This just came up on another thread. Yes, "gasser" as commonly used today is technically incorrect. Young guys use it for any rod with a raised suspension. We know that is not what it really meant. On the other hand, what do we want them to call that look? We didnt have any one name for it, but they are going to hang some label on our old jacked-up rods. Personally, I prefer gasser to old fart cars so I'm not going to complain.
<<<<<<< I really dont care what you guys want to call it. I love my 55 and all the other cars on this thread! Most people either love em or hate em, thats just the way it goes. Im sure that some of the guys that dont like these style cars have cars we may not really like a lot also.
ok so i want to build my 56 chevy as a gasser..i plan on racing it at the track also ..show me a tradditional gasser style 56 .cause what i thought was a gasser is closer to a street freak ...i dont want to run a straight axle either ..just real heavy duty springs in front to keep the front up.......
Have really enjoyed all the Gasser info. Love them all. Here's my "street freak" or call it what you want, I'm happy with what I'm building. '26 dodge 4 dr. Took front door off and moved the cowl back. 2X4 frame made to Model a wheel base, '60 394 olds/trans, no fenders so I can't do "fenderwell header" probably fab some zoomie type, body defintely altered and engine really set back, so....... Have a pair of Ansens for the rear, will get some cheaters and have some matching front runner slots. Sorry, but I'll be running some disks in front. Well, tear it up if you have to. Joe.
ok so basically im on the same track as the 1st blue 56 ..just no straight axle ... oh and cgaswillys ya car is super sick....
I agree. I just read all eleven pages, and found this thread quite entertaining. Now I have to think hard about my Fairlane ('62), LOL. Not my car, but...
This is an awesome thread. I learned some, and knew some. I think it is important for the younger crowd to know the diff between the classes. I used to grill my father about what classes he`d run, and what the diff between classes was. I think the info is out there if people care to find it. I guess you just need to care enough to know. We do, that is why we have this thread. That being said, definately a Gasser issue, you don`t hear nice A/FX car very often, or hey, nice C/A you have there. People old or young should know what they are looking at before comenting.
I have been reading this post laughing my but off but do you know what most of you guys are forgetting only us really old basterds know the diffrence or care
I think if the proper term is really that important...... break out a rule book. Some cars can fit multiple classes. You probably could put a gas car in an altered class, modified production into gas class but not the other way around. Such as the term shoebox........to me and most people it means 55-56-57 chevies, yet you can find shoeboxes of all kinds. Shoebox, like box nova is just a term..... but as far as altered, gas etc.....it is stated factually in a rule book. Nostalgia..............just sit back and enjoy it while it is still here.
It seems that a lot of guys were pulling the front clips and doing exactly that, later in the sixties...competing in a Gas class, then Altered as well, depending on circumstances. More than a couple pix of this being done in "Gasser Wars", and elsewhere on the net... Thing is, it was ALWAYS evolving, and guys were always finding ways around the rules, or at least bend 'em to the limit! Just like racers.... And then you have your "regional" variations on what was the "hot ticket" within the rules...you will still end up with some pretty large variety of cars/trucks, over the course of 15+ years... coolest era in drag racing, EVER....wish I had been there in person... My old man is a lucky bastard!
All you actually need to do to qualify your '56 as a gasser, by the book, would be remove the front bumper. Poof, now you have a gasser. You can modify the wheel wells, or going along with your plan to raise the front, they used to use if memory serves me well, 409 A/C station wagon front springs. Build it as you like, and enjoy it, don't worry what other people call it.
Going by the rule book, that would be an alterd class car. Slang terms with no exact guidelines and are open to interpuratation. That being said, your car would fall into many slang classifactions, pro/street, street freak, gasser, altered, nostalgia racer.... all being I guess partially correct but legally....an alterd for certain.....cool car
Really there is nothing in the rules to say a gasser can't run bumpers. If there were a lot of killer cars running MP and not many gassers, just jump classes. Same thing with gas to altered. I can't remember it being done, but MP cars were probably legal for Altered too. Larry T
As far as NHRA went, a straight axel car was at least a gass car. MP car had to have all the same things as a stocker/super stocker with more upgrades. By simply removing your front bumper off your parents showroom stock car put you in a gas class by the rules. Local backwoods tracks, like the one I worked at as a kid from '69-'72 had an interesting local track class. We had a class TBC....two barrel cheater..... anything went as long as it had a 2 bbl carb, dominated by a '63 comet. Then we had BFB.... B Four Barrel..... anything went with a single 4 bbl w/301 cu in or under. Then we had AFB... A Four Barrel..... anything went, single 4 bbl carb w' 389 cu in or less, then we had SFB which was Super Four Barrel...... anything went went period as long as it was a single 4 bbl. All cars were full bodied, some minus bumpers, some with straight axels, but there were some fast cars there, especially that SFB class. Just an example of a local track classification, we also had the stock, super stock, MP, Gass and altered cars
A legal SS car could also compete in any class higher than it's SS classification... MP, Gas etc. Back in those days you would need basically a numbers matching car to be legal as a SS car with the tires not sticking out the past the quarter panel, with only slightly looser rules than a stocker.
