Projects My first attempt at a Gasser

And were ran on every kind of car too.

Meltdown Drags
July 18-20 2014

 

I never said they weren't there, and I can post pictures of whitewalls too. But I bet I can post way more pictures of blackwall slicks than you can of whitewall slicks. As I said, blackwall slicks were much more common. And as you've shown, many used whitewalls up front, but blackwall slicks.

 

The newest pic you have there is '63-'64. White walls were hot shit from '59-'64. Wrinkle walls came out in '65-'66 and white walls died.

Tunnel rams weren't even readily available til '69-'70. Find me a pic from 1970 of a tunnel ram car with wide white walls on it.

Yeah I'm splittin hairs and this seems like a stupid argument, but I'm not wrong. I'll stfu now.




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I'm thinking about leaving the front bumper off of the falcon, but i need to find a 1961 front Valance to finish off my front end of the 62, I was thinking it would look like this rendering if I could make it fit I saw this one for sale for $90.00 bucks, but I think it is in Austraila, I bet the shipping will kill me, but I will wait to hear from the seller.

 

I'm not sure where the white wall slicks deal got into this, I am running the Micky Thompson SR radials and firestone fronts, no whitewalls, I stated earlier that I was thinking about whitewalls, but after I did my research, as some of you stated, 60's drag cars did not run whitewalls. As far as for cutting up a clean falcon why not? I don't want to have to do a bunch of body reapir and panel replacemtn, it is not a "special" collector car by any stretch of the imagination and it's my car.... I'll do it because I can and because it's more fun to cut up pretty cars!

 

Anyone can restore a car. It takes a real man to cut one up. If someone doesn't want to see a car get cut up, let them give you lots of money for it. Otherwise it's your car. You do what you want and have loads of fun when it's finished. My 2 cents.

 

I wanted to use a '61 lower valance also, but none to be found around here. I ended up fabricating a sheetmetal valance and punching holes in it. I still need to bevel the edges of the holes one of these days before it gets painted.

 

That is what we figured we would have to do if the valance does not appear, hopefully we will find one.

 

I've been looking for a front valance for my 61, as well. I dont think i'll be able to hammer mine straight enough. I'm thinking about making a foam core and fiberglassing over it-rick

 

I'd buy one!

 

We got the motor and transmission out todau and the car is going to my buddy's shop to get the axle set up whil I begin the motor work, and we are trying to be done by the 14th of May, kind of a tight schedule, but I hope we can get it done.

I think on the front valance I may have to make one, I know my rendering is of a 61, but I don't really care about the grill of a 61, I just want ed a valance like a 61, so I may go to the fabrication route, and that way I can create my own turn signal mounts and maybe my own grill openings.

 

I cut my old turnsignals from the bumper into my lower valance. Just laid them out where I liked them and drilled some holes, then jigsaw them out. Are you going to wait until you have your tires and axle in to cut the rear radius? Where it's marked in the picture looks like it might be small for any large slick.

 

No it's too late for that. I actually am having my good friend Marc at Marc's Auto creations doing that and he nixed my arch and did his own, he did a much better job. The tire I'm running is 26" tall, but I think the radius will work with up to a 29" tire, we'll have to wait and see, but I'm also known as somebody who does'nt keep a project for too long before I finish it and move on to the next one.

 

I started the big thread "Gasser Must Haves and cant haves" to gain the insight from so many who have way more experience in this arena than I. The main thing I learned from the posts is pick a "year" and stick to it. I believe that mixing may not create the coolest period correct car. I also believe it is your (or mine) car so do what makes you happy but if the intent is to be "period" correct we cant mix too many years,

 

I had difficulty figuring a radius on the rear of my Falcon, and kept fighting that trailing rear edge of the stock opening. I finally said screw it, and welded in a filler for the trailing edge to get rid of the odd swept back rear opening. But my Falcon's body wasn't as clean as yours and I knew paint would be needed, so welding on it wasn't an issue. I also welded on late 70's Mercedes front fender lips to the radius to finish it, and then welded in a filler plate from the inner opening to the outside radius.

