PT '78 Malibu

[Q ship]

Hi 69, (name?) well part of the confusion may be from the "look" of your car-it definitely looks more pro-street than pro-touring. The front tires appear to be way skinnier than the rears, the 4" hood, and the graphics(which you already addressed)....well, I try to stay open minded but my first thought was "pro-street". It's a very nice car, and I (and I'm sure most others here) can appreciate the amount of work you have put into it. I especially like that you did all of it yourself! With that said, there may be a disconnect between our definitions of street car vs. race car(with a glass front end, 15 gallon fuel cell, etc, yours is pretty far out there) and p-t vs. straight line performance.

Don't get me wrong, you're definitely welcome here, it just seems a stretch to call your car "pro-touring". It seems much more biased to straight line racing than, say, road course work. I hope you stay and participate, reading the differant opinions of the people here has helped me form up what I want from my car when it is finally off jackstands. Stay and learn (as we all have) and hopefully teach us a thing or two!

[69 panel]

Q ship,

Thanks for the explanation and your input. The name came because I have a 1969 Chevy panel truck. It's bagged and lowered. You guys probably wouldn't like that one either.

As far as the front tires; yes they are skinny. I have some eight inch wide V rated tires mounted on the same style rims. I took the pictures just after returning from Atlanta Dragway, ergo the skinnies up front. I wanted to see what it would turn. I went 12:41 @ 111 and overall mileage to and from the track including three passes was 17.8 mpg.

I suppose I could put 18" wheels or better on it with low profile tires but I have done that on another vehicle and I didn't like the harsh ride. I'm sure that sacrifices some cornering ability due to sidewall flex but I'm getting long in the tooth and prefer the better ride of tall sidewall tires.

Like you mentioned, the graphics have to go but as I stated earlier it was in vogue at the time it was painted last. I felt I would regret them at the time but I let some buddies influence my decission.

I also regret the 15 gallon cell but when I first designed the back half I didn't allow enough room for a larger cell. It's changeable but it will be a relatively huge project as I sunk the cell in a steel pan with small tube frame work because it hangs relatively low and needed protection. The optima battery also sits as low as the fuel cell and is likewise protected.

It's Ok with me if people don't think my car handles well but I know it does. It's Ok that you apparently don't like the paint, I don't either but that is easily changeable for me.

Again thanks for at least making a comment.