18 Aug Repairing Original FAT T-Bars
Got these T bars over 10 years ago from a guy who originally bought them from FAT Performance for his 1967 EMPI GTV Mark III back in the 1970s. The Mark III was later T-boned in an accident, and he was left with a pile of period performance parts. Far be it from me to not prosper from someone else’s despair, and I bought his EMPI GT steering wheel as well.
The only problem with the T-bars is that their accident prone nature has continued into the present century. I’ve noted that they don’t play well with my 13” DDS front wheels, but the wheels claim no responsibility, placing it all on the polished shoulders of the T-bars.
Their latest hospitalization was the result of backing out a driveway with a bit of a dip. Dragging the lower tip of one of the “T’s” caused it to break off, turning it instantly into an “r” bar. Off to surgery…
These T bars first puzzled me, as they have no visible weld joining the round stock to the flat stock, which is often associated with FAT bars. The guy I bought them from, however, assured me that they were from FAT, noting, “no one else made them back them.”
I took the bar directly to FAT for repair. Speaking with Greg Aronson (the “A” in FAT), he studied them, and confirmed that they did produce a large scale production version of these bars back in the 70s that resembled mine, and they likely were the real thing.
Back from surgery, I’m hoping that by separating the T-bars from the DDS wheels, they’ll be less accident prone. Hopefully, they’ll play better with my Porsche 356 rims.
