Got Something to Say? I want to hear from you.Drop me a brief email at john.hunkins@sorc.com.
Why do some hot rod hard liners hate modernized muscle cars? Thankfully, there are only a few of these guys on the Internet, but they have decided to make a full-time job out of bashing Pro Touring cars featured in PHR. When I read these posts, two things run through my head--first, PHR doesn't just cover Pro Touring, nor is it even the majority of our coverage. We cover all types of serious muscle cars. Secondly, what is so wrong with wanting a classic to handle as well as, say, a new Toyota Camry? (Did you know that 17-inch tires are standard for the 2009 model?) I also ask myself how is it that anybody who has embraced the technology of the Internet can eschew technology that's been on production cars since the '80s? You know--radial tires, fuel injection, disc brakes, negative camber gain, a low scrub radius, and a self-centering camber curve? We're not talking anything exotic here.
Before the haters fire up the high-speed Internet connection with a flame job for me, please hear me out. I totally get the Street Machine and Pro-Street guy. For most of the 30 years I've been driving, I've owned a car that had big `n' littles--most of the time because that's what it needed to runs 11s or 10s. My '68 Chevelle has 28x10.5 Mickey Thompsons at the back and pizza-cutters up front--but only for the track. For the street, the Chevelle wears 17-inch rims with Nitto R-compound rubber, mostly because I like the car to stop and turn when I want.
Yet no matter how many times I cheer about the caveman simplicity of the Chevelle's carbureted big-block, there's always some ignorant post about how PHR "only" covers $100,000 '69 Camaros with LS engines, 20-inch tires, and space-age suspensions. Please, give me a break. In the prior 12 issues of PHR, we featured 14 Pro Touring cars, 13 Pro Street machines, four restorations (unmodified historical features), three late-models, and three that could best be described as halfway between Pro-Street and Pro Touring. Price-wise, our feature cars run the gamut from pocket change, to truly unobtainable. On that subject, we're looking more for vision, ingenuity, execution, uniqueness, or a fresh take on an old idea, over any particular price. And yes, we actively seek out, and feature, Street Machines and Pro Street cars. (I'm guessing many of the complainers haven't read PHR recently, or have selective memory.)
With that said, sometimes I just dig a car right out of the time tunnel from 1978. White-letter tires, Keystone mags, Gabriel HiJackers, Blackjack headers, and an eight-track with Peter Frampton playing "Do You Feel Like We Do." You remember the car. It has the smell of a vinyl bench seat baking in the hot summer sun. You'll never, ever, see me rag on anything like that, because that's sacred high school ground for me. (It's why I read other magazines too.) Cars like that are worth saving or re-creating, because they make us feel good about our past. As much as I appreciate that kind of car, you'll only find those featured in old back issues of PHR.
I learned a long time ago that it's OK to complain to the boss, but only if you've got something constructive to say, a game plan to make things right, and the willingness to take ownership and make it happen. This is 2009, and 99 percent of our readers drive cars that were built after 1990--and most are far newer than that. We've grown accustomed to good tires, good brakes, good handling, and good street manners from fuel injection, so what's wrong with transferring some or all of that over to our classics? Pro Touring guys have a valid complaint about their cars as originally built, and have pro-actively fixed them, sometimes with money, sometimes with ingenuity, and sometimes with both. I say, you can disagree, but don't hate them for getting out from behind the computer keyboard and doing something about it!