What makes a gasser a gasser?

Here's an odd one...

 

all that hudson "gasser" had was some crafty tuning, some 2" spring spacers in the front and a studebaker locking diff centre in the dana 44 and the damn thing held the national class record

 

National Dragster was there writing about the development of the Top Fuel Dragster class, of course the "rail-job" Top Fuel racers like Garlits employed narrowed rear axles, but very few, if any, of the "weekend warriors" that ran in the " Doorslammer" Gas classes were using these, or slipper clutches.
I used to go out to US-131 Dragway in Martin MI during the '62-'66 time frame, and even had relatives there that were running their "gas class" doorslammers, and I don't ever recall seeing one with a narrowed rear axle, The first doorslammers I that recall showing up with narrowed rear axles were the AFX Tempest's and Thunderbolt Fairlanes.
As for the wrinkle-walls, I can't really say, 'cause I wasn't everywhere, however I can relate that a LOT of tire manufacturer experimentation was going on, and being conducted on the strips at that time in the pursuit of better traction. One that really stuck with me is the "whistler" slicks that were being tested, they would make a high pitched whistling sound for the entire length of the track.
Interesting that this thread about a '55 Pontiac as a potential gasser, has illustrated "Gassers" with pictures of various '55-'57 Chevy's.
What? a '55 Chevy with radiused wheel-wells, and a reworked 283 is a "Gasser", while a '55 Pontiac running a dual-quad 421/4 gear would not be?
Sorry folks, but the racers that were there back in the day, would laugh their asses off reading this thread.

 

[QUOTE The first doorslammers I that recall showing up with narrowed rear axles were the AFX Tempest's and Thunderbolt Fairlanes.
.[/QUOTE]

On the full sized cars (55 Chev, etc) you could get by without narrowing the rear end. But look at Teter's 32 Vicky above. Do you think a truck rearend (6 lug wheels) and deep wheels would fit without narrowing the rearend? How about the 6 lug rearend and deep dished mags on SWC car? Or Jack Merkels car with full floating axles? Olds rearend in Shores & Hess Anglia And here's an Anglia with a full sized rearend under it, is this the look most of them had. Don't think so. Once again, check out Byron's Gasser Madness.

I gotta agree that there was no reason that a Mid 50's Pontiac couldn't be a Gasser.

Also the "Looks like a racecar, not a Gasser." statements kinda got me scratching my head too.

Larry T

 

OK, Larry, point taken, admittedly there were doorslammer Gassers that ran narrowed rear axles. What I really had in mind was that, on these cars the tires were almost always allowed to protrude from the fully radiused wheelwells, they could easily have narrowed the rear a few more inches and tucked the slicks entirely under the stock fender cutouts, but they chose not to, until latter rules changes forced the abandonment of the popular radiused wheelwells that had so defined the early Gasser "look".
I love the style of those old Willys', Anglia, and Henry J Gassers, thus when I see one of the latter incarnations with the slicks tucked way up and inside of the fenders it just looks totally weird and wrong to me, and is certainly not true to the practice or "look" of the '50s and '60 era.

 

Jessie,
I'm not trying to start an internet fist fight, sorry if it came out that way. I guess the point I'm trying to make ("What makes a gasser a gasser?") is that, on a national level, Gassers were state of the art race cars. The guys that raced them were some of the first touring pros in drag racing. I guess it started with the "Gasser War" cam ads in the early 60's.

I also know on a local level that things were not always as sophisticated. Folks did what they could with what they had at hand. Case in point, my Anglia with a full width Olds rear end and Olds Toronado wheels to narrow things up as much as possible.

And like you, I like the "tires hanging out" look. 'Course I also like the "tires under the car" look too. Or a combination of the two. (G)
Larry T

 

I think this is a two part question.

1. What made a Gasser then?

2. What makes a Gasser now?

 

1 fat rear tyres outside the bodywork,high stance big motor 2 copy gassers then

 

straight axle, high front lower rear, set back engine, moon tank in place of the grille, windows tinted the body color, rear wheels approximately an inch out side of the opened wheel wells (especially on the 50's bodies), blown or injected, ladder bars that reach mid body, tranny of choice, aluminum interior, flip front end. What am I missing?

 

It depends on which era you are looking at. The early gasser days was hopped up factory street machines.
They had to have "factory type "interior".
Car could not be chopped channeld or sectioned more than a total of 4 inches.
The fenders had to be stock and the bumpers had to be stock.
The engine could not be more than 24 inches from the ground to the crank centerline.
up till 62 the cars had to be street legal ie wipers, horn, mufflers, plates and regestration.