 

I like your wheel well openings, but I think since I'm running a 26" tall tire instead of the 30" pie crust slick, the way we are doing the rear lip and opening may work out. I'll know more by the end of Wednesday since we will finish the passenger side tonight, then get my axles swapped out to 5 lug and then I can bolt my wheels on and figure out the rear ride height which will help me figure out the placement of the front ride height.

 

I understand what you mean by trying to stay period correct as well as following a theme. I am wanting a "Gasser" but not necessarily does it have to be period correct as much as have the correct look and flavor of what I would have built if I had been able to do it back in 1968-70. At that time I was 14 yrs old, so I would have been drawing these cars, not building them, but now that I can, I am trying to get back in touch with that LiL guy and what he would have liked too. But I am trying to limit myself on the mixing of parts and pieces. Thanks for the Input, i appreciate it all.

 

Building it "period correct" is what creates the legit look that people are after when they think GASSER , mixing and matching and cutting corners creates a ho hum look that just seems uncomfortable it gives a wierd vibe ...

Sometime a few parts can slip and won't ruin it... But they still have a general aesthetic to adhear to... It's like those women addicted to plastic surgery ... Double Ds, big lips, long blond hair sound great... Sometimes in reality they look like the "cat lady"

 

True! I will just have to see how it goes and the true judge of the finish product will be whether or not I like it!

 

Amen!

 

Well,

I have read the first few pages of your thread and based on those opinions, I won't qualify as a period correct "Gasser" at all. I'm going to keep my A/C functioning, I'm going to run Wilwood disc brakes up front, radial tires all around and I'm going to keep a nice interior and actually strive to paint the car with a real paintjob, so I'll just have to be happy with building my car to my style and not worry about no stinking "rules", this ain't going to be some concours showbitch car, its going to be something I can play with and be proud of.

But I do agree that ALL of those opinions are valid and for some folks, the "rules" are very important to them to be able to say they achieved the goal of a true "period correct" car, I just am not so concerned with that.

 

The only 'Grin" that's important is the one you see in the mirror!

 

I think you've got the right attitude. There's room for all styles of build, and not everyone wants the drawback of some period parts. Although I love original gassers from the period, driving a car with some modern updates is a lot more comfortable. I retained drum brakes all around on mine, but I've got all the pieces to convert to disc if I want to some day. I wanted to keep the general look of a gasser, but I also have things that would only be found on a late period gasser. But since we're building '63 cars, it would be hard to build them as early 60's gassers anyway.

 

Looking good! Whatever you do, just don't make it look like a 4X4 or "street freak" - that'll kill the Gasser look... just my $.02!

 

I am happy to say that we got the 4 lug rear out, the 5 lug rear in and the tires and wheels mounted into the fully mocked-up rear wheel wells and I like the look. We start on the front end Thursday evening. Also decided that several of you were right about the 61 valance and decided that we would build our own rollpan up front based on the shape of the front grill splash guard that the 62 has behind the front bumper. We will be running round turn signals in it and will build a recessed area for the 3.5 gallon Moon tank to fit into that will hold my "fuel" for the flame throwers.

 

Picked up a 1967 Ford Fairlane rearend that is supposedly a posi 8", we'll blow it apart on Friday and see if it is or not, it seemed like it was, but it maybe worn out or broken, because the feel was not right, but the gears were supposedly higher than my 2.79 gear now, so that would be good, I hope!

 

Higher geared than a 2.79? I hope you meant lower geared!

 

Run the rear wheel well "tear dropped" like you have it, it matches the front, looks good, and will be unique to your car!

 

I am leaning towards a 3.80 gear, I called it higher , but I knew what I meant. And the "posi" I bought at such a great deal.... wasn't. The low life who sold it to me lied and I was dumb enough to not get serious about checking it before I gave him the money because it was starting to rain, big time rookie mistake that I knew better than to make, wasted $200.00 bucks, that will hurt the build budget a bit.

And as you can see from the pics, we did use the front wheel opening as our guide for the back, I am really happy with that look, I think it will do well. And I'm "stealing " the front roll pan idea from Bricktopp. It will give me the basic guide and I'll modify from there to make it my own.

 

This is the item I am thinking of buying to button up the rear end, It looks like a complete setup and the price seems fair. Found it on Eday**