Pro Touring Call- I need some pics...

[SRD art]

Oh yeah, I don't drink so that pop and chatting sometime sounds perfect. 🙂

 

[307 Regal]

I can dig that.

 

[jlcustomz]

Well Ben, hadn't got a decent car book in a while, so if you eventually get one published I'll definitely get a copy or 2.
I remember & probably still have the article where Jeff's caddy blew everyone else away & that was so much damn cooler than cars someone spent a crapload for someone else to build them a cookie cutter.. Would be nice to see a book from someone in the industry that's still a real world type person we can relate to & have had the pleasure of knowing;at least online for years now.
I'll pm you a few older pics that were less in progress than my vehicle is now in case you may have use. Real world used LS swap done in 2002 before all the swap parts &crate engine craze. Also a little real world fabrication on a budget & what can be done rather than searching for hard to find original body parts

 

[Streetbu]

Here's mine, another Malibu 😀

 

[vanrah]

Greetings Ben & all; Well I read 95% of the whole post & this touches on the problem of the term of "Pro Touring", Mussel Car, Classic or what ever. My problem is with the word "pro" as most of us Hot Rod types are hobbyist. Ok, many of us are or were pro's at one time or other in some form mechanics! But when ya put 80% of a hobby car together in your garage by yourself can ya or do ya want a call it "pro" or where meaning, did ya pay for having someone else ( a Pro) build it in a professional shop? So all this hot air coming out of this ole' guy is so much BS. I've considered myself a amateur & built the Bronze brick as "Two Lane Blacktop Bandit"! Perspective 1979-80 I don't think the term "Pro Touring" existed yet?? Maybe had some influence from Bert Reynolds movies "Smokie & the Bandit". The idea building the Bronze Brick was to travers the most ROAD in the shortest time, a ROAD car, turn, stop & GO. I LOVE going to the drag strip & of course Auto-X ing now days too. If that's what a "pro touring" car is the Bronze Brick may fall into your description. To me it's an Amateur Touring Car" Anyway do what ya like with my pictures, if ya get rich off them buy me dinner sometime. So now I got myself thinking, how much did I really pay someone else to do on the Brick? Thanks for puttin' up with me, Ole' Bob
Ps: If ya want more pictures, just ask. But careful what ya ask for.
Pss: WARNING another Malibu!

 

[csstrux]

Still in the barn awaiting completion... It'll get there.

 

[oldsofb]

Still in the barn awaiting completion... It'll get there.

Haha! Me too. I got more parts on the shelf than on the car 😛 One day.

Hutch

 

[Kiko]

... the problem of the term of "Pro Touring", ... My problem is with the word "pro" as most of us Hot Rod types are hobbyist. ... But when ya put 80% of a hobby car together in your garage by yourself can ya or do ya want a call it "pro" ...

This is sooo right! There's no way to compete with anyone paying unheard sums of money to get a "Pro Touring" car custom built by someone else on their behalf. Thar's not my idea of fun...

I bought my 1983 GP six months after graduating. I saved enough and factory ordered a brand new GP LJ in August of 1982 -- boy was I in seventh heaven when I picked it up two months later at the Ron Hodgson dealership in St. Albert (Alberta). We've been together ever since!
Just celebrated it's 35th birthday last month...

I've been modifying the car ever since I drove it home that faithful Fall day. First it was the small stuff -- honing my non-existent skills. (I only took "shop" in high school one year.) Later on, took some evening courses at a college to learn how an engine works, how to take one apart and mainly how to put it back together! It's on its fourth engine now -- from the original 305, then two home built 350s and now a BB 454. Everything was learned "on-the-job". Lots of mistakes and re-dos on the way, but it was fun!

To cut the story short, the latest build took roughly 10 years in my garage. It was all done with significant help from my son -- great bonding experience. The car was completely stripped and rebuilt. Every single panel and bolt was removed. The only thing that we did not attempt was paint, powder coat and chroming -- everything else was "touched" by our hands. It was the journey that was important to me and not the timeline nor the destination -- great memories (and lots of pictures to reminisce!).

BTW, we just started to re-build my son's 1973 Camaro RS -- I can proudly say that the "car virus" has been successfully passed down to the next generation!

