Technical Gassers of the mid 60's

Base metallic colour, overlaid with vreeble panels, endless lines inside the vreeble panels. So you mask off the panels, use pinstriping tape to lay out the endless lines, then spray the vreeble. Then before you unmask it, fog the edges of the panel lightly with a straight darker candy blue. He didn't do it here, but before you pull up the tape, you could also fog over the endless line with another colour in an airbrush, set the spray pattern on the airbrush at say about 1/4", then follow the endless line around. On this particular colour combo, you could use say candy purple? Just as an example. Then you pull the tape up, and you have a blue vreeble panel with a silver endless line, with purple fogged around it. If I did that, I would fog the edges of the panel with the same purple.

 

Larry Watson started the panel paint craze in 1958 on his brand new T Bird. He started adding things like cobwebbing, lace and road mapping in the mid to late 60's. search Watson style panel paint and check out his work. Unless a custom painter was involved most race cars where one color. The term Gasser is a slang term for the gas coupe/sedan classes that NHRA in the late 50s. Straight axles where never a mandatory item to be in gas class , being street legal was! The term and the cars have been misunderstood for years. Love your car regardless. So pretend your Larry Watson and he built a drag car ! Larry

 

Some more ideas.

 

check his profile page

 

Didn't even make it off the first page... I just wish the stock market was as predictable as this place is!

 

WOW!!!!!

 

There were two cars around here when I was a kid, they stand out together in my mind because of the way they were painted. One was a '66 or '67 El Camino red flake overall with a silver flake panel down the side that was painted in a pattern of vertical candy stripes, following the sequence of the colours of the rainbow. He started at the front, sprayed the first colour, and faded it lighter, ending at about 7", then laid a straight edge over it about 6" back, sprayed the next colour and so on, then kept repeating the sequence until he got to the end of the car.
The other one was a '66 or '67 chevelle wagon done the same way, but the overall colour was pearl white instead of red flake.

 

For those of you that want a better understanding of what "gassers" and the gas classes were all about, read this history of the gas classes on Byron's Gasser Madness!
http://www.gassermadness.us/index.htm

You can also read (gasp) the ACTUAL NHRA Rulebooks for ALL the 1960's on line!
LOL If you do, read the part about how all cars must have upholstery, four wheel brakes and must sit level and can't have raised front ends! Then , you will STILL insist I'm wrong! LOL

To the OP, don't be discouraged, it's a cool Ranchero!

 

"AND nobody called anyone a "poser', nobody called anyone anything."
If he is building a race car I will "call" him out.
May have to eat my words but it's all in good fun....right?

 

This was done with a stencil with the edge cut in a series of "C's". Mask off the panel, spray along the edge of the stencil with an airbrush loaded with the darker colour. Then you move the stencil back and up half a circle, so the pattern overlaps like fish scales, next row back down, and so on. Then fog the edges, and overspray the whole panel with candy red. I hope I am not being to obvious here, not sure how much the op knows about old school custom painting techniques, so I am trying to ere on the side of caution.

 

My favorite psychedelic paint job, George Cerny's magenta lace Kenney Goodell Mustang.
Photos just do not do it justice, it was glowing deep magenta red candy, with a real lace pattern.

 

there used to be a really excellent video of this guy doing an endless line panel down the beltline of a late sixties Riv lowrider on Youtube, but it looks like its gone now, I cant find it. EXCELLENT video, showed his technique very clearly. It had Georges Clintons Mothership as the soundtrack.

 

Yeah, you ARE on the wrong site.I guess you didn't get the 62,000 mentions Ryan has made that this site is for TRADITIONAL cars , not 67 Novas and 84 mustangs, no "pot shots" taken at the OP, but I will take some at you. Try a dictionary TRADITIONAL, try getting with the program, you are the only guy being a , di** here. Nobody else.
Nobody is lost anywhere, PLEASE REVIEW, he asked about how gassers were painted in the mid 60's ! LOL
Not about 5.o Mustangs.
Getting it now, ???Probably not.
And Yellow Bullet is just, well, never mind......! LOL

REVIEW TIME! RYAN SAYETH!
"The Traditional Hot Rod forum is reserved for threads and posts pertaining to period correct hot rods only. Please use this forum for technical threads, build threads, historical threads, and feature threads only.

We've set permissions so that you must chose a prefix for your thread. Those prefixes are limited to:

1. Technical - This prefix is for tech threads and questions.

2. Projects - Essentially, this prefix is reserved for build threads.

3. Features - This is the prefix to use if you want to show off that super rare hot rod part or even a finished car.

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For any other thread types (such as Event coverage, Art, etc...), please use the General Discussion forum located here."

