Barn Find! Original Northeast '55 Gasser!

Damn that's awesome! But they built it wrong, it's not 5 ft. off the ground

 

street of course!

 

haha! it was! the rear springs are flat and the front leafs are too. The front will come up probably 6 inches or so. i would have taken some pics of the engine but it's a pain in the ass to lift the hood off by myself lol...still havent located the fuel tank or at least where it was, the stock one was cut out and pop-riveted over.
-Dean

 

That is way cool! Put it on the street

 

Love the car, I checked it out myself at the swap. The car looks really cool.

Not trying to hijack your thread, but.... did anyone see the red channeled model A that looked like it was in a time warp from 1962 that sold in only 10 minutes for an amazingly low $3500. The car was unreal. I have never wished I had a spare chunk of change in my pocket so badly!!!!

 

hot damn! great find!

 

That is one wild car

I want to build a gasser simular to that

 

Hi there, Do you know Jack Brady? He knows alot about sneta and Conn dragway stuff. also the Push rods of Waltham are having their drag reunion in the old Ty rods spot in Hudson Mass on jan 12 2 to 7. Happy hunting Jared

 

Do you have any contact info on them? I'm dying to get more info or old pics on this car. I missed that red Model A, sounds like one hell of a bargain! I parked, went to the car corral, saw the black V860 29 roadster, then saw the 55 lol, end of my day... $5500, which I'd say would have been a good deal just for a plain '55 without drag history, its really in great shape and untouched.
-Dean

 

yes it was rough but still cool and the deal of the day.

 

sweet car-nice score

 

Racecar.......Then on Sat night Mufflers and street tires !!!!

 

RACE. In that condition: Love the look of it, you're a lucky man.

 

JIMV...Lagana (Bob).. ran a '62 -63 409 "Locomotion" out of his Champion Auto Engineering in Eastchester,N.Y.. It was Maroon...this isn't it.

 

But it was! looks like at one time the car was maroon...
-Dean

 

Restore it as it was raced and keep the history alive. You can always get a street car or even drive this one on the street with a few bolt ons to make it legal.

I found an old gasser a few years ago, you may have heard of it.........

Peter.

"Moody's Garage" D/Gasser 1955 Chevy.

 

I know this isn't it. i just thought it might have been on of there early "projects" before the "09"s came out.
JimV

 

I think LaGana's still around the westchester area, still racin
Maybe you can contact him
JimV

 

BTTT anyone else remember this ride? I tried contacting Lagana Jr. with no luck...
-Dean

 

UPDATE! I found some history on the car. So here's the scoop so far. From 1985 to 2007 it was stored in a barn in New York. Prior to that, it had been purchased in Virginia in the mid/late '70s as a already retired "Locomotion". It was yellow and silver with the lettering faded and had been running a BBC mill. The new owner re-named the car "About Time" and installed the roll bar. He pulled the small block from his Chevy Vega drag car that he had built himself and set it back 18" into the '55, doing the modifications himself and fabricating the solid motor mounts out of boiler plate. The engine is a 331ci 327 with 1.94 heads and big block rockers, and a high lift, wide duration Sig Erson solid lifter cam. 12:1 TRW pop-up pistons and milled surfaces yeilded 13:1 compression running on a mixture of Sunoco 260 and Moroso Octane Booster. Intake was a Edelbrock Victor with Holley 750 carb. Trans he instaled was a TH350 with B&M shift kit. He would winf the mill up to 10,000 rpms with no form of scatterheild what so ever. The rear is a '57 Pontiac with 6:17 gears and welded spider gears. He would blast off the line in the 1/4 so fast pulling the wheels that many racers dropped out from the start, not knowing that the car would slow down by mid track because of the gears. Times in the 1/8 were in the 9's and 11's in the 1/4. He was in the Navy and got stationed in Rhode Island and couldnt keep the car, selling it in 1985. So the car ran as "About Time" in Virginia, but what I still dont know is it's prior history as "Locomotion" and its even earlier form as a pinstriped maroon hot rod. I've looked through roughly 3800 old drag photos online so far and still cant find it!
-Dean

 

That is too cool! I can't believe these things are still hiding out to be found. Be nice to have that full race mill under the hood again. Street/Strip it.

 

Dean, Thats cool that you've found that much info so far...keep diggin.
Any updates pics to share?

 

I will pass this info on to Bobby Lagana Sr

 

Man, alot of kool finds seem to be popping up more & more....AWESOME!

 

My guess would be, that you might enjoy tweeking it as little as possible, toward making it legal for street use. Then it can be driven to events or a cruise. There's enough history and alterations in it's history, to allow you to place it's restoration, where you think it deserves to be.

 

STREEET IT!!!!


57 chevy radirs pie crust's 540'' merlin 9''rear radius rear fenders ect.

 

great find, but a big block in it and race it.

 

Tha would be great, let me know either way what he says. I've tried to contact him before with no luck. Anyone notice that Lagana's Z11 was called "Locomotion II"? Maybe this was the first one. Nice deuce btw NITRO, I've seen it before...Rumblers/Nomads in Terryville?
-Thanks, Dean

 

I vote "STREET"

 

BTTT still havent found any photos or anyone who remembers the car...the original mill is now out and in storage and I'm prepping the temporary replacement right now. Lucked out and picked up an original Moon 2-gal tank just like it ran and old glass hood (this one is steel and butchered)... I'll post progress pics as I go...
-Dean