History A History of the Anglia Gasser

Although not as early as the Willys gasser in @elgringo71 's thread,bcause of it's foreign origin and short 90" Wheelbase the Anglia didn't run on NHRA dragstrips until about '63 because of a rule from 1961 that the body had too be of American origin and had to have a wheelbase of at least 92" And even then could only run small block style engines and no supercharger unless you went to Lions,Irwindale or one of Californias other (Run What You Brung) AHRA santioned tracks.

 

Ooop! I forgot the rest.

 

That was written by my friend Dean Kirsten, owner of Anglia Obsolete in Vista, CA.

 

I just found it in my pile the other day and thought i'd post it.

 

Here is mine. Anglias have always been one of my favorites. Dean is a great guy. Met him not long ago.

 

Featured in September of 64

 

Here's another early B/Gas anglia from the same issue from the team of Montoya-Crosier-Gaglia poweredby a 283 Chevy.

 

Cool stuff - about the "other Gasser favorite".....thanks for posting ! Did I say that right - there were a lot of injected Anglia's like some of the Willis's....guess it was the class they ran in....

 

Gene Altizer had one of the early ones. It was built over the winter 1962-63 right after NHRA rules changes allowed them even with the short wheelbase. Gene became NHRA National Record Holder early in 1963, first at Cecil County and then again at Atco Dragway. He won A/Gas at the NHRA NATIONALS in September and finished the event as runner-up to Ohio George Montgomery in Middle Eliminator. A little fender damage didn't slow him down...

 

The following year Altizer built an entirely new car and actually stripped and scrapped the National Champion car from the year before. The new one had a chopped top and other refinements.

 

Looks like Lutz'n Lundberg weren't too far behind with their Anglia in November of '64.

 

Thanks for posting guys. A great read.
I love Anglia's, though my Anglia isn't an Anglia (?) but it does have a drop-tube on parallel leafs so it may qualify as a gasser.
I love the picture of the 'tuned headers' on the Lundberg car which look like they've been stick-welded using a bridge building welder !

 

Judging from the the cover it looks like they were brazed together. Also notice no use of collector pipes in those days.

 

Correction, this was a screenshot from the East Coast Dragracing Hall of Fame but some of the information is wrong. Panella Trucking is in Stockton California and definitely not Southern California. (Good eye @nickthebandit )

 

The interesting thing about the Panella Bros. car was that it was set up for A,B, and ,C Gas being buit with three different sets of motor mounts and two different transmition mouts. I also have that article. I'll see if i can find it and scan it.

 

Hot Rod Jan. '68. This must've been the C Gas engine.

 

I had a drag car with custom built down dump headers, doesn't make you very popular when driving through dusty, unpaved pits.
Also note the 4 lug Halibrands, an earlier photo shows them reversed, for those that never noticed, this was a way to get a different wheel offset without buying another pair of wheels.

Edit
My bad, the reversed Hals were on Gene Altizers Anglia.

 

Shore&Hess Hot Rod April. '66.

 

I don't know much about this one.

 

I think that one got rolled up into a little ball and killed the driver. Some one built a clone not too long ago.
Off the top of my head, so take it for what it's worth.