could use up every inch of bandwidth you have, telling stories and fond remembrances of Joe.
Getting him to Kelley Park, anfter a nearly 35 year hiatus from the VW Thing.
Getting him to come to The Florida Bug Jam, to sign autographs, and talk with his fans.
Seeing him at the Bug-In mixer, shaking hands with SCAT's Tom Leib., talking with Fumio Fukaya, Bud Whitfield (R.I.P.) Richard Guarino, the Schley Brothers, and on and on...
The dinner I shared with him and his wife, Helen, at their home in Ocala, Florida.
All the wonderful time I spent interviewing, and just shop-talking, with Joe, some of which has never made it into print.

This is like losing my dad, all over again.
Darrel, Helen, Michael Peter, if there is ANYTHING I can do, I'm only an e-mail away.
Race In Peace, Joe. You were a great man then, and you're a great one now.

[Cave Man]

It was very cool to get to meet him at Bug Jam that year.

May God bless and keep him and his family.

[MaxWelton]

Getting him to Kelley Park, anfter a nearly 35 year hiatus from the VW Thing.

I remember that. 2001. I remember trying to take a picture from the back of the room. Didn't work.

I always like the story about how the EMPI logo came about. Would you care to tell it Dave?

Max

[kaferdave]

yes, that one, I will.


Joe had a head porter working at EMPI   (and IIRC, and I may not) it was Fumio  that had left to do some R&D work for an auto company in Italy. Joe wanted to get the guy back, and since Joe was pretty much a hands-on, face-to-face guy, he jumped on a Pan-Am jet and was headed for Italy... If anyone on here remembers Pan-American Airlines, remember the logo? Yep, it was a blue globe, with white lines running through the latitude and longitude of that globe... Joe looked at it, and liked the symbolism of the worldwide globe effect, so he simply took it, squashed it into an Oval, kept the white lines running through it, and removed the "PAN AM" and replaced it with "EMPI"..
and that, according to Joe Vittone, is how the EMPI logo came about.

[skeeter!]

Wow... never met the man, but heard stories.... I know he'll be missed by all who knew and loved him....

[Bewitched]

R.I.P Mr Vittone

[Eric Ellis (57HotrodVW)]

...One of my fond memories was getting to meet Mr Vittone at the pre-event mixer for Bug-In 32. Not only did Mr Vittone take a picture with me in front of a large Bug-In 32 flag, but he also took the time to autograph prints of that shot that I sent him months later.

Here are some photos from that mixer.

[kaferdave]

Now THAT's  a VW Royalty line up, we have  a couple of Vittones, Lee Leighton, Fumio Fukaya, and one of the Schley Brothers... with Dyno Don and John Preston in the background.

[skeeter!]

I was honored to be at that event last year-- didn't know some of the older folks, since I've only been in this for 10 years now.... but I could tell there was a lot of VW history in that room....

[bear]

not a lot was made of Joe passing . thats the way he would have wanted it . a quiet and humble man. i met Joe in the 70,s with darrell.  his house was on the top of a big hill in riverside and we went there to see a table that chaz moorse had made to fit a n area of the house . coming from south texas and louisiana  a house on the top of the blew me away on top of that part of the mountain was still in the living room with plants growing an water running on it. it would just shock me when he would show at my shop ,once in texas and here in hawaii.   it still amazes me that Joe was always Joe.    bear

[Ohio Tom (DdK)]

I fealt honored to be at the Bug-In32 Mixer. I got to shake Joe's hand, but I knew had no idea who I was. I just introduced myself as a racer from the East coast who came all this way to meet everyone.
Thanks for the handshake Joe.