Hot Rods Numbers on doors and...

Thanks. It's one of the fave parts I had in my stash.

 

why the hate bro? Growing up in the late '80's you never saw anything "traditional " here period. Ever.
but there was a guy who ran around town in a '64 Dodge 4 dr. sedan he had jacked the rear way way up with shackles, and ran some rusty old steel mags, some cherry bombs hung 2" off the pavement and he had taken what looked like a laundry soap box and stuck it on the hood....I hated it! and I hated that guy! even though I hadn't met him...up and down the strip every friday i'd see him cruise by in his "disco-mobile" laughing with his friend playing his tinny cricket speakers....while I trudged slowly by myself thinking I would never be caught dead in a car like that....now 30 yrs. later my Hot Rod (that will never be Disco!!!) is still not on the road and my dreams of drag racing from light to light and cruisin the chicks are nothing more than that.... I'd trade places with that kid now in a heartbeat

 

RIBBIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Gabby Johnson, Blazing Saddles. Translation; "I agree wholeheartedly"

 

I agree with Gene. I am doing a similar paint scheme on my Dodge.
Gonna spray it "sunburst yellow" with numbers and sponsors done in an early 50s stock car theme.

I've done some research, and back in the day some of these cars were bought, lettered, and raced as they came from the dealer. Stock bumpers, headlights, and interiors with no roll bar.

Was it a stock car originally? Not to my knowledge...
But I have period pics of these cars being raced, straight from the show room.

I could care less if anyone calls me a "poser"!

 

No, iirc the letters denoted cubic inch and weight break. A was biggest engine/lightest weight. Higher letters were smaller engines/more weight. GS was supercharged.

 

Kevko.........are you related to Sheldon Cooper......who doesn't readily recognize humor or sarcasm?

Perhaps my attempt at either was just weak?

Ray

 

Little know, less cared about fact; Gassers are the only class of dragster ever designated as 'supercharged' by sanctioning bodies. A/G is top of the line naturally aspirated gasser, A/GS is about the same car with a blower.

The first letter is the cubic inch/# classification, /G is for gasoline fuel. A/G was always the top of the line biggest engine, lowest weight cars. B/G, C/G. D/G, etc. were progressively heavier. smaller engine cars. The cuin/# class breaks changed several times over the years so can't give a single set of numbers.

 

Street racing was big in San Jose in '60-'66. In '60, my '56 Ford ragtop got major help for its 292, had a 3 speed T86 box with O.D. Raced every 'racer' in Santa Clara, mostly Chevys, was undefeated. First ex wife (my OWN WIFE!) hated the car, was a big Chevy fan. She didn't even drive. She called my Ford "the white rat"...so I had my bud letter White Rat #1 on both 'fins', until I beat Gilbert, (the undisputed 'fastest')
Then I had Shannon erase the 'White Rat', and just leave #1.
Got LOTS of flack for that one, 'cux I earned it??? What's fair? LOL
Hell, it was just 'street'...

 

"Why the hate, bro?" What hate? I don't see any hate here. You say that you guys stick numbers on these cars to attract attention. You got attention. But, I don't think you want attention, you want praise. I am a throw back to when the HAMB wasn't the place for 'participation awards'. Gene- Koning gave his reason. I respect that. Old dirt tracker sedans are not something I'm familiar with. If you guys feel hated and persecuted about this sh*t, you would been driven to tears by the HAMB of 10 years ago.

 

I hope we get to see some picks of that build. I have high hopes of building a driveable stock car like non black widow 57 chevy someday.

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Chili Phil, I can't speak for everyone so I won't. I actually agreed with your original comment. It was your opinion and I agreed with some of it especially the gasser truck thing. The whole "your fly is open" was probably the best way to say it! Some of the opinions afterward were harsh (by the way, that doesn't offend me either) and some made me laugh. I think the inaccurate stuff is funny and the stuff like the Willys that is well done is just that. I didn't personally grow up in the 60's but all my mentors where S/S, Jr stock and circle track guys including my father and when we did something stupid we got made fun of. When are ego got a little to big we got made fun of followed by do you wanna run? When I was 21 i finally built an engine on my own dime that could pull the front tires. Guess what, the being made fun of stopped. My point: if some one can back it up i.e. they drive it, they actually race it, they built it or they can photo shop their car into an old picture I'm pretty good with that. If you don't know why you put D/G on your car or why you hung a moon tank on the front of your truck depending on if your humble or a prick I might give you a hard time. [emoji3]

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Bazinga! I just missed that.

 

But if you letter the number and number the letter, er, uh...if you designate the designation for the class project...dammit...if you classify the ad in the right, shit wrong again! If gaser is passed do you have to excuse it? What if the car/truck is really slick? What if it's sponsored by a bakery? Are pie crusts more correct? Should you play Humble Pie tunes only?
If that's the case I'll leave this old thing here since it's all been such a gas:

 

<<< I kind a like it. Everything about this car is fake, except me and the Mrs.

