20 Years of Pro-Touring.com - Please read and talk to us

[Larry Callahan]

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March 10 2020 – Pro-Touring.com celebrates 20 years

For me the addiction started over 30 years ago. Back in about 1988 I bought a ‘68 Camaro that I still have to this day. I knew from day one that I wanted the Camaro to handle better, stop better and be more comfortable than it was when it left the factory. The car was a bit worn out and flat out scary to drive at freeway speeds. Fast forward about a decade, an engine swap and a Dick Guldstrand mod later and things are getting better. Add some urethane a-arm bushings, disc brakes and an anti-sway bar and that’s about all that I was able to find back then.

Where did the term Pro-Touring.com come from? The story that I heard was about 1998 Mark Stielow first spoke the words “Pro-Touring” while with Jeff Smith. Shortly after that it’s on the cover of Chevy High Performance Magazine and I’m hooked. At the time I had a website that I built for my Camaro and a few close friends using my free Earthlink account when it hit me. I need to start a website to share my passion with others and call it Pro-Touring.com!

A number of cars have had an impact on me over the years and some are the most known muscle cars ever built. Dan and R.J. Gottlieb’s ’69 Camaro known as Big Red, Mark Stielow’s ’69 Camaro known as Tri-Tip that is now owned by Steven Rupp, Roger Conley’s Camaro and of course the Tuckers Thrasher Camaro. Something else that had a big influence on myself was the Car Craft Magazine Real Street Eliminator Challenge. They took a number of cars and tested them for things like acceleration, braking, handling, fuel mileage and more. I knew that one day I wanted to complete it that completion.

Very quickly after Pro-Touring.com was started a number of great moderators joined us. Most of them are still around and the site would not be what it is without all of their help and support. In no particular order I need to thank Andrew Borodin, Bill Howell, Carl Casanova, True Tourtillott, David Pozzi, Derek Forbes, Jeff Tate, Tony Whatley, John Parsons, Ralph LoGrasso, Tony Huntimer, Tonly Langlois, Tony Rapin, Allen Ortega, Mary Pozzi, Steven Rupp, Matt Rogers and Brian Zales. I also need to thank everyone that helps at our SEMA dinner every year, the weekend photographers and site contributors.

I also need to thank the great members of the site and the support of all our site sponsors that make it all possible.

Now I want to hear from you. What has this little “fad” meant to you over the years? Have you made new lifelong friends? Has it got you out of a lawn chair just watching static cars? Have you started a business that focusses on the build style?

Please take a minute and share with us the impact it has had on you and who you influenced you.

It’s been an awesome 20 year and I would love to hear what you enjoy about it.

[Sbeck09]

Thank you Larry and everyone else for starting this site and keeping it going!

Being 29, I wasn't even able to get into this arena back when it was first starting. But as I've been around classic cars/trucks over the years I always thought a freshened up classic chassis with a modern engine and creature comforts would be the best of both worlds. I've never really liked new cars styling like the old ones anyway. So through this site and the events that encourage the Pro Touring movement, I've been introduced to the people and ideas they bring that keep my love of cars and the car community burning strong. I have learned soooo much and it has really encouraged me to keep it going and share the wisdom passed to me with all my similarly-aged friends.

Cheers to another 20 kick-ass years!

[slimjim]

A great question, and not so easy to answer. I suppose for me it started when I moved to the states from Australia 5 years ago. It was also when I first became fully qualified in my profession of seafaring and with it, A nice enough paycheck to get back into cars.

I jumped at the chance to own my dream car, a first gen Camaro, and what better place to buy one than the USA. But before even learning of this entire scene, I knew I wanted it to handle better, stop faster, and be comfortable the whole time I was driving it.

But hot damn, I wasn't the only person who wanted the same thing, and plain DAMN, I wasn't earning enough!

fast forward 5 years and I'm going through bodywork on this dragged out build, reading this forum every morning over coffee and slowly meeting others into the same thing. 'Addicted' is a term the wife throws around occasionally...

[Mr Nick]

All of the great products that allow us to modernize/upgrade classic cars so they are more enjoyable while being driven. Car shows are boring.

[minendrews68]

First off, thank you Larry for a formidable place to hang out with like minded individuals. Wow, that sentence even impressed me! Really I've been on here since 2007 and I've learned a lot with the help of quite few here.

