Intro, Classic Trucks! and lets spread the word.

[Wes.Drelleshak]

Hey truck people,
My name is Wes Drelleshak and I'm the Associate Editor for Classic Trucks Magazine.



For about 3 years now I've been addicted to the Pro-Touring trend and ways to make Trucks handle better, More specifically Classic Trucks.

It all started for me when Bret from Ride Tech invited a few Editors to Jasper Indiana for a little shock testing. Bret let us drive several cars, trucks and one fiber glass hot rod.

I've been around racing in the form of BMX racing during my teens-late 20's but never had the opportunity to flog any high performance street/race cars before this, especially someones elses pride and joy.

My eyes were open to a new world of what was possible.... I had no idea it was so simple and so complex all at the same time. So I start thinking about how to make my '59 Chevy Fleetside handle better and I started looking at what others were doing, Rob McGregor, Greg Schneider, Rob Phillips,Rob Mckeown,Mike Hickman, Deuces Wild John and RJ and lots of others.

I had a conversation with Marcell Venable of Socal Challenge during the 2012 optima Ultimate Street Car Challenge in NV. The topic came up of how cool it was to see 6 trucks competing in the event and how, do we get more trucks at events like it. So this morning( 6 months later ) I got the brite idea ( why didn't I think of it sooner ) to texted Larry Callahan that same question. How do we get more truck auto-crossing?

His response was to create a Thread on Pro-Touring specific to trucks. Wow! I didn't expect that but I'm happy to be apart of it. With magazines,tv shows and internet all showing performance trucks how do we make it so more people get involved with Pro-Touring?

[csouth]

Good to see an area finally setup for the trucks. There are definitely some nice rides out there. Heck the Roadster Shop would have won the PHR Muscle Car of the Year had it not been a truck.

[Rod]

Wes man!!! good to have you here

[Yelcamino]

Welcome aboard Wes! (Rob Mcgaffin introduced us at Nashville Goodguys)

[Slick68]

Wes, welcome to Pro-Touring.com! Thanks you for getting this started and rolling. As a truck nut myself, I've been doing some autocrossing in my 68C10. Although I'm not great at it, I'm having a great time with it. I'm hoping to soon be able to start upgrading suspension component, get a better wheel/tire combo, and start making driver mods as well to improve my game. It's great to see someone finally take initiative to make this more publicized.

Hey truck people,
With magazines,tv shows and internet all showing performance trucks how do we make it so more people get involved with Pro-Touring?

Basically, to answer this question is simply by getting enough aftermarket support to make the market for truck suspensions to be more competitive so prices can ease off. I know you get what you pay for, but some of the stuff I've been shopping and looking at seems to be way pricier than similar components for "cars". I understand that performance suspension for trucks is a relatively new concept and a lot of R&D has to be done to figure out better geometry, weight bias, and all that jazz that I know little about. Racers have been working on making their Camaros and Mustangs handle better since T/A racing in the 60's, so it's taken a long time to sort these things out. With modern advancements in technology, it shouldn't take that long for truck suspension to "catch up". The market just needs to become more competitive as these advances become available and as more truck enthusiasts start taking more notice to the handling market.

[Peter Mc Mahon]

Hey awesome, glad your on here. I read your magazine. I'm working on a 56 F100 with a coyote motor. Hope to see some serious pro touring trucks in your magazine.
Peter

[lilbill72]

Glad there's finally a truck section on here. Looking forward to finding the truck builds a lot easier

[Buryingthesun]

Nice too see a truck section finally, Many nice truck builds here and now a home for them!

[AutoX_a_Truck?]

His response was to create a Thread on Pro-Touring specific to trucks. Wow! I didn't expect that but I'm happy to be apart of it.

Nice!

Wes, your truck is one of my favorites. I would love to see it in person someday.

Pro touring or not, I was pumped to see that Classic Trucks put a pic of my truck in the magazine a few years back!

[brawls43]

Awesome, a truck section! Love the articles Wes, been a subscriber for years. Been trying to convert my 1950 F-1 to a pro-touring chassis for a couple years now. Got a bit distracted doing some Chumpcar racing. Hope to finish my chassis this year and have it on the road next spring.

[bovey]

Hey Wes, this is great. It's amazing how people still don't see trucks as a performance platform. I've owned my 71 GMC for 25 years now and I still get people who still think the only muscle car is a 69 Z or a GTO... Anyway, I pleasantly give them a good view of my tail lights.

On the pro touring front, I'm shocked at how well my truck handles with even mild suspension upgrades. Hell, it's only the beginning, more to come.

[protouring70]

Alright!!!!!! I was excited to see this!!! I love following everyones builds but this exciting to see a truck section here!!!!!Thanks Guys!!

[driveit]

Nice!

Wes, your truck is one of my favorites. I would love to see it in person someday.

Pro touring or not, I was pumped to see that Classic Trucks put a pic of my truck in the magazine a few years back!

Love this truck!!!

[RobNoLimit]

Woo-Hoo!!!! Glad we got our own section. I do a lot on the 67-72 site, but I get lost on the whole "layin rocker on 22's" - just not my thing. Anything we can do to help get more trucks out there.With the basis of this site already set in performance, this should be the perfect spot. Now we just have to tell all the truck guys - ?? any thoughts of a sidebar mention in an upcoming mag Wes?
Matt, where have you been shopping? Our No Limit Wide-Ride IFS is under 3k complete, thats almost half the cost that the typical Camaro guy shells out. Is it as good? well, we win alot, Summers and Sons won the Columbus Shootout last year on our suspension, Smitty's runs it, along with Finch/Turner. 4 of the 5 C10's at optima were on No Limit suspension. Thats pretty good. If we could only get some ink in Classic Trucks.

[shizzy]

also glad to see a truck section. My main driving factor for building a truck is freedom of expression and easier buy in.

[Blue Oval Man]

Good deal. By the way, love your magazine. I will soon be starting on my 72 F100 to be done pro touring style. It will have an 04 Mercury Marquis front suspension and a 98 Lincoln Mk VIII independent rear suspension. Original plans were to use the Lincoln 4 valve mod motor but that damn Coyote is just so tempting. The frame wil be fully boxed with added X crossmember and with some simple mods to my chosen suspension pieces it should handle quite well. This truck will be on a limited budget hence the choice of factory type suspension. Maybe the next one can get all fancy with the aftermarket stuff.
David.

[protouring70]

Hey Rob.....I will look into your products. I was looking at CPP for the budget side of things but also want a great product like you offer with results to back it up!

[Bob B]

Sweet Action! I'm rebuilding my first truck, with performance and handling a priority. I love to drive hard and plan on beating on it when finished. Always interested in other truck builds. Thank guys!

[Smittys]

Truck section Love this idea! I have always been a truck guy the more info that is out there the better. We need a build thread sub section. I'm at the East Coast Nats right now and there was a 59 Chevy truck running today with the spare tire on the bedside. I think he was having more fun then anyone you don't have to have the fastest most high tech truck to get started. Rob has some awesome parts available for most years Ride Tech has a lot of kits available as well.

There are a lot of trucks out there on Airride you would be amazed at what some good shocks and sway bars will do to them and I do race my truck on air!

[RobNoLimit]

Here's a few picts of a fun build. This was done as a display vehicle for Black Widow Mufflers. We used Off-Road fiberglass to widen the body 6", then stuff 335's on all corners. - no extra work involved! Some simple suspension mods and a 6.0 LQ9 + T5 and she's ready to rumble. Super fun to drive, and has already run into the 45 second zone at A.M.P. - ask Wes, thats fast!