History TRADITIONAL GASSERS, Gas Class cars and modern TRADITIONAL cars.

November 2006 HRM

 

Rodder's Journal #56 Fall 2012. Haven't seen or talked to "Trouble" in a while but he used to be here on the HAMB

 

Fantastic!... born and raised in Buffalo, N.Y. I remember this "Earth Shaker " very well. Always waited till the end of the night to see every pass it made. So glad to see it's return from the dead... Nicely done!
Hugh Swain - "The Tonawanda Kid"

 

In the "same car back then" photo... is that Earl Hickey on the right???

 

Local boys.

 

Quick Trip at the Orange Dragway Reunion, 2016. Photo by TWIG Photography

 

1964
Hello,

Here is a photo that I just found on the drag racing sites that I use for research. I have some photos of this Willys from other famous photographers, but not this one. Traditional? It was in the thick of things traditional, in the gas coupe ranks. Before the permanently jacked up front ends, these cars were doing it by themselves with the horsepower they had. Most of the photos of this era showed the front ends up because of the tremendous amount of power being sent to the rear wheels.

During the time we built our 40 Willys in 1960, Atts Ono was instrumental in helping us set everything up correctly. Once we got it running and racing, he was our primary “go to guy” in the pits. These days, crew chief, would have been the title. He was the epitome of a true hot rod/drag race builder and racer. (and great friend)

He was slowly building his own gas coupe, machining parts for his own Willys during the early 60’s, then, finishing it in 1964. (Documentation below) He was with us on our fateful day/night at Lions in August, 1960. The excitement he/we had as we crept closer to the national record was intense. We were all showing big smiles at the time.

Atts Ono was with me at the start line on that August, final C/Gas elimination race. We were happy that the runs were going faster with each run. We knew the opponent and thought my brother could easily win this race and have a great ending to the day/night racing.

While watching my brother jump out to a commanding, two car lead, we were happy. My brother had told us that if he could get off of the start line first, he would win the race. Boy, did he ever… We were all cheering until about ½ way down the track.

Then, we all had sad, astonished faces at the sight of the red glow under and above our Willys going down the track. Watching the Willys careen to the right towards the spectator’s fence was disheartening. We both hopped into the 58 Impala tow car and raced down the track to the burning Willys wedged into the spectator’s fence.

After the explosion and fire, there was a ruling from the safety committee about Moon Tanks (then legal inside of the cab) to be moved outside, in the engine compartment or trunk. Atts Ono instantly moved his to a custom made bracket BEHIND the grille of his 40 Willys.
PHR Mag 1966…Thanks, Jason
Jnaki


There have been many posts on this fabulous red, 40 Willys B/Gas coupe. We were certainly fortunate to have been involved with our good friend, the late, Atts Ono. (Thank you for the memories...) He was one heck of a guy, sportsman, athlete, machinist, and outstanding mechanical engineer. (He was the point guard on our basketball team…I was the center. Ha!)

Where is this outstanding 40 Willys, now?

 

I did a search and nothing turned up for this, so here’s Gary Dyer’s ‘33 Ford B/GS with 6-71 blown 327. I think this is 1963 before he got a factory 427 Comet deal in 1964 with Ed Rachanski.

 

Anyone know what these wheels (like the actual brand) are? The rears are KILLER!

 

Cragars all around. Sixteen inch diameter out back.

 

Seriously!
CRAGAR

 

Seriously, I find your contributions and photos really outstanding. Great job and thanks.
P.S. I be an old guy

 

Yes. Those wheels were taken apart, re-chromed and welded back together.

 

My response was meant to imply seriously, you don't know those are Cragars!

 

No, I didn't. Which is why I asked. Put prewar parts in front of me and I am pretty good on them. Actually, I learned a bunch about old and new SS wheels today. Who cares? Can't know it all...

 

Not everyone is as old as us DDDenny

 

Great thread, Gary. Thanks for riding herd on some of these guys too.

 

Here is my want-to-be.

 

Yeah, that rig is set up nicely... the Torque Thrusts and cross-ram are sweet touches!

 

Gary do you happen to have this missing picture? Thank you

 

Man this thread is quality stuff. Thanks to everyone who has submitted!!
This is extremely valuable to me, as I am beginning the process of creating a backyard mid-60s D/Gas tribute car with my 55 Chevy and perhaps even racing it in our local track's Nostalgia Drags in the next year or two as time and money permit. This is giving me a solid direction finally. A lot of what I thought I needed was coming from the modern street gasser trend and what people THINK a traditional gasser looked like, when in reality these real cars were much more basic. I'm seeing plenty of cars with A-arms, some still have inner fenders, fenderwell headers are not a necessity.
GREAT stuff, guys!!

Edit: Anyone else looking into a mid-sixties period-correct gasser, this will tell you all you need to know.
http://nostalgiagassers.com/nhra-rules-gas-coupessedans-g-1965/

 

1965 and talking about the use of coil overs

 

The car has gone through many owners and colors but is now in the NYC area being restored and painted RED.

 

I saw this one on Facebook, pretty sweet ride.