Not a rich man's hobby at all, IMHO. Unless you don't consider a car PT until every part has been upgraded from stock and it outhandles 'vettes and looks like sex on wheels. But that is not the definition of Pro-touring IMHO. To me any car, especially a classic, that has been upgraded with more power, better handling, and body and interior improvements (but not necessary), qualifies. IMHO some guy who goes to the junkyard finds big brakes from another car and bolts them to his car, or uses lowering blocks to improve the roll center of the car, and other such mods, I would consider a PT guy. You don't always have to use expensive aftermarket parts (although they are nice). You don't really have to spend much money to be into PT, again my humble opinion only. If you want it to be nice and look great then yes you gotta pay to play.
I think we get the impression that this hobby costs big bucks because the pics and specs of the high-dollar cars are much more widely circulated, whereas the average dudes' car doesn't get the coverage, leading to the false impression that a "real" PT machine costs HUGE money. But truth be told, I think the vast majority of us (like me) have less-than-complete cars, with only a few thousand here and there invested of our hard-earned dollars, as time and money allows. Most of us sacrifice big time and put in extra hours to get that next trick widget for our cars.