I like this forum, and go to it just about every day to get my fix. I like it also because there doesn't seem to be so much drama that you want to leave. So many people have helped me (and others) without any reservation. That in itself says something. i've learned and to some extent I've taught a few things. I'm always happy to share what i've come across.

Here's to you (and Pro-Touring) , on to the next 20!

[csouth]

First of all thanks to you Larry for starting this site and to all the moderators that have made this place helpful over the years. It is greatly appreciated!

Its started from me around 2006 when I first saw images of pro touring cars on the internet and had no idea of what the style was called until the link led me here. The real hook was when Randy Johnson(D&Z) built the chevelle that would later end up being owned my Chris Jacobs. Shortly after the car was completed I saw it on Hot Rod Power Tour and I remember watching him move through traffic as the cars exited. Once I saw that I knew I wanted to built a car with stance, handling and power...

I've been fortunate enough to have chatted and met people that have helped me along, Tom Farrington, Aaron Oberle and Matt Gurjack (Sled Alley) just to name a few. I've been able to pass on some of my experience to others and help to grow the community in anyway I can.

Thanks again to everyone here in hopes to see 20 more years!

[Pete68]

Wow, your opening line totally freaked me out, just like you I bought my 68 Camaro in 1988, and I still own it too! CRAZY. Bought from the original owner in Palos Verdes for $900. I was 15 at the time. I'd love to swap stories with you sometime!

My Pro-Touring inspiration came from a neighbor who had (and still has) a 66 GTO. He was on the leading edge of the Pro-Touring movement, doing wide tires on all four corners, huge sway bars, 4-wheel disc brakes, roller cams, etc. He even custom built a carbon fiber intake system with a fuel injection system, in the 90's!!! All this work eventually landed his car on the cover of Hot Rod magazine in June 1999.

I truly enjoy coming to this site and cant even express my gratitude to all the great people and information here. Its been so helpful over the years. : )

[andrewb70]

My oh my, how the time flies!

Andrew

[TitoJones]

I can't believe it's been 20 years. I am happy to see so many familiar users still around here.

[TheBandit]

What has this little “fad” meant to you over the years? Have you made new lifelong friends? Has it got you out of a lawn chair just watching static cars? Have you started a business that focusses on the build style?

Please take a minute and share with us the impact it has had on you and who you influenced you.

I feel like it's changed a lot over the years as the incarnations of "pro-touring" cars have increasingly emphasized the "pro" aspect and the term "restomod" got squeezed somewhere in between. Early on I thought of pro-touring cars as roughly OE based with an emphasis on modern performance and comfort upgrades. Most importantly I thought of pro-touring cars as DRIVERS that saw a lot of street time with an occasional foray into autocross or track events. Over time I think that balance has changed a bit with some cars more heavily emphasizing track use, seeing a lot of time on trailers, or involving huge budgets with professional builds that truly push the envelope. I think that evolution is great and has pushed the industry to create more and better options that have trickled down to lowly budget-builders like myself, but have made some aspects of "pro-touring" unattainable, and more in the relm of what "pro-street" became in the 90s - awesome examples of what can be done at the limits of design, budget and imagination.

I've come to think of my own car as a "restomod" even though it checks some of the pro-touring boxes. To that end pro-touring builds continue to inspire me with interesting ideas for adapting new technology and pushing the boundaries of what I thought was possible for my car. I may never have a "pro-touring" car by some definitions and that's really fine with me. I think this site still does a great job of catering to all kinds of builds even if they don't fit some people's boxed-in definition of what a pro-touring car is or should be.

Thanks for continuing to support this community. I learn a ton on here.

[TheJDMan]

I purchased a rust free 68 Camaro back in 1973 while attending school in Phoenix. I drag raced it for about 10years then parked the car for the next 30 odd years. I always thought these cars should handle better and my first recollection of this was the Sunoco TransAm Camaros back in the day. Then came Big Red but what lead me here to Pro-Touring.com was a picture I ran across of a sweet 68 Camaro named MotiV8r which changed my world and made me realize I could do that as well. The name did what it implied and motivated me to start project Dust Off named that because I literally dusted of my 68 in order to start the build. I owe Larry a lot in bringing my project to reality. Thank you Larry, moderators, vendors and members! Here's to 20 more years.

174640

[StRacerDuke]

Wow, 20 years on a forum. Crazy times. Congrats Larry on keeping this place going for so long.