In the early days of MP the front and rear suspension mods were usually after market shocks and springs, some front end alignment tricks and rear suspension was pretty much stock with bolt on or weld on traction bars. As the years passed and the sophistication of a MP car increased, they basically became a stock bodied mini P/S car and were very expensive to build a competitive car..... and they were cionsidered a "Sportsman" car, not a pro car. By the end of modified eliminator which was a combination of MP and Gas cars they were powered by egos almost as much as cubic money. You raced basically for bragging rights. The engine had to be same as the car, chevy in a chevy, pontiac in a pontiac, etc. I think MP as a class died in the early 80"s. You could build a brand new car for MP but there was a limit to how old a car you could use, I don't really remember the cut off year. The class basically stayed the same, just the sophistication had jumped by leaps and bounds to basically a Jr. P/Stock car.
OK,OK. So my '57 Chevy 210 with a straight axle moved forward 3", 489cid big block,'glass front end, approx. 3200lb would be A/A or B/A? Not *A/FX because the factory had nothing to do with the build. Right? Not a gasser because of the axle and the altered wheelbase. Right? I would rather run this thread into the ground than look afool at a show. Besides, I'm enough of an asshole to correct people who want to "tell me about my car", so I really want to be correct. If you're gonna do it, why not do it right? Thanx guys, an interesting and sometimes funny thread! Your car would not be a FX car because of the time of Factory Experimental class cars were limited to only a few years of car during the period of FX racing, which has been disbanded about 45 years now. FX cars were basically mid 60's car when FX was in existance. Factory backing had nothing to do with being a legal car or not. Factory backing usually had a lot to do with you winning or losing..... simple as that. It sounds like your car would be a legal gas car if the wheelbase was stock and your engine was not set back beyond the legal limit. The fact you have a straight axel in it still makes it a legal gas car. Due to the fact you have an altered wheelbase makes your car a legal altered car.
Gasser's, NOT AFX the buick, my first 'gasser' picture taken in 1960, winner of F/Gas Bakersfield 1960. My 426 Hemi Willys- lost april 17,`77- parachute tangled in wheelie bars, ouch.
hey big block bill ya got any pictures of any of your old or new projects...im shure you had your share of nice ones..
bob kozac...iam going to disagree here sir..resepectfully. yes u did show a early funnycar. from the 60s actually. iknow because i was there.ever car as a gasser shown i my view is.you made ur feelings known so now i will. the corperate whores have ruined a big part of drag racing. the call a drag strip a track. the call a run or pass a lap. this isnt nascar.mr kozac if ur going to knock anybody...please make it the pro. racers. and not us lowlees. just call me pop.
<TABLE class=tborder id=post4349687 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=6 width="100%" align=center border=0><TBODY><TR vAlign=top><TD class=alt2 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #e5e5e5 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #e5e5e5 0px solid; BORDER-LEFT: #e5e5e5 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #e5e5e5 0px solid" width=175></TD><TD class=alt1 id=td_post_4349687 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #e5e5e5 1px solid"> </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE> Hey Larry.......I wasn't saying that you needed to remove the bumper to be a gasser, just that if you DID remove the bumper, you were automatically a GAS car or higher. Your car was no longer legal as a MP car minus front bumper. You are also correct that there were a ton of "Killer Cars" in MP, but you are wrong, there were a ton of gas cars as well. Yes.... some MP cars might have jumped up into a GAS class for a particular race.
A very cool car for sure....... It certainly fits the trendy term "GASSER" but I'm pretty certain, legally it fits as a "GASSER" too.........best of luck with the car.........
I wish I had photos, don't we all....or better still, still have the cars. I worked at a local track as a kid...."Islip Speedway" which was a roundy round track with an 1/8 mile strip too..... some fast cars there in the day. I hooked up with a guy that was kind of a hero to me as a kid, he ran a 55 Chevy in D/MP or I/HR-1 in AHRA, he was tough to beat. It was probably the only or certainly one of a very few 55 Chevys that I liked with the front bumper still on....it was named "Dennis the Menace". As I said I hooked up with him in late 70's as his class racing was winding down, he had a 69 Camaro from SRD Race Cars and motors by T/K of NJ...all top notch equipment. It went best of 10:60 in legal E-F/MP trim. He bounced around with motors ranging from 287 to monster 317 cu in. It hels several records, it was the real deal, I wrenched on the car and shared driving time......We bracket raced it on the Island till he quit racing. We even tried a big block...... it took a lot of arm twisting to get him to try that. I was involved in kind of the same deal earlier with a friend of mine with a 67 chevelle, butternut yellow called "PSYCHO" a C/S-SS/E car and we tried a big motor....for the time a 482 which I exploded on the 4th pass on the motor on the 1/4. It went 7:70's in the 1/8 and 11:70's in the 1/4, and I think mid 12's on the pass I took that exploded the motor at the top of 3rd gear. I raced a 67 camaro, C/G I think or B/HR-! in NHRA and bracket raced it. It went hi 10"s in early 70's. I also had a 67 chevelle that rac SS/E or B/MP depending on the motor. It went 10:80's in 74-75. I had a few other nice street cars, as I guess most of us had dual purpose cars, street and race which quite often led to lots of street racing. Those were the days. I never really took photos, but people have given me a couple over the years, if I can figure how to show them, I will gladly do so............Bill
The Jalopy Journal
