Just seems that I;m seeing more and more cars set up in Gasser fashion. Is it just me or has anyone else noticed this too? I aint saying its good, bad, or otherwise. Just an observation. Although I have a falcon at the shop that might look alright with a straight axle and radiused and flared rear fenderwells. Anyone else here thinkin of building a gasser ?
My dad is building a 41 chevy, small block,cross ram, 4 speed nose bleeder. One of the guys on here, dragrcr50, sold him some fenderwell headers for it.
REAL O.G. gassers are BITCHIN,,,but this shit has become the "NEW" rat rod..... ,,,,,again,,,NOTHING is sacred anymore,,,,
I hate to think as gassers as a "trend". They represent a very important time in drag racing history. When I think trend, Pro Street or Rat Rods come to mind. But yes, building gasser inspired cars has become popular. I just hope my shit doesn't become to some people the new Pro Street... Actually I dont care, I love gassers.
yeah...seems to be the new thing. I am building a gasser truck now too. could partly be that the later 50s early 60s stuff is easier to find for some. I know that if i had an early 60s nova or falcon and my options were pro street it or gasser...i would go gasser. for me on the 55 chevy truck I have seen two of them in the gasser style and have wanted to do one ever since.
My pops and uncle built a '55 gasser just the way my dad remembered seeing in his youth (for my dad). Then a year later my uncle found a real '55 gasser in a friend of a friends barn garage. Personally I dig my pops faux gasser better. Even tho when we found it at goodguys Columbus it had a straight front axle and a monster big block that drank race fuel. My uncles "real" gasser is all chopped up with the engine set all back intruding in the cab. Not to mention the sweet lines of the stock dash and foot room all gone. Replaced with shoddy aluminum so thin you'd' think it was foil. The econoline axle and suspension setup on pops car is scary enough but on uncle Timmys car? I don't even know how this supper thin, way to drilled out, supposedly magnesium axle and suspension setup on the "real"gasser is even going to safely go to the store for smokes. Then when it comes time to sell, I think any semi rich dude with enough money and taste to buy a car such as a pre-funny car B/GS ride like either of these is probably gonna go with the more stock one like my dads. It will be the still working clock and the super cool radio delete plate the sways him. Let the racers ride to the track on the trailer and leave the tributes to Sunday drives for ice cream and the occasional burn out for the ladies. All the high and mightys are sweet. And what's wrong with the term "rat rod" I've seen some pretty ratty ones. Just cause Aaron Khan says not to call his car a rat doesn't mean they don't exist. I kinda think of them as some what of a tribute to Big Daddy. Like what a nasty mouse like cartoon monster would drive. All exaggerated and scary. Just like my dad and uncles gassers. Scary is sometimes what makes it cool. 'til the steering goes out and runs you into the front lawn of the police station.
Gasser style cars and trucks rule! The world will be a better place with more Gassers running the streets. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=9538
Some people are crazy, but I still like the gasser look. When I was in high school ( 9th grade ) A buddy of mine was given a front end crunched 57 Ford wagon. He found a new dog house and straight axle and gassed the crap out of it and that was cool. But anything different was cool back then like my 51 Ford Woodie, so gassers are also cool today it's all about what you like not what everybody else likes. Rags
I started the build on my gasser about a year and a half a go there weren't many around here in East Tennessee. I finished mine last year the day before I took it to Bowling Green for HHR. Since then there have been gassers popping up everywhere I like the "trend" that is starting to come up right now and look forward to seeing what else shows up in the future.
There will be nostalgia for well done pro-street cars, and rat rods someday... Not here. But there will never be nostalgia for crappy, cobbled together rat rods, or 200 305SBC pro-streets. If a gasser car is done right (Like Shakey Puddin'), you won't have to worry about it just being "trendy"
Speedway has noticed it to. when i bought my straight axle for my GASSER 4 years ago i paid just a little over $200. now the same axle is over $400. in a few years the trend will wear off and we be able to buy em up cheap.
Well In my my shop we havent built anything but gasser style cars for three years now... 7 that i can think of and finishing one up thjis summer to debut at good guys in texas i think. as for the gassers around we have 14 so far to run at tulsa on the 30th from around okla . I love em ... I am starting to see a trend toward the modified production type cars as well and i really like thm
YEP - Gassers are getting popular again.....and I love it!!! I hope to see more of them at the drag strip.
