[Countryboy]

Will we see this gain in popularity here or not. Personally I love it, using old muscle cars bringing them back up to date with all the technology but still maintaning the shape from th factory. How many are being built here?

 

[Roadrunna]

Not being built here but how about a pro-touring bug

Well worth a read and it's the guy who I got a lot of my bits (his old stuff) from.

http://www.pro-touring.com/forum/showthread.php?t=44130

 

[evilzee28]

I know for a few Camaros being built into Pro Touring cars & the Camaro seems to be THE most popular PT car in the US. The strange thing is, is that the PT scene has been going on for some time in the US now but has barely caught on over here. In the US there's a huuuuge aftermarket for the industry/scene, but maybe it's the cost of importing that stuff over here is the limiting factor as to why it's not really taken off in this country. We seem to still be embracing the Pro Street attitude, which died a death a long time ago in the US. If you look at a lot of the PT cars being built they are spending absolute fortunes on them with aftermarket everything. A car with $100,00 seems to be quite average with some cars costing a lot more. Even second hand PT cars at Barrett Jackson Auctions fetch well in excess of $100K. I don't see many people in this country spending that sort of money on cars, whereas over there it seems to be the norm.

cheers.....Nige

 

[autoholic]

I like the Pro Touring look even though it's done to death in the US. Every Foose car seems to be done the same way. Big brakes, wheels, little tyres and slammed. Can't they do anything else? However, that said if I keep my Dart then........hmm!

 

[Countryboy]

Like u say the camaro seems to the "32" of the PT world. The mopars seem to be gaining inpopularity along with the mustangs and early 60s chevys. The aftermarket for PT's is growing so fast and events like the SEMA show promote all the new stuff. The Overhaulin shows are good but foose seems to stick with the stock interiors unless he is building for a customer like the "terracude". $100k fair amount of money. Top pro built rods here in the uk cost the same in some cases. PT built cars are using the same body tricksm smoothing everything etc, so some tricks have been used in a similar vain. Not a fan of the old numbers matching restored stuff but PT's definetly floating my boat

 

[harris66]

i love the look, havnt any piks but my 2 door magnum was as low as the suspension/chassis allowed and ran 8x18 rims with 35 profile rubber, bigger brakes, v8, recaros, dont think the phrase pro touring was around then, that was in 1998

 

[firebird68]

I think the lack of Pro-touring cars is partly down to the cost of building and now a serious lack of cheap project cars [60s Muscle ]
In the States there are still abandoned project or ex-weekend strip warriors available for reasonable cost ,thats a big advantage in getting you started!
In the UK I think a lot of owners are scared of loss of resale value and narrowing a small sector of buyers even more. Over here there are more potential buyers prepared to pay top money for a 'factory correct/ numbers matching' muscle car ,how many of us can afford to lay out 20k in parts and mods to a car with little hope of getting it back...I would love to do a big budget pro-tourer but in reality when I build my 'bird it will be more of a resto/mod with some ideas borrowed from the Big Bucks boys.

 

[firebird68]

i love the look, havnt any piks but my 2 door magnum was as low as the suspension/chassis allowed and ran 8x18 rims with 35 profile rubber, bigger brakes, v8, recaros, dont think the phrase pro touring was around then, that was in 1998

The 1st famous pro- tourer was a '69 Camaro called 'Big Red' built in1988 it was made famous because it raced in the Silver State road race in Nevada. It was a 200mph car and blew the doors off everything!8)

 

[harris66]

The 1st famous pro- tourer was a '69 Camaro called 'Big Red' built in1988 it was made famous because it raced in the Silver State road race in Nevada. It was a 200mph car and blew the doors off everything!8)

saw a prog about that car, ruddy marvalous it was,

 

[Torment]

si,i sat and read through 25 pages of the bug build and thats going to be one evil car...

 

[Countryboy]

Think this may have had a helping hand in the PT scene, 1500hp twin turbo etc

 

[PONCHO]

I agree the likes of Big Red are great, but you really need the all round performance to go with the look - that costs big. A lot of people go way too big on the rims though. 20s on muscle cars dont work for me.
Personally, I love what I term "Car Craft" cars, after the type of thing they used to feature heavily in the mag. Not too radical, plenty of stock trim and no shaved handles or anything like that, but with a bit of a drag vibe. I'm building my 68 Firebird with tubular front control arms and a Tremec manual for some gas mileage, but a carburteed motor, factory type paint job and interior, cowl hood and vinyl top. Rims will be 15" Pro Stars - thought about 16/17s for the street but anything bigger is too much for me (though work on fullsize cars a lot better as they have more proportion). Each to his/her own.

 

[hellblue]

Think this may have had a helping hand in the PT scene, 1500hp twin turbo etc

Hmmmm If thats pro touring then things are not looking good, why has it got the DFS living room in it ??? sure pro touring has big wheels,big power & hi tech suspension but it has to have the interior too & not by DFS msl: This type of car is more of a foose type car (Troy i think in this case) & more like a gay pro touring car but as said BIG RED blend this lot into your ride if you want to hit the nail on the head ....

