What makes a gasser a gasser?

I need some definition of what a gasser actually is.

Do they have to have a solid front axle? Sitting high in the sky in the front end? Blown? Missing front bumpers to save weight? Front fuel tank?

I'm building my 55 Pontiac -street car and would like to think and others to think more of it as a gasser instead of some pro street deal.
What other guidelines should I follow- I really don't want to cut up the rear quarters either- i'm putting all the tire inside the quarters.

 

Peruse the www.gassermadness.com website. Plenty of photos, old rules and guidelines, etc. Should give you a good idea of how they were built, what they looked like, etc.

-scott

 

It's gotta be jacked up to have a gasser look,,,HRP

 

What an actual gasser is, or was, was a full bodied car running in the gas classes. Not the same as gasser-look.

Some of them looked amazingly frumpish, or stock.

IMO, you're going to miss if you put more than 7" of tire behind an un-radiused wheelwell.

 

Gasser is a nickname for cars running the "gas" classes in the 50's-60's. Before tire technology aided traction, the nose of the car as well as engine placement helped shift weight onto the rear tires for traction. Gassers tended to have a nose bleed stance with or without a solid type axle. Kick the nose up (twist in a bunch of monkey nuts in the coils), run some cheaters, and period wheels, maybe lose the front bumper, and it'll have some "attitude" i'm sure. You don't have to cut the rear wheelwells to get the "look". I'm wondering why you think anyone would mistake it as pro street? Did you narrow the rearend? If you did, and you TRY for the gasser look, you'll end up with a dorky, 70's "street freak" instead

 

Straight axle,horsepower and heuvos------or lack of brain cells,your choice.

 

I wondered the same thing a while back
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=96911

 

On the wheel choice it was between Cragars or aluminum slots, I picked up some real nice 15 x 10 Cragars. I have to do some work to get those to fit , including putting a narrower rear end in. Probably some pie crust slicks.

 

15x 10/narrow rear? STREET FREAK, no Gasser

 

So if they stuck outside or even with the trimed quarter that would pass?

 

It's just my opinion that a 15 x 10 Cragar would have too deep a look for what you're trying to do. I tried em on my 41 Willys a few yrs ago, and took em right off. They just looked wrong to me. Maybe a 6-7" Cragar and Hotrodrubber (here on HAMB) can set you with a badass cheater

 

Gassers were typically light weight cars,for improved acceleration.

Suspension and engines were jacked up to increase weight transfer,
since the available tires were marginal.

And if you check the old magazines,they usually didn't run whitewall tires.and steel wheels were common.

Now the term has been bastardized to mean any car with a 4x4 stance.Traditional meets Donk.

 

Bro, you can't narrow the rearend and wonder why it will look pro-street! Rearend narrowing wasn't real common on full bodied cars until Pro Stock in 1970. Gassers usually ran full width rears.

This is where most guys blow it. Please don't let this happen to you. Tiny stock wheelwells don't let slicks "breathe" visually. When I see that, I can tell a guy is just worried about resale value. No commitment. Radius 'em functional style. Even or sticking out 2" is what you want. Just sayin'.

Edit: And 11" slicks were used on fuel dragsters (!) in the late 60's so anything over 10" wide just looks like too much tire.

 

I was only going to narrow it enough for the offset of the wheels, I wasn't going to have a real narrow rear end .
How are the wheelwells radiused after cutting them open? Or just leave them flat? Just a personal preferance than?

 

Yes.
edit:......
Never mind most of what I said. Been asked 'n' answered a ton.


Lots of torque is a must. Screw looks make it fast and run it on gas.

 

your car is too big to run the nose bleed stance. back in the day, those cars never ran in the fastest gas classes, so really big tires and major engine off-sets weren't common. 7,8,9" slicks, in normal wheelwells, a slight nose up attitude with most of the frontend chrome removed(bumper,grill), and you have the total package. Better make it run like a raped ape too. The ones that were there will get it, the others won't.

 

Here is what I remember. Although they say if your remember the 60's you didn't live through them... The class was originally called Gas Altereds. Class designation was based on Cu In to weight ratio. the rules allowed for a set amount of engine set back based on wheelbase lenght, and the Altered part refered to altering the wheel base to effect the amount of engine set back. You typically wanted to start with a short wheelbase car. This made Henry J's and Willys popular cars to base a drag car on. The car needed to retain it stock bodied look and early in the class had to be basically a street legal car.
Rear fenders were usuaslly radiused with a saw to gain clearence for the slicks mounted on stock width rear ends, some folks rolled the metal under, some didn't based on how much squat they got on launch. Rules got liberalized as the cars started doing wheelstands running in the 9's and drawing big crowds. The addition of blowers and match races with several of the well known teams doing a National tour gave the Gas class quite a few years of popularity. Locally it gave the guys who wanted to tinker with stuff a way to do their thing and still drive the car to and from the track. As stated in other posts the raised front was to effect weight transfer and the straight axle was an easy way to achieve it. Having the class eliminations was interesting as the Christmas tree was programed to hold the Higher HP cars at the line as the other competitor got to leave. This led to a lot of low dollar local cars beating the high dollar high HP cars as they couldn't stand the sight of the other car leaving and redlighted. Classes want from AA to H based on engine size, aspiration, and car weight.