Cars had to be american made coupes or sedans but some foriegn cars were allowed
Around 1967 the front ends got lowered.
1969 NHRA allowed the small wheel base Anglia to be blown.
So as for your question what makes a gasser a gasser?
It depends what era you are looking for.

 

1LowLeSabre,...that Willys wagon you posted is also shown in the new Hot Rod "Hemi" special magazine that just hit the newstands. It's Hemi powered and pretty cool in my opinion. Someone should build one like it.
...the "Hemi" magazine is really cool too, check it out.

 

On the full sized cars (55 Chev, etc) you could get by without narrowing the rear end. But look at Teter's 32 Vicky above. Do you think a truck rearend (6 lug wheels) and deep wheels would fit without narrowing the rearend? How about the 6 lug rearend and deep dished mags on SWC car? Or Jack Merkels car with full floating axles? Olds rearend in Shores & Hess Anglia And here's an Anglia with a full sized rearend under it, is this the look most of them had. Don't think so. Once again, check out Byron's Gasser Madness.

I gotta agree that there was no reason that a Mid 50's Pontiac couldn't be a Gasser.


Also the "Looks like a racecar, not a Gasser." statements kinda got me scratching my head too.

Larry T[/QUOTE]


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Just to set the record straight...Teter's '32 rear was not narrowed. Here's a better shot showing the tires out of the wells.

Terry

 

You mean kinda like this?

 

I've been gone all weekend, thanks for all the input. I'm not going to cut up the rear quarters for sure . I'm going to move the leaf springs inboard the frame to make some extra room and see what will fit than as far as tires. Still thinking 30 x 10 pie crust on the cragars. It's it's too big for some - well it's my car.

 

The Gasser-Elvis Theory. You can stay "gasser traditional" by building your Pontiac with a clean-cut, easy on the eyes but strikingly powerful, early look. Or, create a monsterous, flamboyant looking beast that will make people flock to Vegas just to see it. Either way, you have a gasser. Do your homework and follow an era. Gasser changed dramaticly over the time they were raced. Fast or slow, naturally asperated or not, that's what the classes were for. Don't let anyone here tell you there's only one way to skin your cat. Post some pics when it's done, I'd love to see it.

 

Haha, thats awesome !

 

You know that guy got in trouble ...takin the bumper of his moms car...did somone say gasser?

 

Wingman. Yeah thats the look..A Chevy will always look better with a Ford Tear Drop Hood !!....Sorry I could not help myself.. Nice ride

 

Ford teardrop scoop? Hell, they don't even look good on Fords!

Now one of those Pontiac superstock scoops would be bitchin'. (ya, I know they were actually a Ford truck peice with a Pontiac part #)

 

What I get a charge out of from these "new" gassers every one seems to be building is the stance they put on them. They are raising these cars sky high and proclaiming them to be "gassers".

I worked for NHRA as regional tech man in the 60's and was tech man at Conn. Dragway for more years than I can remember. First of all, the NHRA rules did not allow the jacking of the bodies and frames like it is being done today. I just read an old AHRA (60's) rulebook and they did not allow this. Bodies and frames were raised somewhat but no way near what some of these "new" gassers are. Even look at the pictures of the gassers on this thread and you will not find the bodies/framed jacked way high.

And while a lot of cars ran straight axles, most cars ran pretty much stock front ends.

Some bodies/frames were raised but these cars ran the altered coupes/sedans classes where body/frame alterations were more lenient, not the Gas coupe/sedan classes where body/frame alterations were more restricted. Perfect example is the Ramchargers The High and Mighty (hope I got that name right) and Wild Willy Borscht (sp) which ran the altered classes. Even most altered class cars did not jack their cars they way it is being done now with the "gassers" because in most cases the car ran faster and handled better with the lower stance. All you have to see is look at some old movies of the NHRA national meets which will prove my point.

So if you want to build a gasser like the ones on the 60's/70's, make it period correct, just like our hot rods.

