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Glass or steel body on a period gasser?

Discussion in 'The Hokey Ass Message Board' started by GOATROPER02, Jan 29, 2009.

  1. outlaw256
    Joined: Jun 26, 2008
    Posts: 2,022

    outlaw256
    Member

    our shop is in the process of building a glass 41 willys right now. we looked at 2 steel bodys before we decided to go glass. both would have been better off to finish rusting away. but they were willys so im sure somebody saved them.and i would have to have sold my house to buy them.this car will be driven on the street and some on the strip,so i want it lite as possible. because of my health i need to get it done faster than normal time would allow.its still mde by americans in america. its still a american design.its still has to be tagged and i will still get tickets in it. so its made of glass instead of steel. its still REAL. if glass were avaiable back then whos to say they wouldnt have used it instead of steel just to save weight and maybe cost.if glass was there in henrys day and it was cheaper than steel, all then 32 3w coupes everyone loves so much today would be a hell of alot lighter cause he would have built them with glass instead of steel.after all, he was a buisnessman and saving money is what he was all about.anyway i will be able to spend our money on other parts instead of a small fortune fixing the body and i wont have to spend most of our time on the body.i wish it were steel but oh well!
     
  2. Shifty Shifterton
    Joined: Oct 1, 2006
    Posts: 4,964

    Shifty Shifterton
    Member

    If somebody else's snobbery keeps you from having fun with a glass willys, you're into hot rods for the wrong reasons.

    Do you know what strikes me as odd about the whole glass willys debate??????

    Back then those were full effort race cars, akin to the carbon fiber skinned doorslammers of today. You can bet your ass if a glass body saves 4 lbs, and if full glass willys were available in the traditional era......the racers would've been snapping them up. That's right, our heroes would've been plastic. Interesting conflict.....
     
  3. Larry T
    Joined: Nov 24, 2004
    Posts: 7,875

    Larry T
    Member

    If you're gonna use a "gasser" for it's traditional purpose, that means it's gonna see lots of track time. Track time equals more potential wrecks. Are you gonna take a car that is worth $50,000.00 (other folks estimate), then build it and take a chance of wrecking it? Or are you gonna take a glass body that you can get parts for and use it? On a scratch built car the choice is pretty clear to me.
    As a side note, I wonder how many real $100,000.00+ hot rods are driven daily on the streets.
    Mazooma 1,
    Would a Corvette be a "real pretend real street car"? Sometimes this stuff makes my head hurt!..........Not really, just having fun.
    Off for more coffee,
    Larry T
     
  4. I don't understand these comments about 'glass cars being "fake".
    I was in high school in '66 when Big John Mazmainian built a 'glass Austin gasser. The '33 Willys body was already being laid up in 'glass, and, at the time, almost ALL of the T's that were at the drag strip were 'glass. By the '70's most of the Anglias at the strip were glass. Almquist had glass '32 bodies in their catalog in the very early '60's.
    These cars have as much history as a steel car that would have been built at the time for the same purpose.
    You can bet your bottom dollar that if some of the bodies that are available now had been available then you would see less steel and more glass bodies on those historic cars.
    I have a 'glass '29 roadster. My first,and last, glass hot rod.
    I think steel is easier to work with, and may be safer than glass, but glass cars aren't "fake". They are what they are, glass. Thanks, Mike :cool:
     
  5. i"ll drink to that!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:d:d
     
  6. 8flat
    Joined: Apr 2, 2006
    Posts: 1,392

    8flat
    Member

    This reminds me of that video of the blue steel Willys hitting the wall and rolling a few times.....it hurt to watch that. I'll be that guy wishes he would have left the good body at home and raced a glass one...
     
  7. kustombuilder
    Joined: Sep 18, 2002
    Posts: 7,750

    kustombuilder
    Member
    from Novi, MI



    and then some! :rolleyes:
     
  8. cgaswillys
    Joined: Oct 5, 2008
    Posts: 1,076

    cgaswillys
    Member
    from New Jersey

    Plenty of gassers in the mid to late 60's had glass bodies. Those who think a glass bodied drag car isn't period correct has no clue what period correct is. Then again to each his own. Go with glass, I wouldn't use a steel body on a fresh build of a nostalgia drag car unless I was fortunate enough to find a real one to restore and race.
     
  9. Lee Martin
    Joined: Jun 17, 2005
    Posts: 739

    Lee Martin
    Member

    What would gas racers in the 1960s choose if they had that choice?

    -Lee
    Atomic Radio
    www.atomicpinup.com
     
  10. hugh m
    Joined: Jul 18, 2007
    Posts: 2,143

    hugh m
    Member
    from ct.

    I intensly dislike glass unless it's actually old. I do however have a glass t bucket which is tons of fun. Go figure. Been in business 23 years, best advice I ever got was don't have a partner. Go figure.
     
  11. bucs012
    Joined: Jan 27, 2009
    Posts: 48

    bucs012
    Member
    from Iowa

    It doesn't have to be a Tin Can to be a hot rod. Do what ya want.
     
