Where are the Pro Touring cars at???

[PT64POLARA]

Lots of nice cars on this forum..but not many pro touring style cars? With not much work it is amazing how well you can get these mopars to handle. Lets see some PT cars...

 

[Patrick]

Mopars handle just fine the way they come. Ma mopar makes torsion bars and rear springs for road racing and every from of performance in between. I've already saw four nice B body cars with wrinkles in the roof and sagging rockers because this crap after market coil over stuff put the wait on a uni body where it don't belong. I've also caved inner fenders caused by the shock towers carrying the load of the car.

 

[696pack]

can someone give me a definition of just EXACTLY what a Pro Touring car is? I see the term tossed around but don't know where it came from and if there is a real definition.

 

[rolling_Thunder]

Im getting there... give me until about January

 

[PT64POLARA]

Upgraded suspension, bigger brakes, bigger/wider wheels & tires, etc.

 

[696pack]

Upgraded suspension, bigger brakes, bigger/wider wheels & tires, etc.

To me, it is just another name for "street rod." Smoothing, frenching, shaving body parts, upgraded suspension, drivtrains, adding options, custom paint. What is the difference? Just the fact that people are doing it to muscle cars that most people already think are pretty cool rather than cars from the 20-50s?

I like the term "RestoMod." Restored/modified.
I like the F.A.S.T. race venue.
Something that looks pretty much stone stock with hidden performance modifications.
I like it a step further with HIDDEN modern upgrades like sound systems, power windows, A/C, etc. The things that make these cars more pleasurable to drive more often, as I have become spoiled with my newer drivers. I don't really care about upgrading the suspension of MY cars because they are factory hipos that already had that done over the base models. With a Mopar torsion bar and leaf springs they work pretty good anyway and I am not really interested in top speed corner carving driving. However, I want the car to look stock to the casual observer and not like something that belongs in a street rod show. I certainly don't like the BIG wheel low profile tire combos on these old cars. We typically buy these cars for their nostalgic look of back in the day with either factory wheels or period correct "day two" wheels and tires.

Don't get me wrong, I LOVE street rods too (in the traditional sense) I just don't want to "see" it on an original muscle car.

Just MY two cents.

 

[PT64POLARA]

Totally respect everyones views. I have done some research into the FAST class myself and was thinking about going that route with my car. I did some research today. Very strict rules though, but I guess that is what makes it nice.

 

[696pack]

Totally respect everyones views. I have done some research into the FAST class myself and was thinking about going that route with my car. I did some research today. Very strict rules though, but I guess that is what makes it nice.

Your in the right place for F.A.S.T. racing. That venue has not progressed past about Michigan let alone to my part of the country.

The rules are pretty simple, keep it stock appearing on the OUTSIDE the inside is pretty much your choice to make your car run. The thing that I REALLY like about it is that with the stock tires it acts like a fuse to all the power. Not NEARLY as hard on the car as dumping the clutch at 6K on big slicks that hook and send a shock wave of hurt to every part of the car. You definately have to learn how to soft launch those cars. I don't think that venue is anywhere near as hard on the cars a bracket racing.

Look at the MPH vs. E.T on those cars. It is pretty obvious that if they were on slicks the E.T. would be seriously better. There are six pack and Hemi cars runing in the mid to low 10s in F.A.S.T. not bad for running on G70 X 15" bias tires and running through factory exhaust manifolds, mufflers and full exhaust system.

Most of the cars running in that venue can be respectable at an OEM car show and race competitively on the track in the same day.

 

[Revhendo]

Pro-Touring is another one of those magazine contrived terms used to cover cars set up to handle well beyond the envelope of what they were intended. Yet again, it's another reasonably good idea that has gone to the ridiculous. Remember when "Pro-Street" cars started out as tubbed cars and could actually do the job on the quarter mile? Soon they turned into showboats that weren't good for anything but sitting on the grass, too pretty and fragile to actually run down the street, let alone a go down a track at full throttle.
There is still a good percentage of true cars out there being built to do some serious damage to the corners and top end. Check out Pro-Touring.com or Lateral G. net
You know the change is coming when guys put the bigger wheels on the cars to make room for some really big brakes, now they are putting really big brakes on to fill in the space left by their really big wheels.

 

[69 Runner]

now they are putting really big brakes on to fill in the space left by their really big wheels.

:rolling:

 

[Revhendo]

I know, right? Or how about 20" wheels on a car with stock suspension and 10" drum brakes?

 

[69 Runner]

Yeah. When I was still in the car biz they'd send a Charger SE out for 20's. They looked stupid because the brakes looked tiny

 

[696pack]

Yeah. When I was still in the car biz they'd send a Charger SE out for 20's. They looked stupid because the brakes looked tiny

I guess we really shouldn't bitch so much about some of this stuff as it reminds me of my parents complaining about my long hair and tight pants in the 60s. It is just a fad that will come and go with the big wheels and all the rest. i don't have a problem with the bolt on parts as they are easy to switch back. It is just far more difficult to return a car's body to stock when you start cutting and filling. I haven't seen it yet but I am expecting to see a chopped top RR one of these days. Think of the difficulty to return that back to factory.

In the end it is the owners car to do what they want with it. I just don't have to LIKE it in theory.

 

[69 Runner]

I don't mean to berate it. I like some of the big wheels, but it has to be the "right" wheel on the "right" car. Some just don't look right. I have 18's on my S-197, and to tell you the truth they look small. If the car were lowered the wheels would look better.

You may be right Darryl. It may be a fad. Then again, some people still wear long hair, and rock and roll is still going strong.

 

[tubbs]

this was recently in, i belive, mopar action..... i look forward to the comments

 

[GTXtreme]

www.protouringmopar.com

 

[Sixpack70]

I don't like the wheels, but that setting is awesome.

 

[Dennis H]

I agree that Pro Touring is a bull$hit Magazine term. The 69 Coronet driver I have has the Keisler/Bilstein/USCartool connectors/electric life power windows/ClassicAutoAir/warmed up 440/and other stuff. Pro Touring? Nah. Driver.

Kinda like Billet. Billet-Schmillet. Overpriced hardware. I do have the (looks like $9) Grant GT wheel though like most. It's pretty chewed up from the Club and looks terrible.

 

[Revhendo]

I agree that Pro Touring is a bull$hit Magazine term. The 69 Coronet driver I have has the Keisler/Bilstein/USCartool connectors/electric life power windows/ClassicAutoAir/warmed up 440/and other stuff. Pro Touring? Nah. Driver.

Kinda like Billet. Billet-Schmillet. Overpriced hardware. I do have the (looks like $9) Grant GT wheel though like most. It's pretty chewed up from the Club and looks terrible.

Funny thing is, billet is what us old timers use to do when we didn't have money to buy parts. We whittled it up out of a block of whatever was lying around.

 

[raccinjason1]

pro tour cars

hello was looking for wheels i want on my cuda and saw the ones on your gtx. what brand and also are they chrome lipped with polished aluminum inside please let me know. thought they looked bad to bone jason