Sold Hooker roll bar for 1970-81 Camaro & Firebird

[GotGrunt]

Vintage Hooker "Show Bar" bolt in roll bar that fits 1970-81 Camaro & Firebird. These were sold by Hooker in the late 1970s to early 1980s. They have been discontinued for many years and are almost impossible to find now. $400 picked up from Long Island, NY.

[COPO]

I had a Hooker chrome show bar that I installed in my 70 Z-28 circa 1982. While the design might have changed, mine did not have the same attachment brackets. The rear legs used 4 bolts for each side and the front leg attachments were also very different as it had 2 bolts per side that were 90 degrees to the bar rather than parallel like yours.

Not saying yours is not for 70-81 Camaro, but it sure looks much different than what I installed.

You might want to double check the application.

[GotGrunt]

Originally Posted by COPO

I had a Hooker chrome show bar that I installed in my 70 Z-28 circa 1982. While the design might have changed, mine did not have the same attachment brackets. The rear legs used 4 bolts for each side and the front leg attachments were also very different as it had 2 bolts per side that were 90 degrees to the bar rather than parallel like yours.

Not saying yours is not for 70-81 Camaro, but it sure looks much different than what I installed.

You might want to double check the application.

The guy I got this bar from said he took it out of his 73 Camaro many years ago.

A buddy of mine has the same bar in his 70 Camaro. I’ve included pictures of his for comparison. The legs of the main hoop attach to the pinch weld on the floorboard and the rear down bars bolt to the rear wheel house.

[GotGrunt]

Originally Posted by COPO

I had a Hooker chrome show bar that I installed in my 70 Z-28 circa 1982. While the design might have changed, mine did not have the same attachment brackets. The rear legs used 4 bolts for each side and the front leg attachments were also very different as it had 2 bolts per side that were 90 degrees to the bar rather than parallel like yours.

Not saying yours is not for 70-81 Camaro, but it sure looks much different than what I installed.

You might want to double check the application.

I’ve had a Lakewood 3 point bar as well as a Competition Engineering bar, both for a second gen f-body. Here are pictures of those bars. They both bolt straight to the floorboard. The Hooker bar is the only one that sits on the pinch welds.

[COPO]

The pics of your friends bar in the Z-28 are exactly the same as the Hooker chrome one that I had in my car. 4 bolts to each wheel well and then two bolts through each of the pinch welds.

Hard to be certain from the pics, but the mounts on yours look a bit different both at the pinch weld mount and the mounts to the wheel wells look to be 2 bolts per side versus 4 bolts.

Certainly that bar give a great cool factor for a day 2 street cruiser.

[GotGrunt]

Originally Posted by COPO

The pics of your friends bar in the Z-28 are exactly the same as the Hooker chrome one that I had in my car. 4 bolts to each wheel well and then two bolts through each of the pinch welds.

Hard to be certain from the pics, but the mounts on yours look a bit different both at the pinch weld mount and the mounts to the wheel wells look to be 2 bolts per side versus 4 bolts.

Certainly that bar give a great cool factor for a day 2 street cruiser.

Yeah, it definitely changes the entire look of the car without any extensive modification needed to install. It also allows you to still use the rear seat as intended vs. the Lakewood. The Hooker bar also has the biggest diameter tubing out of all the vintage bolt-in bars I’ve seen.

The only difference between mine and my buddies is, like you said, his has four bolts to secure to the wheelhouse whereas mine has two. The difference could be a design change. It’s hard to tell in the initial photo because it’s sitting on the grass but the pinch weld mounts are the same, using two through bolts per side to secure. I’ve added an additional close up. Either way, it’s definitely a Hooker show bar for a second gen f-body. Most of them were chrome as it didn’t cost much more than the standard black bar. When my buddy found his, he said it must be the only black one on the planet, then I found mine

[3X24SPD]

So the front of that bar doesn't even have holes to bolt it down?
It just sits on top of the pinch weld?

[COPO]

Front part sits inside the pinch weld and then has two bolts per side that attach to the pinch weld.

[GotGrunt]

Originally Posted by 3X24SPD

So the front of that bar doesn't even have holes to bolt it down?
It just sits on top of the pinch weld?

The pinch weld will slide into the channel that’s on the legs. Once you have the roll bar positioned correctly, you drill 2 holes through the pinch weld and install the through bolts to clamp it down.

[COPO]

From personal experience, the roll bar is really easy to install with just hand tools, and best part it still allows the use of the stock rear seat without any modifications. Plus it looks day 2 cool.