I personally don't see much difference between liking something because everyone likes it, and its "cool"...( to determine "COOL" check Discovery...) and NOT liking something because its "cool"... either way, others are making your mind up for you... build what you like...whether there are a million of 'em, or just yours...its your $$$, and your time...
i think your assessment of the situation is off. speedway was probably sitting on a fair number of axles from their last batch, before the trend came back. when they sold out, they had to have a fresh batch made. the price of steel has skyrocketed since the last order, labor has gone up, etc. if they were sitting on 20 axles for years until they were sold, they may only have ordered half as many this time around to avoid warehousing more dead inventory, smaller order, higher cost per piece.
yea gassers are on the rise cause the "rat-rod" (crap built cars stereotype flat black/red wheels) thing is outta control.
For those of us of a certain age it reminds us of the cars we saw at the drags in the sixties..I am starting to piece together a 51 Chevy hardtop I found that raced in San Antonio/Austin back then, it has "Ferguson" painted on the doors? powered by 396?..anyone out there at the Double Eagle strip in the sixties, Augie "Hands" Arkov and his white 56 sedan delivery, "Jiminy Cricket" Henry J,, Deans "the Lemon" 55 Chevy?? my lime green, no name, 55 Chevy two-door sedan, pimply faced driver?.....
I always did like it. I liked the ones I saw as a kid in the 70's...more of street freaks back then. And when I started to build models in the early-mid 80's and saw the Revell "Street Demon" 54 Delivery I was hooked. I built all of my models sitting high. In 86-87 I almost bought a 53 Chevy with a straight axle...too young and needing my parents signature, my dad not being a car guy said no way. In the early 90's had a 69 Olds F-85 that I was going to jack up but sold it before anything was done. I also remember alot of the car shows and saw very few in the 80's and 90's...VERY FEW...there is good sides and bad to trends. At first it is cool to have a car or style no one else has. When it becomes popular the unique-ness ( is that a word?) wears off. But like anything, it turns into a trend...even back in the 50's one guy had a hot rod then another and another and it spread like wild fire. Same with customs, pinstriping, flame-jobs, choppers, gasser style cars and street freaks, and station wagons. Even that hideous van craze in the 70's. I am thinking the next craze might be jacked up...shackled, traction bars, L-88 style hoods, massive deep dish Cragars with Super-Sixtys white letter meats on the back, 70's style musclecars or wanna-be musclecars.
From a racing, not car show stand point, I don't mind the new interest. All the years running mine, either racing on the street or track, it gets pretty boring going against late models, muscle cars, or as someone else mentioned, 305's in pro-streets. I have found it a lot more exciting running against old iron with a similar lack of aerodynamics, top heavy ride, less than predictable steering, and lack of modern traction that I have. It seems like my shift points are automatically raised 500-1000 rpm if the car next to me is something I truly dig. Keep them coming, it makes the hobby a LOT more fun.
I loved them in 1975.... ....and in 2004 and today, I remember "Gasser Inspired" straight axled street cars as early 1968. I think they wound down, at least in Chicago, by 1975. We just called them "Axled" cars. I love all these new cars being built. Just keep those kingpins well greased! Joel p.s. In the 1975 pic, there is barely noticable 3 more "Axled" cars. Altogether, there were 1- '55 Chevy, 1- '66 GTO, 1- '67 GTO, 1- '67 Nova and 1- '63 Impala. All with straight axles that day.
The cool thing about gassers is they spanned a decade and started out as true street cars and evolved into hardcore drag strip only cars that were then replaced by Funny Cars. So you have lots of "room" for inspiration. They changed dramatically from year to year. Some of the big dogs that were in it from start to finish, began running 11's and 12's and ended up in the bottom 9's. I talked to the guy that owned my 40 Willys in 1965 and he said even then they were trying to copy the Stone Woods and Cook Swindler Willys!!
i dont think they ever died out, well maybe for a short while during the pro street craze. i never really liked pro street and never will. seeing more gassers on the road is better than seeing more old cars at the crusher. i dont have one but i wouldnt mind seeing more at shows and at the drags. maybe one day if i ever get caught up with my junks, ill build one.
I love gassers. But they werent designed for highway driving. They belong on the strip. Driving one for any distances would be unsafe in my mind. The high center of gravity and lack of smooth suspension is just asking for problems during the nextquick manuever or a large hole in the road. I still love gassers!
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