EMPI: A History Of High Performance

For over half a century EMPI has been a key name in the aircooled VW community and an important part of American drag racing history. From small beginnings to one of the largest VW parts manufacturers in the world, it is a pleasure to supply our customers with products that hold such performance pedigree.

EMPI (initially an acronym for European Motor Products Incorporated) was founded in 1956 by Joe Vittone in Riverside, California.

Running the Economotors Volkswagen dealership at the time, he routinely had customers coming into him with cylinder head problems. But, rather than discard the complete cylinder head as per Volkswagen's instructions, and sell a new but potentially faulty replacement, he decided to engineer his own valve guides to solve the design fault that was responsible for the failure. 

His ingenuity saved VW owners a fortune, not only at his dealership but at others too. The EMPI brand was created to help manage this extra business and to allow Vittone to sell his engineered VW products to a wider audience.

EMPI rebranded its acronym to  “Engineered Motor Products Incorporated” in late 1962 to better reflect its commitment to the considered design and manufacture of VW parts.  

It was in 1958 that EMPI released their own front anti-roll bar (influenced by the Porsche 356 and Karmann Ghia) claiming it to be the most important modification you could make to your Beetle. Whilst not every owner believed them, a year later Volkswagen fitted the front anti-roll bar to Beetles as standard, somewhat validifying the EMPI claim.

We sell the EMPI uprated Beetle anti-roll bar here. 

Vitonne later developed the innovative rear stabilizer system we often call the Camber Compensator which stops the rear wheels from tucking when cornering hard. If you drive a stock-height swing axle car, this is a great safety-conscious upgrade to consider. 

You may not be aware that EMPI's first taste of motorsport was actually on the circuit at the 1963 Nassau VW Grand Prix with friend and customer Dan Gurney at the wheel of a '56 Oval which belonged to Joe's son, Darrell Vittone. The car won...

In an interview with VW Trends Magazine in 2009, Joe Vittone said “I would race anything on wheels. VW looked like a natural to me. I had this VW dealership and I hired Dean Lowry to work in the dealership.” He goes on to explain Dean had a background racing Chryslers, but used his knowledge to help prepare vehicles like the infamous EMPI Inch Pincher 1, which was built from the '56 Oval circuit car and used as a test bed for EMPI parts development and thought by many to be the first competitive VW in the history of drag racing. The car was driven by both Dean Lowry and also, Joe's son Darrell Vittone.

With the perfect sales platform at his disposal, Vittone produced around 100 GTV cars at Economotors, with other dealerships doing ten or twenty each of these 'ready modified' unofficial special editions too. Each car would feature a stripe kit in contrasting silver or gold decals, additional air scoops, chrome trim, Sprint Star wheels, GT Steering wheel, and a wood effect dash with matching winders and door handles, not to mention a signature EMPI shifter, exhaust and upgraded ARB, shocks and rear camber compensator. Naturally, the engine also received some tweaks and the whole package was still covered by Volkswagen warranty. 

Whilst keen to push their improved product to customers as a better solution for the loveable VW Bug, as Vittone explained in the 2009 VW Trends interview "dealers would get threatened with the loss of their franchise if they had an EMPI car on the showroom floor." It was Joe's intention to work with the VW factory from the start on all of his product improvements, but he added "They were just so hard-headed I couldn't do anything with them."

Find out more about special edition Beetles here. 

Bringing this speedy history lesson up to date... Joe Vittone sold EMPI to Filter Dynamics in 1970, to concentrate on things at Economotors. Whilst his son, Darrell Vittone remained an EMPI employee short-term when he left in 1972 to start The Race Shop he had to leave behind his beloved and very successful Inch Pincher Too race car- a car he built to quash the rumors that his success behind the wheel of Inch Pincher was all down to Dean Lowry's hard work. 

In 1973 EMPI was acquired by Mr Bug who then added additional brands like Bugpack, Treuhaft and Race-Trim to the range. In 2018 EMPI was purchased by Dubin Clark, the current custodians who now as Euro Motorparts Group, lead EMPI forward to their future. 

So what does all this mean for the enthusiast today? Well, EMPI is bringing great products to the market, inspired by its performance heritage and history of innovation, but with some new ideas and creativity thrown in for good measure. Here are a few examples we stock at Heritage Parts Centre. 

We are all familiar with the Porsche 356 steel wheel, but the EMPI 190 wheel captures its design brilliantly but in lightweight aluminium, shaving 10lbs /4.5kg off the weight of an original steel wheel. Available in 4.5" and 5.5 x15" they can be used with or without hubcaps, and come complete with fixing clips if required.

Bump steer bushes are a simple concept, and allow for track rod ends to be flipped over to a more favourable angle on lowered 'Ball-Joint' Beetles. This helps to preserve component life, and also stops the rods from fouling on the fuel tank too!

EMPI also offers a full set of forged torsion arms for 'Ball-Joint' Beetles, Karmann Ghia, and Buggy. Brand new, rather than rebuilt they come complete with European-made ball joints already installed to save you time and offer ultimate peace of mind. 

Other great stuff includes zero offset dropped spindles for the Beetle, and the Treuhaft steering knuckles for Porsche 356 which are 100% new and highly regarded by vintage Porsche workshops. EMPI disc brake kits are another popular product, with versions available for Beetle and Bus in a choice of stud patterns. 

The history of the aircooled VW scene is fascinating, and if you've enjoyed this feature let us know - perhaps we'll dive further into the cars and characters of the years gone by. You may also find this article that charts the history of Cal Look an interesting read.

A quick word of thanks to a number of people and sources, without whom the historic part of this article would have never made it past the first paragraph! Keith Seume, Dean Kirsten and R. Marshall Webber. Check out the Cal Look Nostalgia website here and you can find the VW Trends Joe Vittone interview transcribed on this forum post. 

Andy