 

Gasser n. - Any car that follows the NHRA rules for Gas Coupe/sedan at any given time period during the life of the class. i.e. any vehicle that did or could have participated in NHRA Gas Coupe/Sedan competition.

 

You notice in the short lifespan of the gasser there was a varied look as performance parts and know-how improved.I really notice on these threads that images I think are gospel other people don,t agree with at all??I think you see a look that pleases,and overlook those that don,t,Gassers,to me,are an early doorslammer body,probably candy apple paint with the cars name emlazoned with stickers and builder credits.Its got a flip front with a massive engine busting out of the bodywork,probably blown,fenderwell headers,color co-ordinated lexan windows,moon tank,high rise stance,skinnies on front and slicks on back which must stick out a mile from the bodywork!!!tube rear bumper,rollcage and foot gas pedal with maybe only 1 bucket seat.I can see it can you?

 

what does radius(ing) a tire mean?

 

If you are just going for a "look", a low custom would probably be more suited to your car. If you want a replica of a period "gasser," I.E. drag car running in gas class, you want a smaller, lighter car, as stated above.

 

gasser style
i agree with pork, make it haul ass
i am building a gasser style 53 f100 truck. i know its not the norm for a race car but it has 2 things going for it. 1) i own it 2) it will fit anything in the engine bay that i want to put in there
i c notched the rear frame a bunch. stock width (torino) 9 in with a spool and 350 gears. 557 bbf with an 8-71 and hilborn connected to a big spline toploader 4 speed and fenderwell headers. one piece fiberglass lift off front end
skinny steel wheels in front and 200s american racing wheels in the rear
the front end is raised only about an inch or 2 but the rear is about 8 inches lower so it has a nose up look without all the hard to control front end geometry issues
yes it will be fast
yes it will be loud
and it better hang the hoop high because why the hell else would you build a gasser style car.....
wheelies are king
tk

 

Hey guys,
I think the gassers were a NHRA class from the late 50's to the mid 70's. The sky high cars that everyone seems to remember were popular from the early to the mid 60's. That's on 4 or 5 years outta 15 or so the class existed. I'll bet there were more Gassers that ran independant front suspension than ran straight axles. Most of the lower gas classes were dominated by tri-five Chevys and such.

I guess what I'm getting at is that Gasser is one of those terms that has morphed into something different that the original term. Kinda like Bobber and some others.

Here's some pictures of Ohio George running another Willys in 1959, Chuck Finders working on a rearend for Jr. Thompson in 1965 and a buddy of mines D/G 55 he ran in the 60's. Oh yeah, I think the Anglia in my avatar was pretty competitive in the 60's, before I got ahold of it. It's got stock suspension under the front of it.

Larry T

 

Currentlly, Im putting together a 61 vette done in "gasser style". I am using 4" I beams to raise the front end ---these go between the front end and the frame. Eelco even made these (for post 63 vetts, biscaynes, etc), and John mazmanian used oak blocks on his 61 vette. Regarding the rear. I would steer far away from narrowing a rearend. That is so '82 (or whatever)---it will just blow the look.... What I am doing is running a 15X7 Torque thrust with cheater slicks, and instead of opening up the wheel openings, I have added an extra leaf to the rear springs. I remember as a kid growing up seeing these C1 vetts alot higher in the back with the extra leaf in the rear springs, and many times a set of air shocks....do that before narrowing a rear end....That would blow the look as a few others here have also said.

also, I am a big fan of white fenderwell headers on a "gasser" --- That doesnt define a gasser or have to be on one, but damn! they look cool!

 

Most of the "gassers" I see these days are posuers w/o the power to back up the look. Most of these don't even sit right & wind up as donks.

 

yeah.....the ultimate power plants for gassers in my eyes include ...., 301 (283), and 327 chevy motors.....I know some guys will jump right on me screaming hemi, 421 pontiac, and the like, but again, this is just my opinion. You can wind the shit out of that 301!!!!! Also, Dual quads, cross rams, Hilborn injectors, or blowers are in order. Colored windows, big and littles, and metal spec paint!!!!!

damn....I cant wait till Im done with mine!

 

We can thank the Discovery Channel for that.

 

I thought I would be safe with the wheel deal being 10" wide, I didn't want the look of nothing but tire under the back of the car. I looked over on the gasser madness site, lots of cars with big tires and wheels, I suppose it depends on the car.
I liked the look of this 56. More of a race car than a gasser I guess.

 

No Nitro

 

Beans. Lots and lots of beans.