History What is the big deal with Gassers???

Agreed!

 

There, Fixed it for ya

I have never seen a gasser run on the dragstrip but I remember seeing them on the street in the early 1960s. When I was in the 8th grade, a 55 Chevy gasser was sitting in the street waiting for after-school traffic to pass so the young lady driving with her baby could turn left. She saw a gap in traffic and started to go but realized she was going to kill the engine. She pushed in the clutch, raced the engine and quickly let the clutch out again trying to catch that gap in traffic....and she got a 6" wheelie! I'm sure she never knew it but what a thrill for a 12 year old boy to see it happen!

 

If I didn't already have a signature, this could be it....

 

FINALLY got finished with my Chevelle, and now moving on to my Studebaker build. Car is a '46 Champion business coupe, but will have a '41 Champion front clip. It will be a period representative, but not exactly period correct, gasser style car. Pretty hot 406 SBC, single four barrel, Muncie 4 speed (yep, three pedal car), Ansen two piece scatter shield (Yes, I do know it is no longer NHRA legal) long traction bars, late 30's Willys I-beam straight axle with parallel leaf springs, nose up but not stupid high like some I have seen, vintage slot mags, minimal interior. For sure no PS, PB AC, suede interior machine. It won't happen right away, but I will get some pics up. My younger brother and I owned and ran a D-Gas '55 Chevy 2 door sedan a few years in the late 60's, so we lived the era and should be able to put the Stude together to where it looks and acts the part.

 

Are you coming out ? Build what you want guy's and don't let others tell ya shit. Make it safe and bitchin

 

I've seen some really nice gasser builds, but then again a straight axle and hiked up front end doesn't make anything a cool gasser.

 

Therein lies the reason you don't get it. Gassers are the essence of drag racing. Find a cheap, light, readily available car and stuff a big ass engine in it.

Bob

 

Kinda like high heels & a pole won't make her a stripper either.
Might be good for laughs though.

 

Boy, you guys got that right!

 

Actually I dig the blue and the white VW's. T he white one appears to be a model on my phone screen anyway.

 

gassers?....you had to be there. Nothing like it at the time. In the early '60's on any given Sunday you could watch national record holding gassers at Ohio's Dragway 42. Racers such as the Hrudka brothers, Ron Hassel, Eddie Shartman, and others I don't recall. It was grass roots racing and anybody could play. Variety was the name of the game.

 

wow I thought this was deleted........

 

Why would such an interesting & informative thread need to be deleted????????

 

I don't know I guess that just goes to (SHOW) me......

 

If you had seen SWC. Ohio George Montgomery and KS Pitman and others go down the track, you'd know why.

 

Gassers are something to put outside to make your neighbors think you are insane.

 

Good one Jr. Our neighbors think we're insane for sure.

 

In my early teens I watched Gene Cromer and guys like him campaign the old Willy's,Henry J's and Anglia's back in the 60's.

Being a impressionable kid it was ingrained in my memories,,seeing them now so many years later is like watching history repeat it's self,,only I was a witness both then & now. HRP

 

There's no way you can say that something like this isn't a big deal. Pork Zartman and the Filthy Forty

 

If you have to ask there is no point in trying to explain!

 

Very True, help-me-honda......

 

Even when not at the track, there's just something about being able to drive a street legal race car through a small quiet town.

 

Sorry guys I made a mistake on my original post. I meant to say Gassers are OK if your going to run it on the strip.

 

And the posts here prove you are wrong. Most people, (thats almost everyone) was not able to go to dragstrips back then but Most people (thats almost everyone) in the 60s, saw gassers on the streets.

 

Why couldn't you make it to the strip?

Most of the street/strip cars around here were Modified Production cars, not Gassers.

 

Using this train of thought, there were a lot of posers back in the 50's and 60's. In the late 60's I drove my '55 Chevy gasser as a daily driver to work, and everywhere. Raced it most weekends, and fixed it inbetween so I wouldn't be hoofing it to work.
My mentality at the time was exactly what you described. I wanted to make it look and go like the big boys car's did, but I couldn't afford two vehicles, so it did double duty. Probably half the gassers running at the drag strip back in the late 60's were driven there, and not towed or trailered.

 

I disagree. over 6,000 miles on my street legal Austin last year, plus some passes down the strip. It's as much fun driving it on the street as it is the strip.

 

because I was 11 years old

 

guess i thought everyone new what a gasser was

 

+2 what muttley said!.......however in fairness, I don't get what is so cool about spending $200,000 to go a 1/4 of a mile in 3.5 seconds...For that kind of money you would think the ride would last longer.....And you don't get to do any wheelie's or anything.....LOL

Also I don't care what you say, If when you come off the starting line, Your front wheels spin, you are not cool!..I don't care if your mazda has twin turbos....LOL