Date:         Tue, 5 Sep 1995 21:21:01 -0700 (PDT)
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         tfab@netcom.com (thom fitzpatrick)
Subject:      Jesus Handle Install


I got the jesus handle installed yesterday.  It is what I call the
"barndoor style" although I don't think thats entirely true.

For the uninitiated, a "jesus handle" is the handle on the dash, also
known as the chicken handle, etc.

Well, ya know how the later bussed had the plastic handle on the dash? 
Well this one is metal.  It's kinda like a towel bar, only much beefier!
It consists of aluminum ends with a steel pipe in the center.  Painted
the pipe white to completement the blue dash, and used stainless fasteners.

I tell ya, it was quite a nervous moment drilling the first holes in
my otherwise perfect dash!

Does anyone else know anything about these bars, ie what years they were 
used in?  My understanding is that they were optional equipment until
a certain year, and bythen they were using the plastic ones.

I call them the "barndoor style" because the look like the grab handles in
a barndoor, excpet a barndoor doesn't have a dash, so it affixes to the area
below the windshield (there's like a reinforcement across there)  

The mounts have the proper curve for the dash on them, and the only thing
that really doesn't seem right is that the right mount sticks out at the 
bottom something like 1/8 - 1/4 inch.  But I saw two other busses at the
SOTO meet with the same bar and mounted the exact same way, so that must
make it right?  Does anyone actually read all the way to the end of these 
posts?  I should prolly write a book on this stuff, huh?

Thom
--
> Freefall Sex: For those who perform well facing a deadline.
Thom Fitzpatrick 
tfab@netcom.com
ftp://ftp.netcom.com/pub/tf/tfab/home.html
'56 VW Sunroof Kombi
'72 Porsche 911T Targa  (For Sale?  Make offer!)
'78 BMW 530i
Desperately seeking '51-'55 Barndoor Deluxe Project