Resto, restomod or pro-touring? What the terms actually mean

Every classic car build starts with the same decision: how much of the original car do you keep? The three common answers have names, and knowing them makes it easier to plan a budget and talk to shops.

Restoration

A restoration puts the car back the way it left the factory. Correct parts, correct finishes, often correct date codes. It's the right call for rare, numbers-matching cars where originality is the value. The trade-off is that the car drives like it's 1967, because it is.

Restomod

A restomod keeps the classic look and quietly replaces the parts that make old cars tiring or unsafe: drum brakes become discs, the steering box becomes a rack, the carburetor becomes fuel injection, and the car gets real air conditioning. Done well, a stranger can't tell from ten feet away. You can drive it to dinner in August.

Pro-touring

Pro-touring pushes the restomod idea toward performance. The car is built to stop, turn and hold speed through corners like a modern sports car, usually on a modern chassis or subframe with big wheels, wide tires and adjustable suspension. Autocross events like Goodguys are where these cars get tested.

Which should you build?

• Rare or numbers-matching car: restore it, or make every change bolt-in and reversible.
• Driver-quality car you want to use: restomod. Brakes, steering, cooling and A/C give you the biggest improvement per dollar.
• You want lap times: pro-touring, and start with the chassis. Our chassis comparison lists published prices for each platform.

Whatever you choose, plan the whole car before you buy parts. Wheel size depends on brakes, brakes depend on spindles, and spindles depend on the chassis.