Hot Rods where do you draw the line on faux gassers?

I picked up '40 pontic basket case. My plan is to abort the unfinished nova clip and go with a straight axle.

But here's where I can't decide what to do or how far to go.

Full-on race car or streetable car...

I don't like the idea of having to trailer it everywhere and that's what deters me from making it a full race car, but at the same time I don't want an obvious street car with gasser looks.

Brakes - a lot I have seen have no front brakes, did some true gassers run front brakes? was it rare to do so?

ride height / driveablity etc.. how rough is it to drive them on the street?

what specific things on recreation gassers / street cars ruins their appeal as a gasser?

and what about the originals? Did some of them get driven home after the races?

 

At the beginning of the gas classes, or "gassers". Almost every car got driven home from the races. Almost all of the cars were street cars. At that time, basically any car that was too modified for the stock classes, was relegated to the gas classes. Many of the early gassers looked like street cars. Most of that changed later of course. Also, not every gasser was a nose high, straight axle, supercharged monster. A lot of people seem to forget that now days. Go to www.gassermadness.com and spend a lot of time there. Also look at the times they ran. Some of the lower class cars were not all that fast by todays standards.

 

I've been looking there. Lots of good pics.

did they use discs? a lot of the pics look like discs on the front. Like big John Mazmanian and the Hurst gasser passer

I'm stuck with either finding another 40 pontiac frame or doing something with this one.. I hate clips, so that's where the straight axle idea came from.

 

Think form follows function. An early gasser that could be street driven, and street raced, would be modified by the owner little by little as the improvements made the car faster.
Skirv, has it right IMO. A car too changed to be a stock class car.
removing the front bumper and going with a straight axle is the result of trying to reduce weight. getting glass out and replacing with plexiglass on the sides and back, too. removing as much interior as possible, Batteries in trunk, Pipe for rear bumper, maybe with cement in it.
Every week something changed on a car to improve it.

 

Ya know, its your car. Build it the way that it will work for you to do what you want it to do. If you build the car trying to make everyone happy you will be real unlikely to be happy with the outcome. "Committee built" cars usually suck. Grow some balls, build it the way you want.

Back in the day, you had to do whatever you could with the money on hand. The last thing you were worried about was what some guy down the street thought, unless he was the local cop. The biggest comprimise back then was the fact you probably had to drive the hot rod to work on Monday. It had to be able to get you to work and back home and it had to do so without collecting a bunch of tickets from the local law enforcement. Gene

 

These were both daily drivers. In fact, this photo was taken one day when we drove down to the beach for the day.............

 

shit, just build a fast poncho. As far as the suspension goes I hate clips but I'm not the biggest fan of straight axles either. My car had a straight axle and it was more suited for the track, " it road and steered like a truck" although it wasn't bad when I was on the wood. As far as the whole gasser look is concerned theres plenty of opinions on what defines a car as a "True" gasser. Sticking a straight axle and calling it a gasser is usuallly what most due, and to 90% of the crowd out there nowadays who don't know the difference will call it a gasser. Not ever was the case in the history of the class was it mandatory the cars have a straight axle, most in the lower classes in the beginning ran stock frontends "straight axle or IFS" and were driven to and from the track. D/G,C/G,B/G,A/G as well as the supercharged classes were flat towed or trailered most of the time..
from a safety sake run front and rear brakes regardless..
as far as my opinion on the current trend, a/c, column shift, power windows, p/s,p/b,late model crate motor 10 bolt rear and a MAS straight axle/ spring kit held in place with mufflershop welds is not fooling anybody..
to me,true gasser merit defined as it was defined 45+ years ago no frills,bare bones, pre 57 that can be driven on the street but is more set-up for the track, lots of hp, for me personally a 4-speed, violent clutch, 4 series gears,7200 rpm shifts....

 

Here....

 

50dodge - I'm not really asking how to build my car or asking what other people like. I'm trying to see what I can get away with on the street while using a straight axle car. if the car is gonna be dangerous as a street car, then my only choice is to go full race or find another stock frame.

basically my poncho is lacking a lot. Finding one-year only parts to complete it would take a long time. it's been hacked up by the previous owner, so a race car or something similar seemed like a good fit.

mazooma - those cars are awesome.

x-gasser - my idea is more like your definition of a gasser, with just enough to have an inspection sticker on it.

 

for what its worth (my opinion that is).. I build these things for a living and have done many cars this way. you can drive them just fine if you do it right and dont use a bunch of real old shit. especially that is worn out before you finish it. example an early chevy front axle works and looks good, however you need to go to disc brakes and roller brgs, new kingpins etc new spring bushings or gromets etc. and remember caster is how you keep it on the track without problems. and lastly any dual purpose car is not a real fast race car, so when you are on the hamb talkin about it or out hangin at the drive itn its fast and bad as hell. but at the race track it is just another street car. if you want a race car build one if you want a street car build one but its hard to do both with them... good luck

 

tall gears?

 

Where do I draw the line when considering which cars make good gassers? At 2,100 pounds.

