pro touring lost its way????

[evilzee28]

Ok, tongue firmly stuck in cheek, here's a thought for you. Following on from the posting where there's talk of a set of billet hood hinges costing $1000.00, do you feel that Pro Touring has lost its way. A while ago there was a post on this forum asking where PT would be in a few years time & the majority showed concern that it didn't follow the Pro street thing, where it was a case of "monkey see, monkey do" looking like a race car, but couldn't be driven for more than a few miles, or the hot rod scene being watered down to the street rod scene, bling & billet everywhere & afraid to drive or use it incase it got dirty or marked. I know PT cars are able to cover large distances & that they've uprated brakes suspension etc, BUT & here's the big but, do you feel that PT is slowly starting to turn into the bolt on, bling brigade. Instead of individuality, it seems that it's turning into the norm to just buy stuff off the shelf, where is the originality of that?? My understanding was that the PT car, was a car that had immense amounts of power, that handled like a supercar, with the right stance wheels & attitude & would feel equally at home on the street or track.Do you think that the "must have bigger, better, louder, shinier" than the next man is taking over the true spirit of the PT movement??? OK, tongue out of cheek, time for me to stand in the corner now huh? Now, where was that dunces hat?

[Steve1968LS2]

How many people have a mill in thier garage?

I have no problem in bolt on parts.. the challenge is in combining the RIGHT bolt-on parts so the car has a personality all it's own and doesn't look cobbled together..

And besides, the hinges have zero effect on performance so it does not really equate to the "show-street" cars that can't perform.

You CAN look good and go fast.. it's a fact

[RussMS]

I think everyone wants to look good and those hinges are trick. The median Lat-G guy may want em but will have to really want em to shell out that kinda money.

I think if you arent trying to compete with those the eclipse yours means in the areas that matter to you, the car will reflect your personality and have a style that is "you." If you try to compete with everyone, then you will never be satisfied because there is always the next big thing. Anyone want to try and eclipse the power in Charley's new 3000HP car?

If you want to paint you car flat black and cover it in your favorite vendor/sponsors stickers and run the heck out of it every weekend, go for it. If you want to cover you car in bling and put it in a trailer everywhere it goes just to get the oohs and ahhs, that's fine too. Whos to say who will have more fun?

I think Pro-Touring should be what you make of it, but that is just me.

[Payton King]

Natural progression of the hobby/build style. People see land mark cars,the list is long and distinguished, and they want a car like that. In reality you can only do so much to a 69 Camaro so they will all look alike after a while...don't I know it.

I feel another reason these cars are moving more to the street machine catagory than really being used, is value. When all of this started you could pick up a 1st gen Camaro cheap, do your own mods, and have less than $20 grand in the car. Now these cars are bringing stupid money and people are spending obsence amounts of money on them..I resemble that last statement. When you have $50 to $100 in a car and 4 years of your heart in it, what you wanted to do with it when you started and what you are willing to do with it when finished has changed.

As far as the bigger, better, faster stuff...that is what this hobby, and really all competition, is founded so that is not that suprising.

[TravisB]

Originally Posted by Steve1969LS1

How many people have a mill in thier garage?



You CAN look good and go fast.. it's a fact

I don't want to sound like an ass here steve but we have one...lol
just got it, altough neither of us could make a product quite like that on it!

[TravisB]

Originally Posted by RussMS

I think Pro-Touring should be what you make of it, but that is just me.

[almcbri]

good point Russ. I agree

I like to see a large variety of cars being built with a PT style. Who cares what one guy does vs. the other. There is no set in stone way your car has to be built. Extreme Builds or stock who cares.

[jannes_z-28]

I think we can see parallells with the Hot Rod scene, all though the pace is faster in PT.

What was a modified, "do-it-yourself" thing hsa become an industry. People want Pro Touring styled cars because that is the hot thing for the moment and they are hip. The bar is always raised because he next guy want it done even more. Look no further than here, a lot of guys have started production of cool parts just because there was a need for it.

Then you have to set your own preference, is it show and shine, never drive it unless the sun shine, something Nigel and I have to dismiss otherwise we could never drive our cars. Or drive the tires of it just for the heck of it. I think most of us will be somewhere in between and we can enjoy everybody else no matter what.

For me the driving is the priority, dirt and water can be washed away.


Jan

[Smack_talker]

It seems that 69 Camaros are getting a little over populated in the PT scene. There are so many very nice ones already done. I would like to do a 70 Mustang fastback PT style...maybe with some Boss/Trans Am styling.

[XcYZ]

Originally Posted by Smack_talker

It seems that 69 Camaros are getting a little over populated in the PT scene.

I agree with that - to a point. It seems that way online, Lateral-g and PT.com is saturated with them, but when I'm out on the local or regional car scene, there really isn't that much out there for g-machines. Yet. But of course I'm in the midwest where Cragars and air shocks are all the rage.