 

sorry wrong wording (in modern slang hatin'= judgement etc.) and you're right I didn't get that from your o/post... just seemed like others were slappin' together a bandwagon ....we need people who were there to point these things out... it's an opportunity for people to ask the questions and get the facts

* gasser trucks are traditional there were lots of them in the '60's
* pinions are like axles everybody has one

 

Be PC. Say, "Love less by comparison".

 

It has got fake fire on it.

 

Chili Phil, I was here 10 years ago under the name 50dodge4x4. The HAMB is a much milder board then it used to be for sure.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't drawing attention one of the reasons we build this old stuff? Some do want praise, I really don't care. For me, it is all about the fun.

For the record, my car is a business coupe, they just got bigger by the 40s. Even in circle track racing, business coupes were the preferred body choice because they were usually the lightest car to start with.

I'm familiar with oval or circle track racing, but not so much with drag racing. In drag racing, most classes were pretty uniform, you could go to several drag strips and run your car. That was not so in circle track racing, the classes (if there were any) were very dependent on which track you were at. Rules and classes might have been one way at one track, but the track 20 miles away had completely different rules and classes. It was possible to have 3-4 tracks within a 50 mile radius all using different rules and classes. Sometimes there were 2-3 tracks in an area that had the same basic rules, and guys could run the same car at all of those 2-3 tracks and each track would run a specific day, like Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Otherwise, most circle track guys tended to stay at their local track, the odds of going someplace across the state to race probably wasn't going to work out very well, unless you knew you car fit into one of their classes.
In circle track racing, the odds of a car being period correct for some location at nearly any given time was pretty high, the rules varied that much. At some tracks, a car might be period correct in the early 50s, but somewhere else, that same car might be period correct for sometime in the mid - late 60s! Gene

 

No.

Other people may be different.

 

@Chili Phil I have given more thought to your concern and Racing was your profession and I know here there are others who did the same and many still are actively involved in it. The Race Vehicles to Us who are in some capacity appreciative and with varied knowledge of the sport you fellas live are purpose built with flamboyant coloring, fonts of many kinds that signify many things and sponsors and Hah hah funny names are all part of the real deal and hey a lot of it is supposed to WOW the masses and provoke appreciation, excitement and heck even praise and respect. Which Gene sorta said in his post just above. Wowing the masses with these beasts brings in money, fun and so many things including a job for Chili.

I can understand in your mind or amongst like minded participants that seeing wrongs conveyed in conversation or visually on vehicles in tribute of some form especially explained as correct when it isn't irks you inside a little.

When someone I meet calls the Ole Hotrod a Street Rod for example I inside have to think about a response and don't really like the association to billet stuff. Explaining what it is helps the uninformed understand and generally its all innocent. Honestly I don't meet many people who truly get what that vintage car is and that's fine. I enjoy the Inspired Hotrod that it is.

So where am I going with this...

This place technically needs a Traditional Vintage Race Forum which has been discussed before openly here in another Gasser thread that went South so to speak. Yeah there would still be those that post Non Trad in there as it happens with the Trad Hotrod Forum all the time largely due to complexities in understanding.

That way the Inspired Race which irks you due to lack of authenticity would be away because it's Inspired Race you know the guy with his young lads initials on it instead of the class for example.

I don't think at this time the Board is considering this change but it would keep the inspired separate.

I think the Street Rod/Hotrod and Incorrect Class situations will exist out in the real world till we are pushing up daisies so we will have to be civil and just stop and appreciate what we like maybe even say nice ride and hello to the owner who will appreciate The Praise and move on by the "Finger in the throats".

Here maybe the Forum Structure perhaps may be changed to separate the two visions you speak of. If not you'll have to feel your way around but I'm sure you know what is right for you.

Why don't you start a thread on classes and what they mean and remember...Do a search first...

Long winded but these are my thoughts this morning.

 

The old HAMB may have been interesting and sometimes even comical but I am not sure I would want to go back to the Old West type attitudes. As I have stated I can understand guys wanting to “dress” their tribute cars back in the old war paint of the gasser era, as the cars not only had a great look but some character and attitude of being flat out cool. For those of us that were there it was such a great era that some of us wish that guys would do just a little research and get it “right”. Not sure that is going to happen and so some of us guys will continue to howl at the moon on threads such as this that will go nowhere.

I have gotten to the point where I try not and use the word “gasser” except in very limited circumstances. I am in the process of redoing my avatar car which was an old drag car out of New Mexico and it has been candy apple red since I painted it in the early 2000s and I am considering putting some gold leaf on it. I have run the car a number of times and hope to do so in the future at some vintage events like the Meltdown etc and I always wanted to have a car with burnished gold leaf. That being said, if I put any letters on the car they would be MSP as opposed to gas-there are more than enough cars with gas designations.