  12. temper_mental
    Joined: Oct 22, 2006
    Posts: 2,718

    temper_mental
    Member
    from Texas

    This is my opinion drive what ever you want .I like 33 34 fords but if I find a glass car I will pass on it .Its like wearing fake jewelry some how not the same as real .And I have not found a way to weld glass .My Last 2 cents
     
  13. Are you and your buddy 'recreating' history, or are you building a HotRod?
    IMO there are allready to many Steel Patina fake cars around. If a car has history, try to preserve it, if its new, build whatever you like. Nothing bugs me more than guys building a car from new parts and then try to pass it off as if it were a barnfind.
    Wanna go fast within budget ?, why not glass !
     
  14. Make his half the body and you stick with the drivetrain, wreck the car, pull your stuff install in another and keep moving along. Your engine and name will be on the track while he will be looking for an original fender.
     
  15. steel,end of story
     
  16. Nope not the end off this story. There were way too many famous REAL Gasser's in the day that were Glass. And that's the end of the story!
     
  17. Bobert
    Joined: Feb 21, 2005
    Posts: 820

    Bobert
    Member Emeritus

    It depends on the "period" doesn't it? Early no such thing as glass. SWC and Maz weren't glass cars were they?
     
  18. Larry T
    Joined: Nov 24, 2004
    Posts: 7,875

    Larry T
    Member

    It depends on which of their cars you're talking about. I don't think the glass cars got real popular until 67 or 68.
    Larry T
     
  19. oddrodd
    Joined: Jan 25, 2009
    Posts: 72

    oddrodd
    Member
    from Michigan

    Shouldn't matter steel or glass. A replica body for a replica car is fine, just don't confuse the two. Don't care for it when repro steel body people insist because it's steel it's real. It's still a replica. Won't say which is better, just different.

    Went halves on a car once. Everything went fine until I needed money, he didn't. He wouldn't agree to sell and all of the sudden my half was worth crap. Happened about 30 years ago and still hurts today.

    Just my 2 cents
     
  20. You can go either way. It's an on-going argument that steel is the ONLY way to go. I had a dream to build a 41 Willys for years. By the time I got around to it, a steel one of those cars was too expensive to be a viable option. Unwilling to give up on my dream, I built a really nice glass 41 Willys in a Gasser style car that was good enough for Jim A to write about, and do a nice article on, in Rod & Custom a few yrs ago. If I did NOT tell you what my 32 was made of, would it matter?
    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited: Jan 30, 2009
  21. There were glass bodies in the early 60's. 1964 NHRA allowed Glass body parts but it isn't real clear if they were yet allowing full bodies, but they definitely allowed them by 67 as I saw them first hand and they are well documented by 67.
     
  22. People used to ask me all the time if this was steel or glass. My response was, if you can't tell, to the point you need to ask, does it really matter then? I built this car from start to finish for thousands less than what just a beat up steel body would've cost. If we're talking about relatively similar costs, by all means STEEL. But, for the most part, it's usually a LOT of money seperating one from the other

    [​IMG]
     
  23. Lee Martin
    Joined: Jun 17, 2005
    Posts: 739

    Lee Martin
    Member

    Wouldn't matter to me....that's a nice ride regardless of what it's made out of.

    -Lee
    Atomic Radio
    www.atomicpinup.com
     
  24. Bottom line! I've seen disgustingly UGLY steel cars, and BEAUTIFUL glass cars. And vica versa of course. I believe the "style" (or LACK of) is far more important than the material the body is made of.
     
  25. metalshapes
    Joined: Nov 18, 2002
    Posts: 11,138

    metalshapes
    Member

    Of course it matters.

    ... to the owner of the car, who makes his choice.


    To the casual observer who has no commitment to the car ( in time, money or anything else ),
    who gives a fuck what he thinks.


    As far as period correct, glass was around since at least the '50s.

    So it was only a mattter of time till it was going to be used on Racecars...
     
  26. Bobert
    Joined: Feb 21, 2005
    Posts: 820

    Bobert
    Member Emeritus

    Glass, poorly done, may have been around in the 50's but I don't think that there were glass Willys in the 50's.
    I guess I don't think of 1964 as being old.:)
     
  27. moparron426
    Joined: Aug 25, 2005
    Posts: 657

    moparron426
    Member

    but from the early 60's a lot of the cars had fiberglass frontends ,doors,rear fenders and deck lid, then some went to complete glass bodies to be lighter:cool::D
     
  28. oilslinger53
    Joined: Apr 17, 2007
    Posts: 2,500

    oilslinger53
    Member
    from covina CA

    gonna race it? go with glass if so. if not and you can afford it, go steel.
     
  29. chris55
    Joined: Aug 26, 2008
    Posts: 1,085

    chris55
    Member

    So if fiberglass cars are not real, then what would a brookville bodied car be? Its steel, but is it real?
     

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