 

[evilzee28]

I've been a fan of Big Red for some time now especially as I own a race prepped '69 Camaro. As stated, Big Red was probably the catalyst that spawned the Pro Touring (PT) movement with its huge power & its ability to carve through corners & stop on a dime. Unfortunately the essence of what PT was all about seems to have been lost. Instead of raw power & handling, the PT cars now have plush interiors with air con, huge "bling" wheels & they seem to have the "next must have" parts fitted to them. When they got to discussing on a forum what good value a pair of billet hood hinges were at $1500 I sort of lost interest.

The PT crowds idea of using their cars is to race them. Whooooah!! now I'm all in favour of that, especially if it's at a sprint, hillclimb or race circuit, but no, they do autocross, where they lay out a track of cones in a car park or large open space & drive around it. Please, please tell me that you don't need 800 plus horsepower & a small fortune on suspension parts & brakes to do this.

sorry rant over..........

here's a few links, this is to Big Reds web site with loads of pics & videos

http://www.bigredcamaro.com/newsite/

here's some PT forums

http://www.lateral-g.net/forums/index.php4

http://www.pro-touring.com/forum/

cheers....Nige

 

[57peppershaker]

I like Big Red, its on a Muscle Car DVD I got the other year, racing at the Silver Dollar Mile ? Where it posted the same 0 - 120 - 0 time as a supercharged Viper :shock:
I think 1 was faster at accerating & the other better at braking, but it worked out the same time.
Big Red pulled almost 1G, when the guy stood on the brakes

If some of the above info is not quite right, its due to my crap memory :shake:

Some of the PT cars, look spot on, others just look overdone.
Pro touring 57 Chevy ?? Yes please :tup:

 

[firebird68]

I must agree with Nige and Poncho , there is a trend towards being a four-wheeled 'fashion victim' in some of the extreme pro tourers !
The good cars tend to rely on functional mods to improve the muscle classics but the bad ones seem to imply' loadsof 'money but no taste.
I'm no fan of 20 inch rims and lots of designer bling.
The cars I really like combine some of the look of the '60s Trans Am road racers with a few modern upgrades like Baer brakes and Hotchkis suspension bits, I think its a case of ' less is more ' when building a really good muscle car especially as the original designers got them so right !

 

[Throttledwife]

Agreed...

I must agree with Nige and Poncho , there is a trend towards being a four-wheeled 'fashion victim' in some of the extreme pro tourers !
The good cars tend to rely on functional mods to improve the muscle classics but the bad ones seem to imply' loadsof 'money but no taste.
I'm no fan of 20 inch rims and lots of designer bling.
The cars I really like combine some of the look of the '60s Trans Am road racers with a few modern upgrades like Baer brakes and Hotchkis suspension bits, I think its a case of ' less is more ' when building a really good muscle car especially as the original designers got them so right !

Sooo true...

 

[WB54]

labels......

Si if I fit an uprated/ larger, more powerful motor, build the suspension to handle, uprate the brakes, use race components throughout , ie roll cage, split rims, buckets, fuel cell, modern carbon fibre ,whatever, then apply it to any car I get a different label....

Mk1 Escort, Old Skool Ford
Pug GTI, Retroride
Saxo, Hot Hatch
Skyline, Jap/Drift
Camaro, Pro Touring
Beetle.....pretty sure ethey'd come up with Pro Dub or something.
32 Coupe......erm "race inspired"....

The principles of upgrading a street car with race quality or uprated components is the same regardless of the base car ?....so why label it ?

 

[55chev]

Dont agree with some of the veiws on what pro touring is! if youve got a car with 15" rims to me that aint pro touring,that would be the same as calling a car with a 8" wide rim a pro street car.bigger wheels are a nessesity with big fuck off brakes,you will always get extreems on a theme, i personly dont like wheel sizes above 22" on the rear of a pro touring car.Protouring was about 60s muscle with larger rims low profile tyres large brakes upgraded steering and suspension and a low sleek look,if its got 15"s on it aint protouring to me.I thought the idea was to make the car look stop and handle like a modern car.A 20" RIM fits the wheel opening perfect on a 60s muscle car.But then i am a bit bias.LOL
just my view.:tup:

 

[Throttledwife]

Backpedderlin...

Hmmm...just read yr post an im gonna sound like im contradicting myself here as to what i agreed with earlier...(Firebird68 post) cuz your GTO looks sooo right with those big arse 20" rims...but your car i think is big enough to carry it off..some smaller cars with bigger wheels just look like the owner has gone for the biggest wheel the company make cuz they got mixed up in the "bigger is better" thing...but thats just my opinion..what the fuk do i know anyway...