Dave
http://www.roadsters.com/

 

I've got a 39 Pontiac, I think its about the same chassis as a 40. I found that the front of the chassis was too wide to do much of anything with. I replaced the whole thing with one from an inappropriate (hilux) source. I couldn't find one at the time, but a Chev chassis should go close.

 

Put some chrome reverse on it and just drive it on the street. Faux gassers are the new rat rod.

 

I can't put wheels on it It has no front suspension.

thanks for the pic ToddC, it even looks like it bows back out towards the front.

My frame is cut off at the firewall. I have a nova? clip that came with it and is very close to the right width, but like i said.. I don't want to clip it. so it is either

A) straight axle

or

B) complete frame

 

B...

 

i tend to disagree with you on this a little bit.
you can build a race car, AND use it as a daily driver....i did it for years with a 70 nova.
this was an 11 second car, my daily driver, and the only car i had for 3 years.
it had a built up 454, a turbo 400 manual valve body, 3500 stall, 12 bolt rearend with 2:73 gears in it, bone stock suspension with stock mono-leaf springs, napa shocks, manual drum brakes front and rear, and a set of $20.00 lakewood slapper bars. i ran m&h racemaster cheater slicks on the back, ALL the time.
yeah, 2:73 gears and it still ran 11's in the 1/4 through full 2.5" exhaust with sonic turbo mufflers.
full interior minus the back seat, working glass windows, 4 point roll bar, stock sheet metal, and steel bumpers. it even had a heater that worked.
i raced it competitively on the weekends, and drove it to work on the weekdays. it never broke down on me, except for one time when i blew the trans. up in it on a friday night at the track. i raced it, and i raced it hard at the track, AND on the street.

 

I just put a straight axle in my 50 dodge bis coupe.It had rebuilt stock suspension and brakes ,It is my daily in good weather. I am building an old school 426 max wedge motor for it ,should finish it up tomorrow. I had planned on driving this car when I started it, but gas was $2.00 then .Now I am thinking I live 15mi from the drag strip good thing. Right now it has a tube axle ,leaf springs ,and disc brakes . It handles pretty good and goes straight down the road. The rear suspension points have been lowered to raise the back about 4" the front is up 8" . It still has the stock motor in it and will onlly go about 65 but it feels dam good going down the road. Except for the disc brakes it is all pre 65 ,built to 65 NHRA rules. Can,t wait to get the big motor in it .

 

Just dont put those chrome "spindle mounts" that actually bolt on to a hub, thats where i draw the line of them being a faux gasser

 

wow didn't know they even made such a thing.

 

This has the "spindle mounts", and in my opinion this chevy is a perfect example of a faux gasser, it looks like a straight axled street rod with a non-functional moon tank and a bunch of gay acessories slapped on

 

I give this one props for having real spindle mounts, but its so unrealistic

 

Another with bolt on "spindle mounts" and what looks to be another non functional moon tank

 

that is a local car and I could say that that car gets driven all over the place and I believe it was built as a "cartoon" styled car, although with that motor in there, i would LOVE to see it go down the track...

 

Its more of a "street freak" type car i do agree, still

 

Awesome. That's my "Fried Rice." I got an Acura model from my little sister-in-law for Christmas one year and couldn't bring myself to build it out of the box or throw it away.

 

Man I have been planning a street driven gasser since I saw one as a kid. I REALY want to keep it as race oriented as I can but with rego laws here in Australia you lot are gonna call it a Faux Gasser.
Cant'cha see your way to being nice when mines finished? It wont be no Shakey Puddin fire berathing monster but a healthy Hilborn Injected 401. We cant have spindle mounts on the street here so I have to go with 'bolt on' spindle mounts (Unless I can convince the RTA that spindle mounts with a disk setup is realy OK! (Honest, would I lie to you) That or get Rod Hadfield to register it for me (In joke I guess....)
I am glad we have stricter rules but they are a little over the top some times.

 

let us know how you get along doc, ive got a cherry 65 falcon body that i wanted to give that street driven race ready look with a straight axel up front, dont worry bout if someones gonna label your car, build it how you want it. i wasnt old enough to see straight axel gassers/super stockers and early stock bodied funnies run the tracks, so im accomodating my liking of them by building a car that embodies the spirit of one. revhead, goodluck with your project.

 

Thanks mate, once work gets a little more into it I will show the progress.

 

Actually there were probably a lot of street hot rods that were forced to run in the gas class because that was the only class that they fit in.

If any had disc brakes, they were after market disk brake kits made for race cars and not very suitable for everyday hot rods...especially in todays conditions.

If being accurate means something to you pick a time period. That will limit you to what was available at that time. Most likely drum brakes from the 60s which really aren't that bad if they are maintained and adjusted.

Any race car that is put on the street is a compromise. You have to choose where to compromise. Running only rear brakes is not an option. IMHO

If you build an accurate gasser clone it will be light enough for 4W drum brakes if you so choose.

There were a lot of 12 second cars on the street in the 60s with 4W drum brakes that drove to the races.

The hot lick for an axle back then was the Econoline and the Chevy equivalent van. they came with modern drum brakes designed to stop a potentially loaded truck.

I can hear all the fear mongers saying that you will endanger the entire community with those inferior brakes. Don't believe them.