A question I have is that I do not see any cars with MP which IMO was a great era as well. The HAMB has a cut off which we all understand that restricts the years but during the late 60s there was great racing in the modified production ranks and there were a whole bunch of Camaros but I have not seen one example of cars to emulate the modified production cars. A few years ago I dragged home the remains of any old 60 Vette that ran in MP down in Alabama and I always thought it would be cool to recreate it with the old look of the late 60s early 70s of the modified production/eliminator era.

Of course the look in some instances may be nose down instead of nose up but the MP era was in my book about as cool as gas yet little interest. Not everyone is on the HAMB of course (there is a car world out beyond the HAMB universe I guess) but maybe saying the word “gasser” is so enticing that it holds more sway than saying modified production. The FX cars have a great look as well and we see a number of those which also helps keep that era alive. Anyone see any MP cars at their local shows? At the most recent Meltdown there were two 57 Chevy wagons with an authentic junior stock look which is great (another great era-junior stock) and the Meltdown has a cut off of 1966 so not much help there in late 60s early 70s MP cars but just wondering why no love for the MP cars (at least not in my neck of the woods).

 

You know what really fries my chicharrones?* I pull up to a building with car service signs stuck all over it and gas pumps sitting out front and guess what? They look at me like I'm crazy because I ask for a new fan belt, an oil change or some gas. I've even been told that the gas pumps aren't hooked up to anything! And I'm the "crazy one"?? This has happened to me more than once. Why do people have to pretend to be something obviously they're not?

*Warning! Humor Alert. I've discovered that cyber humor is often filtered out between my keyboard and your monitor screen. So heads up, everybody.
.

 

I think we in this hobby need to be careful what we complain about. We are unhappy when the hobby fades into obscurity, and we are unhappy when it gets popular and trendiness follows. It happened with rat rods and now it is happening with gassers. You could make a rant about glass deuce cars as well. But I think it is ultimately better for everyone in this hobby when the mainstream loves and gravitates towards our cars, instead of away from them.

I was driving a 50 Merc coupe the other day, and at a stop light a nice lady smiled at me and said, "my grandpa used to have a car just like that . . . except it had a rumble seat." What to a HAMBer is a completely ridiculous statement, was to that lady an attempt to reach out and share an appreciation for a cool old ride.

Important to remember that the details and history are a complete mystery to the mainstream public. They simply do not know the difference. And never will.

So, when some fringe fans put numbers or writing on their cars, take it for what it is . . . a compliment to the authentic era and cars that they have seen, and are trying to emulate. It's cool, and they want in. To try and ridicule or alienate them reminds me of back in high school, when only skaters could wear Vans shoes. But suddenly, your mom could buy you a pair of Vans at Kohl's Department Store, and the skaters got all bent out of shape because you could no longer distinguish between the shredders and the posers. Seemed like a big deal . . . in high school. But take a step back, and look what resulted. The ensuing interest in skateboarding helped make skating more mainstream, and today it is not considered a crime when a kid rolls down a street (well, in more places anyway.)

Same thing could be true about hot rods -- where do you want the hobby to be in 20 years?

 

Well 2 things. Jim, I love jr Stock and MP. Someday maybe...


2nd, you know what I really hate? Mosquitoes! What does that have to do with the topic? Shit we hate, right?

 

The only round track racing I was ever a fan of is open wheel(sprints, silver crown) but it looks to me if your doing a copy of a stock car it should like it was raced. You know hit the fenders and doors with a sledge hammer a few times. I'm just stirring the pot a little before someone gets their panties in a bunch.

 

A "speed shop" in Mexico City would not be printed on any door, written out in English. "Dago" was the name used for San Diego, by US military in WWII. There were no "speed shops" in 1930. Using an exposed electric fan kinda throws it off, too. If it's meant as a joke, good job. If not, well ...
I suppose it's the lack of respect for tradition, that irks me. Maybe just a tiny bit of authenticity would help in our digestion ...

 

At this point I'm just realky curious where the inspiration for all that came from. [emoji3]

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99A?

I don't know flat motors that well – is that a V-8 60?

 

When drag racing street cars in the late 50s, we were issued a number in inspection/classification. The number (and the class) were written on your passenger side window.

And when you lost, the number was wiped off. You had to beg to get some of it to remain so you could prove you were a "real racer" at the drive-ins. If the number remained in tact, you were a winner! (Or a guy who posted fake numbers and class on his car.)

 

Every body is different, every car is different, at almost 70 years old I'v seen styles come and go. Who am I to go and critique anything but my own.