SEE IF YOU CAN FIGURE OUT WHAT "PERIOD CORRECT "MEANS!

 

Atleast it doesn't have fake spindle mounts..Not yet, anyway.

 

I'd suggest picking out a '61-'65 factory metallic, any make. Pick one that floats yer boat. These metallics will reveal the fine lines of your '57. Some simple panel striping a bonus.
My thought is this metallic approach takes your car in the direction of what could happen back then in a 'switched on' garage. Note this is an Australian opinion- with some exceptions, we were generally some ways behind USA in case of trick sixties paint tech & finish, as is applicable to the HAMB.
BTW flames, when well done, have always ,timelessly, kicked arse. It was uncommon to find good ones.

 

Going with D.N.D. on this one....but you didn't say what you were doing with the car/truck.
Had to add that you would be too worried about making it run under the number than the paint if you were racing.

 

WOW!!! u guys are great there are some real nice ideas here. I will the politics you, I just want a cool ride so when I show up at the Melt Down I can say I did it myself. I really like the panels and fad and will have to practice that effect to see if I have the touch. Another cool idea was to follow the body lines Ford used some pretty nice chrome moldings to set off the sides of the car. I might look into doing some airbrush work in place of the molding (which I do not have). again great ideas and thanks for the pictures, I really appreciate all the research, you are all AWESOME

 

Way to hang in there, Todd. The wealth of knowledge on the HAMB is unmatched.
Traditional is the code to observe here, there's no other place like it. It's important that members speak up to keep things aligned. The dudes who were there keep the history pure.

 

Love that year Anglia Spoggie. Not too many done in drag race or hot rod trim it seems. I've seen a few in vintage road racing however, one with a Formula Atlantic engine that flat out screams! -EM

 

Todd it is really great to see you hanging in there as anytime someone mentions gassers the emotions run high (or at least higher than they should-IMO). First of all great to hear you are going to run the Meltdown. I have gone the last four years and it is now the highlight of my year. You will find it is addicting-guaranteed.

As to the paint angle I would go with a single color like Don (and I agree with Jnaki) and others have said. I was fortunate enough to be part of a team that ran gas in the 60s and I was the young guy (15 when I started) and only because I knew paint and body. My grandfather was a car collector and he put me to work in his paint booth at age 13. The car I worked on for the team was a 57 Vette they bought for $100 I believe and it was worth no more. It was such a mess I was the only fool to take on the project more than likely. It took every bit of skill I had (as well as BSing) to get the car right but it came out pretty good and it gave me a chance to spend many hours prepping the car and going to the track several times a week during the height of the season for a number of years-great times. It hooked me on drag racing for sure but I also studied all of the paint jobs at the track or maybe moreso than most. Almost all during the mid to late 60s were a single color-some two-tones but the real fancy paintwork became more common with the onslaught of the funny cars. There were some altereds that had great paint and a few gassers but not many-at least not in my orbit. Some of the stockers were great as well but you get the point. Lettering was more common than some of the wild paint schemes that became quite popular in early 70s.

Not sure what your talent level is with paint work but custom paint is not easy and the layout and masking can be intense if you want it dead nuts. I loved custom paintwork and did quite a bit before I realized that unless I walked away I would kill myself with constant exposure to the fumes. I only do a limited of painting now but I have a couple of projects going now and I have the cars painted in my head already. It helps to have it done so to speak before you start than to rely on a guess or by golly approach. The one will be a Corvette drag car and it will be a combination of pearl and candy-I know exactly how it will look before I even start. If you want to go candy I can help walk you through it as it is much easier today, at least with the PPG system IMO (House of Color is great but a little harder to get the same results in my opinion-although a bit cheaper initially). The problem with candy is the cost. My avatar car is PPG tri-coat candy apple red and the cost of just the paint (base, mid and clear) was $1500 a few years ago. Pricey-but looks great and is period correct for sure. Candy was popular in the period you are shooting for. They do have some great factory colors today though that are close to candy and they are “reasonable” in cost and you may consider going that route. If you do shoot me a PM and I will give you a tip or two if you do not have experience shooting these candy-like colors. If your skill level is limited I would encourage you to pick a single stage solid color and go with it. It will look better than a custom job that goes south.

