The early Pro Touring cars featured wide tires on all four corners and a hunkered-down stance that received lots of attention from the media, since it was a fresh, new take on a beloved body style. The automotive world had not seen this big a breakthrough since the first Pro Street car rolled out of Scott Sullivan’s shop in 1979. That particular Pro Street car took modifications that were seen only on the drag strip and blended them with a 1967 Chevy II street car. The Pro Touring style took this same blending approach, except that the object was to carve corners instead of straight-line performance.
As for the name Pro Touring, it was a term that Mark Stielow and longtime magazine editor Jeff Smith coined in the April 1998 issue of Chevy High Performance. Mark’s intention with the Pro Touring name was to refer to European touring cars and the handling capabilities that went along with them. Touring also referred to events such as the Hot Rod Power Tour, which required these modified muscle cars to run for long distances without the need for constant repairs. Mark mentioned the term, Jeff used it frequently in his magazine efforts, and the rest is history!
Although a certain few cars kicked off the idea, it took quite a few years for the automotive aftermarket to catch on and start manufacturing products that made it easy for folks to turn a standard muscle car into a high-performance machine. The company that set the standard for high-quality go-fast parts is Detroit Speed (this book follows along with a complete build to show you how to build your very own Pro Touring car).
Detroit Speed builds products that are track-tested for performance and street-tested for durability, which makes the company a standout in a sea of competing manufacturers. Many of its products are bolt-in replacements for factory components, making it easy to convert your sloppy muscle car suspension into a masterpiece of precisely engineered products that really work!
If you’ve ever driven a stock or modified muscle car, you know they are usually a headache to drive. It’s all part of the experience of driving an old car but it certainly has its downsides when you’re sitting in traffic or perhaps carving through a mountain road. Lots of them came with manual brakes, manual steering, and temperamental transmissions that only get worse with age. They are a bear to drive in stock form, and those characteristics are even worse when straight-line performance is the goal. Street/strip and drag cars are usually miserably loud and uncomfortable to drive. They’re super cool and serve a great purpose but if you want a car that you can really enjoy, a Pro Touring build makes the most sense.
George Poteet’s Talladega-inspired 1969 Ford Torino was built by Troy Trepanier and is one of the most detailed Pro Touring builds of all time. With that said, it isn’t exactly practical because of the extreme show car quality, and it certainly isn’t attainable by the average enthusiast.
This is what the average enthusiast can expect to find in his or her own garage: a first-generation Camaro scattered into a million pieces. Luckily, parts are affordable, and any gearhead with the appropriate tools can do the necessary work to make it a killer Pro Touring car.
Bone-stock muscle cars have lots of cool factor but it’s rather disappointing when you expect it to handle well. Soft suspension, sloppy steering, and small brakes are the biggest obstacles to tackle. You can see this Camaro is not quite ready to hit the autocross course with its old-school Firestone Wide Oval tires.
In the grand scheme of things, you have a lot of choices when it comes to building a muscle car. Some folks like to keep things original and brag about matching numbers, low mileage, and the car’s maintenance records. If that’s what you’re into, mini-tubs, big tires, and a lowered stance may not be the answer, but that one is pretty obvious.
Drag racing guys are obviously on the other side of the fence. It’s sometimes confusing with the Pro Touring look-alikes, however. These mimic the Pro Touring look with a lower ride height and large-diameter wheels. The reality of most of these builds is that the owners simply cut the coil springs up front and install lowering blocks in the rear to achieve the right stance. This does very little to help the handling of a car but it’s certainly the cheapest way to give your car the Pro Touring look. Although this is a perfectly common practice, it’s not exactly what Pro Touring is about.
Street/strip cars are multi-purpose builds but they don’t share the practicality of a Pro Touring build. This 1967 Chevelle is wickedly fast, yet tame on the street; still, at the end of the day, it just isn’t as easy to drive as a similarly prepared Pro Touring car.
This 1968 Pontiac Firebird is a prime example of a simple and practical Pro Touring build with its lowered ride height, Baer disc brakes, and wide rubber on all four corners. Firebirds and Trans Ams make for great Pro Touring cars because they’re distinct and the parts interchange with Camaro platforms making for an easy build.
Stock muscle cars are fairly decent when it comes to straight-line performance, but as soon as you throw them into the curves, this is the result. Body roll is the enemy with a Pro Touring build. To combat it you want to stiffen the suspension and help the camber stay more consistent through the suspension cycle.
Performance
A fact that most of us want to deny is that our favorite muscle cars are quite lazy when it comes to realistic performance. Yes, it might make more than 400 hp and, yes, it might run 12s in the quarter-mile, but when you line up a stock 1969 Camaro SS against a stock Mazda Miata on an autocross course, you will likely be embarrassed. The idea of a Pro Touring build is to reduce body roll, increase traction, and reduce weight (or at least shift it around to help balance the car). The further you dip into each of those three traits, the better your car performs.
The idea of a Pro Touring build is to blend the looks of a vintage muscle car with the new technologies of today’s performance cars. You can create a great-looking machine in the process. This 1969 Mustang is a great example. Its low stance and wheel combination provide a look that seems very natural for the car.
Reducing body roll helps plant all four tires evenly. Increasing traction means you can hit the corners harder and faster. Reducing weight means that your muscle car uses its horsepower more efficiently, and the weight balance greatly affects the car’s traction and handling.
Another important aspect of any Pro Touring build is the braking system. You can have thousands of dollars’ worth of suspension underneath your vehicle but if the brakes aren’t up to the task, your lap times and overall driving experience suffers. Stopping power is worth every penny, and can make a 3,400-pound Camaro feel like a high-end sports car.
Although appearance is part of the equation,