[Bill Howell]

I think my sign up date for Pro-touring.com was 10-10-04. I wanted to build a car for the Hot Rod Power Tour and a local friend told me I should google Protouring cause that was something new and would probably help me find information on a modern hot rod. Pretty much the rest is history. I did build a pretty innovative car for the time and it did two complete Power Tours (06+07). We did a couple events over the years, it has been a great ride. Maybe we need a reunion event. :)

[andrewb70]

Bill,

Miss you! I hope all is well.

Andrew

[Bill Howell]

Thanks Andrew. Things change, times change and life happens. We are settled nicely back home now in Macon, Ga. Retirement suits me. I am running for office here and flying a lot these days. I hope you guys are doing fine and hope we can get together one day soon.

[niicco]

If this site did not exist... me building a car on my own with having very little mechanic/welding/fab knowledge would still be a dream. Project is not done yet but this site gives me confidence that I can complete it.

[TanMan]

I’ve been a Pro-Touring member for under a year but have been restoring cars on and off for over 25 years. If I had to name one single resource for help on restoration, modification, and high performance pro-touring upgrades, it would be this site. No other app or website even comes close.

So many of you are a wealth of information and have been extremely helpful. This place is chock full of creative ideas and above all, experience. Thanks a bunch!

Daniel

[79 Camaro]

For me this site has been great place to hang out. My hot rods over the years have been more Pro-Fun than the all out Pro-Tour cars that have been shown on this site. I'm a LS guy so the cars, Jeeps, and truck I have built have been LS based. It's been a fun journey. Typically big brakes, updated chassis stuff. Current hot rods are a 98 Wrangler with a LS6 swap. It's my Pro-Fun summer cruiser and winter time plow truck. Next is my 68 C10 LS swap. Nut and bolt rebuild. And our long distance hot rod is a 2014 Mustang GT 5.0.

[ULTM8Z]

Joined up in 2006, but I usually just come here to gawk at the cars that there's no way I could ever hope to match... lol... Every now and then I can actually contribute some information that I hope is helpful, but so much of what's done here is so far beyond my capability (whether skill level, money, or time).

Got my 1971 Camaro in 1990 at the ripe old age of 17... bought it from my dad who bought it new in 1971. By 1993 it had an overdrive transmission (so I could comfortably run the 3.42's on the highway commuting to college 35 miles each way). By 1995, it had EFI (TPI back when it was still somewhat "new")... upgraded suspension, replaced the rear drums with disc brakes, fast ratio steering box, etc by the late 90's.

So I suppose I've always had the "pro-touring" bug even before it became an actual category of car building... Shoving new technology in the car to make it ride and drive like a new car... I've always loved doing it.

[Hemi8]

There is a line, pro-touring cars go right up to the line and stop, some go over and those who do always regret it and sell their car. Crossing the the line the cars all take same shape/configuration:
- No longer fun to drive
- Turn into track-only car but for some reason they think they car drive it on the street, but since it breaks all the time now its no longer drivable unless its at WOT going in a straight line.
- Big block Chevy/powerglide w/9 in rear (they all eventually wind up with this combo)
- Tube chassis or 12 point cage
- Non insurable

Recommend to not cross the line, make the goal Fun to Drive not I have the most hp and it may turn out to be a blast to own. A 200k pro touring hot rod will cost a fortune to insure, that's if you can a company dumb enough to insure it.

Mike

[69rs]

Wow! Congratulations Larry! You built more than a website. You built an extended family. No small accomplishment. Thank you. And, thanks to the Pro-Touring family. Much love from me and LilBit.

Jim

[Steve68]

I think I'm number 342 joined in 2000 or? somewhere in that time frame, tons of great people on this site, watched it changed formats many times,

Helped build Larrys car when it was in town and I wasn't busy, I'm pretty sure we had a launch that week,

my only question nowadays, how the hell do you get rid of the damn adds!!!!

[andrewb70]

I think I'm number 342 joined in 2000 or? somewhere in that time frame, tons of great people on this site, watched it changed formats many times,

Helped build Larrys car when it was in town and I wasn't busy, I'm pretty sure we had a launch that week,

my only question nowadays, how the hell do you get rid of the damn adds!!!!

Ads are a necessary evil to offset the costs of maintaining the forum.

[Rick Dorion]

I bought a 240Z new in 1973 and went to Lime Rock doing time trials for several years. Was immediately hooked on improving handling, braking, etc. Here we are in 2021 still enjoying the same goals and this site! Thanks Larry and everyone!