 

Yeah but that is the point of this thread, 'Chief wanted to know how to make his '55 look like an authentic '50s-'60s gasser, and not have it ending up looking like a dorky '80s "Pro-Streeter".
There are no lack of examples of what the authentic mid-50s gasser sedans looked like during the time period, so what is the problem?
Well, first of all 'Chief don't want to have to radius his wheelwell's like most of the '50s Tri-Fives that were given as examples of actual early gasser sedans.
Secondly he is trying to bulid his entire car around a set of 10x15 wheels, while some guys back then did run such large wheel/tire combos on their mid'50s sedan type gassers, almost all would have radiused the quarters as needed for tire clearance. (can anyone provide even one photo from the '50s or '60s showing a Tri-Five GM, or other full size vehicle, with a set of 10x15s fitted inside of the stock quarters???)
Fully tubbed '50s sedans did not come on the scene until after NHRA banned the practice of radiusing the fenders, sometime around the early 70's.
That is why I advise, to remain true to the "look" and actual gasser practice of the period, only running the widest rim/tire combo that will fit between the stock quarters and frame rails, which will most likely only allow for an around 8" rim, but will be what was authentic gasser sedan practice when the quarter panels remained unaltered.
But when you start moving frame rails inboard and fabricating new wheel housings, you have left '60s "Rock-n-Roll" and moved into the "Disco Era".
You can fit those 10x15s and matching tires inside and under your '55 if that's what you really want, but the result is surely gonna scream "Pro-Street", if not "Donk" nowadays.

 

how about this guy?

 

altered all the way ....or maybe f/x ... probably was claiming stock.... wheres that pic of the elcamino like that.....scary crazy good times..... brandon

 

I'm not totally set on the 15 x 10 cragars at this point. Maybe a change of heart or a not so good decision if you want to call it. Thats why i'm asking here for input. Would the Cragars (15 x 6) work on front and some chrome plain steel wheels on the back (15 x 7)? I really don't want black wheel on the back either. Maybe I need to for the period correct look though huh?

 

15x6 fronts would be a bit wide for the right look, 15x3.5 or 15x4 would give it a more proper look. The chrome steelies on the rear would look right, white steelies would work as well.

 

Im going to have a car one day that will redefine all this stuff. Its going to just be called...



That really fuckin fast Merc.



Watching all these cats talking about the right "look" for tire sizes and exact right "look" for axles and parts....


Its about as bad as watching the emo boys debating which haircut "looks" sadder or which girls jeans "look" more emo.

 

I think Crager 15x6's would be fine on the front, and be a lot better for street use than the very narrow rims that were intended for strip only usage.
And personally, I'm a fan of matching rims all around, so a set of Cragar 15x8's with the right offset would fill up the rear. (might still require relocating the springs and narrowing the rear by a couple of inches)
On my '64 Stude Daytona 15x8's come right even with the lip of the stock fender openings, and sure do look gnarly, but do not provide quite enough clearance for real-world street driving. However there is almost 5 inches of clearance between the tires and inner fenders on each side, narrowing the rear by about 2" on each side would make for a perfect fit.
Every make has its pecularities, problems, and solutions.
Lots of guys ran those old Pontiacs back in the day and quite likely could tell you exactly what rim and tire combo you can get under your unmodified quarters.

 

I think Jessie sums it up nicely. That would give you a gasser look more authentic to the era, and not a cartoonish interpretation. You'd be surprised how much room you'll get relocating the springs more inboard, and you might even be able to trim the inside of the fender lip for a little more clearance without cutting the quarter.

 

After reading this thread I sense a growing unpleasant trend within the hobby....at least to me anyway.

That is someone will post a obscure pic of say a '59 Rambler 4 door that was a gasser in it's day and that somehow gives acceptance to anyone with a 4 door Rambler that they can build it as a gasser-and that it should now be accepted as the norm of the period. They will point out "See, see there is one so that makes my car acceptable as a gasser".. I'm sorry folks, these type of cars were oddballs in their day and are even more oddball today.

I cringe over seeing what some people are building as Gassers/nostalgia rods(you fill in the blank) today. Besides using the wrong body style I see cars with 2-3 different decades of speed equipment and 2-3 overall "themes" as well. Some cars can't decide what they want to be.


I'm not pickin on you Chief. I think your '55 Pontiac would be great as a early 60's stock class car with some cool period speed equipment. Another idea to consider is making it as a late 60's style Junior Stock car. Mid 50's Pontiacs were hugely popular in that class. A set of 15x6 & 15x7 Cragars, TT or slots, headers, tach, shifter, decals, valve covers etc would really set it off. Plus they had a cool stance.

I have a feeling I'm going to get flamed over this-and that's o.k.
I guess seeing all those tunnel rams on 50's style rods is getting to me.