 

[csstrux]

Well put Mike, and I was teasing BTW. 😀. You're right on many counts. One thing you clearly got wrong was that I have any money to throw at this, 😉 lol! J/K Up till now I actually pay for my car directly by doing renderings on the side, a talent I'm lucky to have, but that makes it a long drawn out process. I'm working on that one though. When I was younger Schwartz' Caddy blew my mind. That car in itself was a big inspiration to me. I have 2 2door Novas at home I could've built but decided to do a G body station wagon to avoid the belly button mr. popularity follow the leader car disease.

One of the main reasons I wanted to write this book is because I see too many folks trying to get into Pro Touring without having a clue or just following the leader like a bunch of lemmings, or NOT getting into it because the "apparent" price tag scares them, or resorting to cheap garbage parts to save a buck in the wrong part of the build.

The truth is that the high dollar cars are the marketing tool the media uses to make a buck, and to promote the industry so that's what gets publicized. There's nothing new there, sex sells, beauty sells, masculinity sells, $400K '69 Camaros sell, blah blah blah. There's a huge bunch of folks with enough money to have what they want, I see that every day when I come to work and walk through the shop to get to my office. But, compare Pro Touring again to the media, what isn't seen in the main stream public's eye is all the guys that exactly fit what you are describing. Those are the guys my book will appeal to in the Pro Touring world. Based on my own experience and tapping into those I get to rub shoulders with and the things I've learned by working behind the scene for a major Pro Touring suspension manufacturer, I want to paint a more realistic view of how to enjoy this end of automotive hobby. I know lots of guys, myself being one of them, that fit what you described, lots. In fact if you're on a forum like ProTouring.com there are plenty of build threads from regular old guys like you and me. The high dollar cars that have saran wrapped tires when the roll across the coliseum floor, they're mostly there just to inspire us little guys to keep plugging along and make our own cars better. That's my point of view anyway.

I started building my car when there just a handful of G bodies doing this. Now there's so many parts out there to make these cars more competitive (or just more fun to drive everyday) for which in behalf of all of us G guys I'm grateful. But like any auto sport that has EVER been created, it will always evolve into the he who has the deepest pockets wins. Earlier this year I got a very up close view of several big hitters at LS Fest including high dollar cars like Mike DuSold and his race car disguised as a street car. But more outweighing the big boys in number were a group of folks just there to have fun and push their cars as far as they were willing to go themselves. Everyone had a blast, despite Mike cleaning house.

For a while I got bitter because I knew I'll always be behind the 8 ball financially and therefore my car may never hit the top 5. Racing became more frustrating, and stressing over what I needed to upgrade to go faster. Finally one day my son reminded me in his excitement just to have his car on a track that this is supposed to be fun. All you win is a $20 trophy anyway so if someone wants to spend hundreds of thousands of $ for recognition in the limelight I guess they get what they paid for. For me, I'll be more than happy to settle with ripping around a course as fast as I can in my ex grandpa car that every inch was built by me, and very creatively on a budget of less than probably $15K. That's where my satisfaction lies now.

Well said!

 

[csstrux]

Greetings Ben & all; Well I read 95% of the whole post & this touches on the problem of the term of "Pro Touring", Mussel Car, Classic or what ever. My problem is with the word "pro" as most of us Hot Rod types are hobbyist. Ok, many of us are or were pro's at one time or other in some form mechanics! But when ya put 80% of a hobby car together in your garage by yourself can ya or do ya want a call it "pro" or where meaning, did ya pay for having someone else ( a Pro) build it in a professional shop? So all this hot air coming out of this ole' guy is so much BS. I've considered myself a amateur & built the Bronze brick as "Two Lane Blacktop Bandit"! Perspective 1979-80 I don't think the term "Pro Touring" existed yet?? Maybe had some influence from Bert Reynolds movies "Smokie & the Bandit". The idea building the Bronze Brick was to travers the most ROAD in the shortest time, a ROAD car, turn, stop & GO. I LOVE going to the drag strip & of course Auto-X ing now days too. If that's what a "pro touring" car is the Bronze Brick may fall into your description. To me it's an Amateur Touring Car" Anyway do what ya like with my pictures, if ya get rich off them buy me dinner sometime. So now I got myself thinking, how much did I really pay someone else to do on the Brick? Thanks for puttin' up with me, Ole' Bob
Ps: If ya want more pictures, just ask. But careful what ya ask for.
Pss: WARNING another Malibu!

I knew I recognized that thing! We followed you to Summer Nats In the grey Malibu last year, probably from Big Bend area. I was admiring that thing the whole time. Nice piece of work there!