So whats the simplest car to start a gasser project with ???

Some of the cars I've seen running in the gasser classes at nostalgic drag events are "tubbed" or "mini tubbed" for larger tires. One for example, that I've seen in person , is Gene Schwartz's '51 Chevy. Another , that I've seen here on HAMB, is Shakey Puddin's 55 Chevy, which appears to be at least "mini tubbed". Please don't read me wrong, I admire both of these machines and their owners for their work, and accomplishments on the track. I do, and always will, view these cars as gassers. According to you, if the car is not built to "the specs in a mid sixties drag racing rulebook", it is not a gasser. Well, it appears (to me) that they are not built to "the specs in a mid -sixties drag racing rulebook". So, are these two fine cars not gassers? If they are not, then what are they ? Please tell us, just what did these guys (and others ) build??

 

Shakey Puddin' is definately NOT a gasser. He runs alcohol. If you get a 60's rulebook, there's not that says you can't run wheel tubs. Very few, if any, were tubbing wheel wells. My understanding is that is was harder to shorten axles than it was to cut quarter panels.

"Gasser" or not, both cars are bitchin' in my book.

 

My personal advice, is get the one you like because, its gonna cost about the same to make a gasser out of a '58 edsel as it will a '55 chevy or whatever your true favorite is. Don't get me wrong their are definate price differences but I mean you'll be buying alot of the same stuff. and if it was easy everybody would build them and it wouldn't be any fun anymore. Just my take ,but what do I know.

 

ok! is this better?

 

I don't think Blown Hell was a gasser...

Anyway, There is also a popular genre of car called a "Streat Freak"... which is what most guys are building these days if you want to be all period correct.

Sam.

 

That's the way I remember it also. I don't have an old rule book to reference, but I was a NHRA tech in that era. I don't recall any restrictions on wheel well modifications in gas....best I can remember, anyway.

Modified production and super stock did have restrictions. Wheel well size was an important factor in body selection in these cars. I can remember some that jacked out a slight bulge in the quarter panel to squeeze in a 10" tire, and hopefully squeak by the rules. Most usually passed, if they didn't get radical with it.

 

Best car to start a gasser build with?

A free one, cuz there's no turning back if you hate it when it's done!

 

Dave Koffel's "Flinstone Flyer Too" was a '59 Stude Lark, built in late '64, one of my all time favorite gassers. '40-'41 Stude Champion coupes and sedans were really popular in B/gas and C/gas around '59-'60 before Willys coupes really took off in popularity. whatever you choose, make it convincing; don't skip the little details that make it a believeable-looking real-deal gasser. i'm fed up with mile high, cartoon character-looking, neo-street freaks passing themselves off as gassers (see OSR magazine for examples).

 

I think the guys have nailed the important thing. Solid, somewhat light and cheap. If you dig out some 50's and 60's Hot Rods you will see that just about everything was run in gas classes but the traditional "Gassers", are probably the 55 Chev, 37/41 Willies, 37/39 Chev, Studabakers of the same era. The Henry J's In the mid 50's we had a 52 Ford hardtop with a 56 312 that ran C gas and ran in the mid 14s. My stepfather at the time traded for it and it was the family car for a couple of years.

 

Any car for the most part could have been a gasser. Dont forget..

Theres a shit load of class letters, the higher the weight to HP ratio..the slower the class. And you don't need a straight axle to be a ''gasser'',there were plenty of cars running stock suspension, with ball joint spacers. and tall springs. there was FX class, MP -modified production..so theres a few spots were you can fall into, and make a awesome street strip car. Whatever you build..add some class markings on it

 

gassers evolved thru the 60's, the early 60, almost all were nose high and as the 60's went on some of them got lower and rear tires were tucked under, I like them both ways.
below are pics of Jim Oddys austin that shows early to later 60's
lowered or raised they are still gassers.

as far as what car to build, if you like chevys I would say a early nova is the way to go
if you like fords then a falcon would probably be the one to use.
dont rule out trucks either.
I am building a 40dodge with a willys nose

Willys,anglias,austins, tri 5 chevys all are getting hard and expencive to find. but you never know what may come your way. good luck looking for the right project. Ron...

 

I agree that most any car can be a "gasser" style. I picked up this '41 Plymouth business coupe for $1000. I had thoughts of building a gasser syle but in order to do it right I would need a pretty healthy engine to pull it off and I don't have the finances to do that so I've decided to make it a mild custom.

Whatever you decide to do you should start with a car that YOU are happy with, a '40s or 50's body, 2dr or 4.....whatever. A lot of it depends on your budget.

Good luck.

 

I forgot Shakey runs alcohol. Good technical point ! I know the 60's rulebooks allow wheel tubs, but I don't think the" idea" in full bodied cars was really "concieved" yet. Also, looking at the width of the tires available in the mid - sixties, it really wasn't needed. Like you said, easier to cut the quarter panels, - and cheaper too! I have not seen any pics of gassers from the mid sixties with wheel tubs. That was my point to Chili Phil - are these types of cars (those that are tubbed, run gasoline, and often have a straight axle) gassers ? If not, then what are they? What would you call them ?" Newstalgia Gassers", perhaps?