As to your Ranchero it is really a cool car and just so you know the 65 NHRA rules specifically mentions a Ranchero in the Street Section (gassers) at page 17. I don’t remember one but then again I did not see every car in the country and who knows maybe there was one. You do not need bumpers but instead of a rear bumper then you need to attach a push bar if you want to be period correct for gas. Modified production is probably out due to your stance and so is stock so only so many other classes. Gas for a look and designation is one way to go even if you end up running hotrod at the Meltdown (not sure what you are running in terms of engine etc). Where I agree with George is that so many cars today put a straight axle under the car, go sky high and put a Moon tank on the front. Leave off the Moon tank and change the front wheels and go a solid color and maybe if the budget allows a limited amount of lettering and it will look good. Not too many stickers as in 65 they were not as common as 1968 and 1969. Please stay away from wide white as they were more period correct during the late 50s/early 60s moreso than the mid 60s.

One thing I can assure you though is that you will have a good time at the Meltdown. Good luck.

 

I care about history, I care about a car being real or not here is a one, real car, real paint less real stickers and original lettering

 

Jim,

Thank you for the sane, well-measured, and detailed response to Todd. I really appreciate your demeanor in the way to teach people about this subject vs. ranting and raving about it.

Steve

 

The Cadillac "firemist" metallic colors were a pretty popular choice around these parts back in the late '60s.

 

The whole hot rodding really lost their way in the late 60s, thru most of the 70s. Went totally flower-power with horrid graphic paint jobs, murals, totally forgettable cars, Rod and Custom magazine was headed 100% into V-rods (VW based hot rods!!). It was really bad.

 

Jim, thanks for the information I am learning so much from this post. Everyone has been great, I think the ranchero will be pretty subdued when it arrives at the melt down, we have been going for several years but this will be the first time with a car. we are really looking forward to it. The ranchero will never be the real deal but it will be close, I just don't want to be some poser with a stupid looking pile of parts and, paint. One more question (taking a deep breath) will vinyl lettering be acceptable? again thanks this is really great with outstanding information

 

Todd's I know of another car at the Meltdown that that has vinyl lettering and I believe looks pretty good and period correct and there may be more, but the railbirds may be looking down their beaks if you over do it. But if not obvious it may get you by and it may very well look the part. That being said hand painting is best. You may find a guy that does lettering in your neck of the woods that is reasonable in cost. Often these guys are the best way to go for sure.

A trick I have used since I was not the best with lettering was to buy shelf paper (in white) and draw on the shelf paper what I wanted. Then I use a new exacto blade and make a cut mark around the lettering and install the shelf paper on the surface by removing the backing paper and when installed then remove the letters. Then you can brush paint the lettering and remove the paper. You may practice on removing the paper without leaving a fuzzy edge. If you remove it and you are not happy with the lettering you can use PPG DX 440 which is a strong wax and grease remover that removes fresh paint (one shot -which is what I used-thinned a bit to make it flow a little better-there may be better stuff today as I have done no lettering in over 20 years) and of course start all over again-not uncommon when doing custom work. A little shadowing with a quality let's say 1/4" brush (not a striping brush-IMO) is then easy as long as you don't go crazy.

If you decide to do it yourself, make sure you spend time on the layout and drawing etc and you should do alright.

 

Hello,

Don Nowell is correct, the trend of single colors (black,red, white, blue, primer) were the call of the day. The single basic colors continued with candy colors and just names started in the early 60’s, then in 1964-67, the colors started to change, the sponsors started showing up, and the cars started to change. The first smaller, lightweight Anglia cars and Willys pickups started showing up with powerful motors, making the 40 Willys coupe racers work a little harder to stay on top.

As the years progressed, a different style, color and paint jobs showed up as it became more of a finished show car/racer look. Everyone had their own version of what looked good. But the single color for the gas coupes and sedans always remained.

Jnaki

In looking at the various websites of famous racers, it is interesting to see the progression from single color race cars all the way to candy color (one variation) before retiring from racing.

Junior Thompson 1957-1982 career

 

big no on the vinyl lettering. Don't let the peer pressure push you into conforming, stick to your guns, do some wild paint on it. I wouldn't do any lettering, I think it looks stupid and pretentious on any car that is not a full-time race car, but that's up to you.

 

I have to agree again with falcongeorge on the lettering. I think vinyl is a no no, and good luck finding a sign painter, there are some, but they aren't cheap.At least in SoCal. Unless it's a race car you don't need lettering, the ranchero is a good looking car, lettering and decals and stickers would just detract from a cool paint job. A couple vintage ( GOD I hate that term!) decals on the window might look good, hold 'em up and see!