Pro-Touring + HellaFlush = Ill-Touring
Being passionate about modified rides, I spend a lot of time on websites that span the spectrum of hotrodding to “tuning” and everything in between. Two favorite build styles of mine are Pro-Touring and the Street Drift style called HellaFlush. HellaWho? I’ll explain in a minute. Call it DetroitFlush or Ill-Touring (Ill, as in Siiiick wheel fitment dude!). We can nail down the name later. Let’s dig into this concept a little and see what you, the reader, has to say.
First, lets define the two components of DetroitFlush individually.
Pro-Touring. The Pro-Touring.com’s definition as a reminder, is old muscle with new sports car performance. Modern suspensions, brakes, big wheels/tires and late model drivetrains (like a 6.1L Hemi Crate motor, 6 speed Tremec and 20″ wheels with 315/30/20 Pirelli’s like the TerraCuda built by Chip Foose)
HellaFlush on the other hand is the concept, “Offset Is Everything” and traces its roots to Japanese Street Drifting which pushes the limit of fenders on import cars such as WRX’s, EVO’s, 240SX’s and RX-7’s. As seen in the picture above from the HellaFlush website, the wheels fit flush to the fender. Simple in concept, difficult to achieve, especially for a street driven car. It takes careful engineering and attention to detail to fit 18×9.5, +35mm wheels in fenders designed for 16×6.5 +45mm wheels (ie Subaru WRX stock wheel size) just as it does fitting a Shelby GT500 Supercharged 5.4L V8 into the bay where a 260 ci small block once lived, like the Pro-Touring Comet we featured.
Ill-Touring or DetroitFlush… Starts with a Detroit classic, add Pro-Touring modifications like big brakes, upgraded suspension, interior and exterior updates and a modern EFI mill. Then add aggressive flush fitting wheels. Both Pro-Touring and HellaFlush movements are gaining momentum and the definitions will continue to morph. As an example, check this RX-7 ‘vert with a Mustang 5.0L featured on Speedhunters. For this discussion, let’s ask Willy Wonka. The candyman would say, “Strike that, reverse it”. Take the RX-7’s wheel fitment and transplant it onto a ’64 Ford Falcon Sprint or ’72 Chevy Nova SS. Today, we won’t dive into the HellaFlush ways of the force in achieving perfect wheel fitment, but to simplify, the Cliff Notes version would say: fender flares, fender rolling and massaging, serious negative camber, stretching tires, stiff adjustable coilovers, and wide low offset wheels.
Any hot rod artists on board want to bust out some renderings of this concept? I’ll take one of a ’64 Falcon in white running either a Turbocharged original inline-6 or high revving 289 with black Rota Torque R’s in 18″x9.5″ all around, a CF front splitter, rolled fenders, and nasty front camber. Anyone else see the potential I see or am I off my roller rockers? Time will tell… maybe I need to build my own Ill-Touring Falcon to demonstrate my illness.
Let’s hear what you have to say! Is Ill-Touring crazy cool, or just crazy! Tell us about your own crazy hot rod ideas. Leave a comment below!
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I couldn’t agree with you more on the melding of the two categories. Having a sweet Pro Touring classic with some deep dish three-piece rims flush with the fenders is the next evolution of tuning, “Pro-Tuning”. Coming up, loving classic and modern automobiles since I was a child, I’ve had my share of personal projects. From my euro-lowriding days in the early ’90s to the explosion of import tuning, and then finally getting my ’70 Skylark with a stock 350 on Rally’s and GT Qualifiers, and lastly my ’01 F150 Supercrew drop with Hotchkis suspension on 22’s. Although I still plan on making my truck, “hellaflush,” making a classic with the amenities of a modern sports car is now my focus. I can only imaging how sweet a Falcon (“Falc-dog” is what we say from the Bay Area) would look dropped low and sweet on a staggered, deep rimmed, flush setup with a blown 5.4L from a Lightning or even a Ford GT. Sick!
Falc-dog! I like that. ha ha Thanks for the comment. The ’70 Skylark sounds like a cool project. Pro-Tuning, I like that name. Glad you chimed in Kel!
i love this idea! its been on my mind for ages and i think it will work brilliantly as long as its executed tastefully, not too much poke, just nice and flush. ive also been wondering what a fenderless ’32 would look like sitting on the floor with some dished wheels & streched tyres (yes i realise having no fenders cancels out the whole “flush” premise)
I gotta say, I’m stoked to know that someone else sees it this way!
I’ve been a proponent of perfect fit and subtle modifications (subtle in the sense that you may not catch it at first glance… even if it took an extra 100 hours of massaging a panel!), and the whole HellaFlush/Pro-Tuning concept NAILS the idea.
If you’ve looked at a late-model ‘Vette (Z-06, namely), dig on how great they look with the wheels pushed out, and how amazing one looks when care is taken with aftermarket wheels and tires… It has to go beyond the simple “Well my buddy runs 18’s/19’s, so it’ll look good”, right into “how much available space is there, or how much room can we make, and what can we fill that space with PERFECTLY?
I’m loving this… thanks for bringing it to light!!
Well i make diecast cars and i had a lamborghini murcielago and recenty bought a 1968 camaro , i decided to take the lambo 6.2l v12 and stuck it into the engine bay of the camaro also i swaped the wheels from the lambo which are some hre wheels deep lip in the back and smaller in the front the back wheels are sticking out a little and touch the fender slightly hellaflush style if anyone would like to see pics i will send to your email my email is moc.liamgnull@zerdivla.ocsicnarf