So, Who started Pro Touring?

[Macbuick]

Trans Am cars are race cars....and a race car is not a pro-Touring.
Now if Big Red is registred and driven on the street, it's not only a race car it can be a Pro-Touring even with its race car mods, unlike Sunoco Camaro (and Parnelli's Mustangs, ans so on...) which couldn't be driven on the street....

it's not the fact about having bigger brakes and bigger engine otherwise a 32 Ford hot rodded in 1940 is also a Pro-Touring !!!

a Pro-Touring car has 17" (or +) wheels with 4 big discs brakes(at least)..it's also a registred car that is driven on the street, on tracks and autocross....so the first guys to had these mods on their cars had created the first PT cars....
Now, how to create a trend? a lone guy in his far away town could have started PT a long way ago but if he never attempted a car show (or track/roadcourse/..) or get published in a magazine, how the hell could he had started something that had been followed by other freaks??
If you want to make some effect on the public, you have to show your car...in magazine, on TV, on internet.
The cars which started PT are the ones which had created a wave in our mind...

[chicane]

Originally Posted by Macbuick

Trans Am cars are race cars....and a race car is not a pro-Touring.
Now if Big Red is registred and driven on the street, it's not only a race car it can be a Pro-Touring even with its race car mods, unlike Sunoco Camaro (and Parnelli's Mustangs, ans so on...) which couldn't be driven on the street....

it's not the fact about having bigger brakes and bigger engine otherwise a 32 Ford hot rodded in 1940 is also a Pro-Touring !!!

a Pro-Touring car has 17" (or +) wheels with 4 big discs brakes(at least)..it's also a registred car that is driven on the street, on tracks and autocross....so the first guys to had these mods on their cars had created the first PT cars....
Now, how to create a trend? a lone guy in his far away town could have started PT a long way ago but if he never attempted a car show (or track/roadcourse/..) or get published in a magazine, how the hell could he had started something that had been followed by other freaks??
If you want to make some effect on the public, you have to show your car...in magazine, on TV, on internet.
The cars which started PT are the ones which had created a wave in our mind...

If what you write is true... which it is... then Guldstrand is the obvious piece to this puzzle.

When Guldstrand opened his shop back in the day... the majority of his meat and potatoes came from the street enthusiasts.

However... at the time he had been working at DANA and doing 427 swaps into the early 67's (read: middle to late 66.) His initial claim to fame came back in the early days of the Y-body platform. Daytona, Le Mans, Sebring... and the Corvette. He made quite a contribution to the development of the Y-body and GM kept him in their sights... and then re focused that effort for the F-body and their intent to race in the Trans Am series. At the time of the public launch of the F-body, he was a mechanical engineer working with the Vince Piggins group for the campaign of the Trans Am series cars... which was operated by none other than Roger Penske.

In 1968 when he opened his shop... his love in life was stuffing TA parts into street cars. It was a two way development effort for him. So the facts remain... by the definition you stated, registered... driven on the street etc etc (minus the 17" wheel criteria as they were not even a gleam in anyone's eye back then)... then I am pretty sure that Guldstrand was the one that did it for the GM product brand... and Shelby for Ford.

I am thinking that most here are dating themselves. If you don't look back to the Guldstrand, Shelby, Cox, Cantwell, Donohue, Parnelli and Gurney days of early 1960's road racing... I think you are missing the point all together. These cats still did the race on Sunday / Sell on Monday thing. If they had the 'hot set up'... they were putting yesterdays parts on street cars. That's what started "Pro Touring."

And then... we have been blessed with cats like Stielow and a few others... who have elevated the ideas to stratospheric levels. Its a good time to be alive and own a hot rod...