 

Ahhh, I dunno FF. Maybe you'd call them Gasser Style or Gasser Inspired cars. But, I, unlike a bunch of others on here, prefer clarity. There was a gas class, with real, concrete rules like engine set back, distance of crank center to ground and other hard and fast rules. The reason was so classes had a sort of parity, to make the playing field somewhat level. For competition. Me? I like the term Street Freak. Lots of them build in the awful late seventies.

 

I'm pretty sure that altered wheelbase cars where not in the Gas classes. I think they started in Altered and moved in to Funny Car.

Not really trying to nitpick, but there is a lot of incorrect info. around about "Gassers". It's the new big thing that many people want to be a part of. I just don't want it to get so watered down that nobody really knows what Gassers really were.

 

a 56 ford I found one for you probably in a good price range just pick your drivetrain and go, no I do not have any connections with the seller just tryin to help a brother out. http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1956...004QQitemZ140201251255QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWDVW

 

Buzzard- You are correct, altered wheelbase cars were not allowed in Gas classes. Full street equipment, such as headlights, tailights, wiper(s), etc. were required also. Car also had to have a passenger seat, and although a front bumper was optional, a hood was mandatory. In 1970 my friend was travelling on the interstate to a local NY strip when the fiberglass hood blew off his 64 Falcon. Forgot to pin it . Car was on the back of one of them cool old ramp trucks .When he arrived at the track, sans hood, instead of E/Gas, they made him run in one of the altered classes. This was of course, before the days of bracket racing. He got his ass whipped hard that night!

 

Not if its a Chevy II... Unbolt your stock front sub frame,roll it away and roll in the gasser clip. If you hate it wouldn't take much to go back to stock.

 

Here's our '68 Rambler American. Its an NHRA D/Altered car that ran locally (Buffalo/Rochester/Syracuse area tracks) from '69 to the mid 70's. These are old shots from the early 70's. I don't have any current shots on this particular PC. The car is currently still in restoration mode......

Most folks consider it a gasser but technically its an altered. Its a center-steer car, you basically sit where the back seat was and the engine (measured from the front most spark plug) is set back 21" from the centerline of the front wheel. It has a one piece fiberglass front nose, straight axle front end, '57 Olds rear and a full frame/12pt cage.

If anybody here knows of another one piece front like this car has we'd greatly appreciate any information on it. This one was supposedly made by Fiberglass Trends back in the 60's. The company (as it currently stands) was little help on any details. Its lightand it is laid up pretty nice with good materials.

-Bigchief.

 

Hey Mike - hows it going? I remember seeing your car a few times back in the early 70's, definitely an altered!! Are you still selling it?

Bernie

 

Hey Bernie,

Well...its touch and go at this point. Yes, if the right money was offered Tom and I would let it go down the road. But as it stands, nobody wants to pony up the money and we're not in that big of a hurry to sell it. In the mean time we putter with it as time/money permits.

-Bigchief.

 

Oh yeah "ROSS the BOSS" I remember Ross and that car very well Ron......

 

Stop speaking shit! you guy's aint gonna sell that car! You can't...i wanna see your 6'something" frame wheeling that thing down Lancaster before i croak!

 

$500.00 Rambler (20 years ago)
Look's like a "work table" here...

 

I am not sure if anyone has mentioned a 49 Chevy Business Coupe, radius the rear quarters let the slicks hang out, point that nose up and shazam!, killer gasser. These bodies can be found relatively cheaper than tri-fives and other more popular candidates, hmmmm....... I think mine is for sale. Yep it is, $3,000 would do it.

 

Two Gasser periods - early and late. Early did not allow short wheel base cars and require accessories like lights and wipers, at least two seats, etc. All Gassers from both periods require stock wheel bases for the body in use.

A thru C Gass made enough HP to whack small tires, so the guys running these classes wanted a cheap way to get traction. They were $150 chassis to start with so a fender well cut was no big deal. Saw them out so you could get more rubber under there and a BOP axle so it would hold together.

Late era Gassers could run short wheel base cars so Anglias and such started to show up. The cars usually sit a little lower, have better suspension to hook and run harder.

Early period Gassers were for cars that could not qualify for Stock class because either the body was to extensively mod'd or the engine/tranny was changed to non-OEM spec. Earlies were still street cars (barely ) and a lot of them drove to the track, bolted on the slicks and ran, then went home.

Late period Gassers were almost all trailer queens or at least got towed in. The reason the front bumper was off was because of the tow bar, not to save weight mostly.

The fender well cuts were an area specific thing. Around SF Bay Area the cops busted for rear tires outside the body work (checked with a board) so it did not make sense to whack them fenders and try to run on the street. Making a pick-up axle fit was not that hard narrow and that's where a lot of low gears were for cheap - especially the hydro guys that could run hard on 3.70's and 4.11's. The stick guys needed deeper gears, so they were into BOP rears and the Zoom catalog.

Basic deal was cheap, frame based (easier to mod) and medium sized so you could work the weight vs cubes rules as close the class break as possible. Every thing eventually showed up in Gass Class. D Class down used 8" or narrower rear tires so that was not that hard to fit into fender wells that had been "rolled" with a baseball bat.

You need to know what class you are building for. It's not about a look - that's a by-product. Although Gas Class style cars make great street fighters They are all rods - so do what you can with what is available

 

Here is my gasser project silently waiting for a start.