[SPLATT71MC]

Big Red was the car that drew me into the muscle car that could handle category and Mark Stietlow's cars and other's down the line kept me there. In High school the Pro Street scene had my full attention and my goal was to have either a 69 Camaro or 70 Chevelle with a blown big block skinny front tires and fat Mickeys out back. As the Pro Touring/restomod trend kept growing the idea of having a fast old car that could actually stop and turn like a modern car and was still fast really intrigued me and my Pro Street interest subsided.

[Just 1 More]

My Pro Touring thing started back around 1982 with a 67 Camaro, lower profile tires, upgraded shocks and sway bar. Didn't know anything about Pro Touring back then but knew I wanted better handling and wanted to get away from the pro street thing I had been doing. Wish I still had that car

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2021/02/50950841461_c8ff68b903_b-1.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2kCmo4P)my67454 (https://flic.kr/p/2kCmo4P) by F G (https://www.flickr.com/photos/153250783@N04/), on Flickr

[TonyL]

The Thrasher Camaro brought me here almost 20 years ago. I joined in november 2001. Because of this site, I've met great people and learned so much about cars and how our culture affects us all. I've watched in shock as legends came to our board and became regular posters. I've seen us pull together to fund builds for heroes that fought for us. I've seen miracles come together, one after the other and us all support each other in our own ways. What a great privilege it's been.

[WildCherry66]

I have to say that I found this forum at the right time before I had even started on my build and learned so much about the products and methods to make an old car more enjoyable in everyway, including reliability, drivability, style, performance, and yet preserve the best parts of the original designer's vision of the car. Thanks Larry and to all who have and continue to participate in the forum as I still think it is the best place to share project updates with continuity and discuss them with a group that has the same mindset and intent of the build outside of just posting photos on social media. I hope it can continue on for many more years to come to inspire more young people to take on a project of their own just like I was over 5 years ago so we can keep these cars on the road and have fun driving them!

187630

[67-LS1]

Ads are a necessary evil to offset the costs of maintaining the forum.

Ads on this site are actually not bad. Other sites have so many pop ups that I get thrown off.
Thanks for the first 20 years although I’ve only been around for 10, and looking forward to the next 20.

[gsxrken]

Joined 16 years ago when the nut-and-bolt concours restorations were still a big thing. At the time I found the site to be full of like-minded rebel enthusiasts who scoffed at limiting ourselves to 1960s engineering. There was no local scene for these sort of cars.
16 years later we’re totally mainstream... a lot of the “that’s-not-correct-for-that-year” guys have aged out of the hobby and now people are just happy to see an old muscle car in person. On a site like this, you might think everyone has a 69 Camaro with an LS and a T56, but in real life I’ve had twenty-something kids say they’ve never seen a real Mach 1 before, which to me just sounds nuts but I’m sure it’s true.
I got my car in 1987, way before this site or the internet, and I still have it. It’s had 2 complete makeovers in those 30 years. Probably get another one before the next 30 are over. I hope the site is still here when it does so I can remain exposed to what other guys are doing out there and what’s possible.

Thanks to the owner and moderators and sponsors for the 20 years!

[813Demon340]

Thank you Larry and to everyone that makes this great site what it is!

For me, this site finally scratched the itch that I had for the muscle cars that I loved since the 80's. I have always been drawn to the vintage Trans Am cars and watching them race. The Pro Touring movement finally blended the muscle cars and the sports cars into one kick ass package. I have been to a lot of racing events (dirt track, drag racing, off road, road course, etc) but the best ones were the Optima events. Those events made me feel like I belonged there and everybody just liked the variety of cars attending. I hope this site continues for another 20 years, as it continues to showcase and inspire enthusiasts on all levels.

My pro touring inspiration started in 1988 with a black and white picture of the "1969 TEAM AMX" in the AMC Muscle book and my desire to build my car to look like that car did.
188596

[TANKMASTERJ]

I joined just a few years ago and only wish I'd found it 20. Like everyone here that already started building a car PTF did several things flee me but 3 things in particular.
One
Create scope creep and increase cost due to my eyes are bigger than my wallet.

Two help me save money on the things I really want for my car. Because there's always a guy not finishing what be started for various reasons.
Three
Teach me too be patient and scan the forum fo others experience and expertise because there sure is a lot of knowledge here
Into worry about going forward not enough young people getting in and government clamping down on hot rodders.
However
Larry the forum totally Rocks.
Jason