Technical Question for the elders, those who were there.

I have a terminology question.

My elders passed on to me a term for an LSR car, built out of a military surplus drop fuel tank.

What they imparted was: belly tank lakester, or belly tank.

Lately, I have been seeing and hearing people call them "tankers".

Is this a thing? Was this a thing?

 

Sounds doubtful to me, I don't recall that being used in my 60+ years of reading about hot rodding. I suspect the origin of that usage may stem from the same guys that will tag just about anything with the term "gasser".

 

They will always be "tanks" and not "ers" to me and my first personal LSR experience was in 1974. Others here have where the "er" word was used in the 50's but I won't... It's just like the word "dizzy" for distributor. There were no Dizzys in America in the 40-50's except Dizzy Dean the baseball pitcher/announcer.

 

'Back in the day', I always saw them referred to as belly tanks or just plain lakesters...

 

yes.

no.

 

Not an elder .... 47 years old .... but people order "jaymo" instead of Jameson Irish whiskey, & "dos" instead of Dos Equis beer. Grates my nerves.

Actually busted out a bartender book for the jaymo sh#t. Then asked "two of what?" for the clown that wanted "a dos".

I can only imagine tanker being another revisionist, made up, crap, slang word ... force fed to us all.

Friggin' punks.

 

My Hot Rod addiction started about 1965. Never heard the terms "tanker" or "dizzy" until recently.

 

47......I agree about the "tanker" term, always been "tank" for me but here in Oz "dissy or dizzy" has been a slang term for distributor for as long as I've been playing with cars.........around 1968.............lol..........regards, andyd

 

In 1969 when I was 19, I had a mentor in the ways of racin, drinkin and
general hell raising! He was a Cherokee Indian from the South Eastern
territories of the Carolinas, Alabama, Georgia and others. At the time Big Bill was 45 years of age. He shared with me tales of building, driving and racing"Tankers." In the South that referred to illegal liquor haulers! Of which he was quite familiar with. Ah the wonderful times I spend and lessons I absorbed from a mentor who was truly "there."

 

Like JD, I always heard them called "Tanks". But I have seen them called "Tankers" in some old books. They were called "Drop Tanks" "Belly Tanks" or "Tip Tanks" in the service. Not Tankers. Those were ships or trucks that were bulk haulers.

 

Millennial jargon.
I believe the smartphone texting started it all.
They are always looking for a quick way to convey their message.

 

RichFox is correct in his interpretation. I am 71, and have been around this stuff AWHILE.

 

"tankers"..no
Dizzy..no
Willys..hmm, where I'm from (PNW) growing up, they were always pronounced Willeaze, not Willis.
I guess it'll always be open for debate.

 

my belly tank. my first time on the salt was in 1968 and at that time all the old guy from the first years called them belly tanks.

 

I found this picture here on the hamb. As I understand it's from 51' 52' or so. Some guys back in the day may have called them "Tankers" I like Belly Tanks They now run in the SCTA's "Lakster" classes

 

Only tankers I've heard of (in the automotive sense) referred to souped-up likker hauler of the day, or a 36ga. fuel tank Corvette.

 

I'm a baby boomer. They were and will always be belly tanks to me.

 

Actually, if you go back to the really old days, Pretty much everybody ran roadsters. Roadsters that were cut down to be really low, were Modified roadsters. Modified Roadsters that were sectioned down the center to make a very narrow, low single seat car were called Streamliners. When real streamliners came along the narrow roadsters, champ cars and tanks became "Lakesters. Today. for some reason, you can't run a narrow roadster as a lakester. You can't run it at all. I don't know why.

 

1) I've heard of WWII US Army armored crewmen called tankers (by other than other armored branch personnel. 2) I have heard bootlegger vehicles hauling bulk moonshine (as opposed to quart or gallon packaging) referred to as tankers.

LSR vehicle are TANKS.

vic

 

Until I read this thread "tankers" referred to Southern Moonshine haulers, hopped up Ford Flatheads that were the basic start of NASCAR. Dry Lakes and Bonneville race cars were drop tanks, or tanks.

Bob

 

My roddin days started in the '50's. Never heard of a tanker, a dizzy or a tranny. Them things you shifted were gearboxes, or just plain boxes. If it shifted itself, it was a slush box.

 

Sounds more like someone is trying to make a new name for something to make it cool to them.

Sent from my SM-G930T using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

Same to me. I started following LSR when I was about 9, in 1964. I had read a book about the Arfons Green Monster, the school library also had one on Don Garlits.

 

Not tankers. Ever.

 

My dad owns the Ardun from this car, He’s one of those “old guys”

 

I did ask the last guy who said it "how many gallons", even though I knew what he was getting at.

 

"Tankers" were Corvettes. Usually referred to as 1963 and later C2 Z06 cars with 36.5 gallon fuel tank but there were earlier C1 cars with big tanks. In 1961 my friend Bill Fritts rented Augie Pabst's 1960 tanker, tuned it for speed on the straight highway between Midland and Lubbock TX, took it to Sebring and won the GT class. First time a Corvette won GT at Sebring. The River Rat Road Racers.

ETA: After the "airbox" Corvettes came the "tankers". Both highly desirable.

 

So I guess "Tankster" was a never...