Some of you say Gassers can't be driven...

Well, in reverse it might be.

 

Now that's some funny shit there.

 

I really don't see the big fuzz of running a straight axle car, most older Rods and Trucks came with them standard.

As long as the Geometry is setup right then it is up to the engine to keep up its share of the deal.

 

I don't see why a well built straight axle car wouldn't be able to drive anywhere. Heavy trucks still run straight axles....

 

Good for Yancy! That's awesome.

But really can you call it an 11 second car with the temporary motor put in to make the trip? It WAS an 11 second car prior.

 

I'm going to make another point. Take a A/G,B/G, C/G car that has just set a national record, fill it with gas and drive it coast to coast. Now you have a little problem. First is the 5.13-6.17 rearend, second is the tempermental fuel injection that's tuned to run WOT ALL THE TIME, Second how about the valve train, solid rollers with gobs of overlap and lift and valve spring pressures that would hold up a Mack truck. How about a fuel injection WO accelerator pumps to take off and make it away from an intersection? Third, and less important, is the chassis and tires. Point being is a TRUE gasser is a very compromised vehicle that's true invironment is the 1/4 mile drag strip.
Sure you can start to back off on a number of these items and "drive" the car on the street but it will be anything but a pleasant experience. Now think about it as a regular driver with all of the attending maintenance and tuning and I'm sure you will quickly tire of the hassel. Anything else will be a shadow of it former self and if you want to call it a street driven gasser then go for it. Poser, come to mind?

Frank

 

I'd rather buy a piece of dogshit for 6 bucks than a copy of OSR.

Neat car though. Sounds like he's having fun with it.

 

From what I saw, it didn't handle the mud puddle too well down the street from Tom's shop. It did however look impressive throwing everything that wasn't bolted down out of the car like a pair of jeans on spincycle when it landed in the ditch (luckily). ha ha ha

 

These Gassers currently terrorize the streets - all blown w/ 1 carbureted and 3 Hilborn injected.

 

gears in the 5.00 to 6.00+ range would spin the motor so hard on the hiway it would scare ya!

 

;

yeah, but do they see the track? I've seen all those at the chrr, none on the track.

 

They must have been vegetarians, I have never seen a pic of them with a burger

 

Larry T- You're on the right track.
fab32- This is not a record setting car like the one you have in mind
plowboy- When a car is cranking 7,000 rpm in third gear with slicks on the back and goes through an unsuspecting water puddle in the road, yea its going to get a little hairy and some shit (or shitting) is going to happen. Cool to see it though.
V Young- Cool, but not everyday drivers dealing with Indiana weather conditions.

Like I said, it was a totally different tune here on the HAMB when he made the trip.

 

Sure you can drive a racey car on the street. Maybe even cross country. By racey I mean race infulenced or possibly even a detuned/street tuned racer. But a purpose built, competiton ready, race car regardless of race type or era is not going to be happy on the street. I think that is point that many are trying to make. That is what they mean when they say a "Gasser isn't streetable." To them (and me too) a gasser is a purpose built competition ready race car that is completely ill tempered at anything under WOT in a mostly straight line. Because they are purpose built for that one thing and that one thing only. Some car with a straight axel and a raised front end does not = a gasser. And just because some one drives the snot out of it doesn't make it any racier. I've driven the snot out of my S10 on a few occasions, and I promise there is not one racey bone in that thing.

I know this has been beaten to death. I probably wouldn't have made it out of the state in the car mentioned. Nor would I care to try. I think '65 Riviera would be my choice for such a journey.

 

Hmmm...kinda like the whole Pro Street thing comin' around again, eh?!

Back in the late 70s/early 80s, a lot of people marveled at the doorslammer Pro Stock cars and thought things like "Hey...that's kinda neat, he drove the car back to the pits after the race!". Soon, a few daring folks got the notion to put tubbed-out cars with full roll-cages on the street with a license plate hung on the back bumper. I mean, if Bob Glidden could trundle his Pro Stock T-bird around the track and run some seriously low ETs as well, then why couldn't the same car be driven on the street???

But, alas...it came to be that rod-bending compression, massive tunnel rams on big block V8s with twin Dominator carbs, open headers, Lenco transmissions, 5 or 6 series axle ratios and postage stamp sized radiators were things that just didn't lend themselves to street duty...so the cars got 'watered down' with milder engines and wilder paint jobs...and before too long, someone drove a tubbed Camaro across a few state lines to attend an event somewhere and proclaimed that Pro Street cars were indeed driveable! Of course, that Camaro likely had less than 9.5:1 compression, possibly only one carb (or two small vacuum secondary ones), a hydraulic cam, automatic transmission and probably even a sound system since it was running mufflers. Some would say that the 'hero car' was true to it's Pro Stock inspiration, and maybe some might even cite it's 11 or 10 second quarter mile potential...but Bob Glidden's RACE car ran a few seconds faster than that, didn't it?!

Yes, you can drive a car that looks like a purpose-built drag car (be it Pro Street, Gasser, or whatever) on the street...and even across the country if you'd like...but any true pro-race car driven on the street will be as out of it's element as a new Prius in the Pro Stock staging lanes!

I give the dude kudos for driving that gasser-styled car across the country...that what street machines are made for, after all! A nicely massaged single-quad SBC makes for a decent compromise between showroom stocker and max-effort drag car, and makes trips like this in cars like that possible!

Just like the 80s, Bro!

 

2 lane blacktop drove there 55 across country, and raced it too, ha, ha

 

...and Robin Mattson road-raced a sports car with a drag car Willys in the MOVIE "Hot Rod", too!

 

To me it either functions or it does not..I am a function kind of guy..and I hate using pump gas....Littleman

 

you build cars to drive them right? I drove a Model A from Indy to L A and back a few years ago. I'm not the 1st to do that and won't be the last. I'm going to drive back to L A in 2010 in a rod

 

The modern cars today will whip most of the olden days hot-rods, and many of the new ones!

When you are looking at 500-600 horsepower cars in street cars, stock, then you are in different country.

And a 1,000 horsepower Bugattii would really do it.

But, enjoy what we have today as it is all relative. The Gasser is slower than higher classes, and our hot-rods are overshadowed by most everything purpose built.

Before purpose built drag stuff, we would drive them to the race, and race them, and drive them home.

traderjack

 

I wasnt going to mention that part plowboy. I saw no proof.

 

i thought the purpose of a gasser was that you could drive it to the track on pump gas and race it... am i mis-informed?

 

Yes.

 

something i need to mention >>>i was a mechanic on s.frd. rd. in glendale cal behind our shop in the old airport complex was the sheriff helocoptor pad...most of them our cust they would stop by &make a b/line to my tool box get the volation tickets [slicks/no mufflers]out top rt drawer &have them signed off w/o that ......milner had no such friends?!?

 

That's pretty much what we still do with Yancey and his Studebaker... open headers, slicks, the whole bit.
But that is pretty cool.

 

you guys crack me up. reading this post, i was gettin a lil irratated at some of the comments that has been made. I built this car, with tom culbertson, on a small buget, with the 61' rule book in hand. the only thing on this car that isnt 'traditional' is the disk brakes, the 5 speed, and the alternator. Everything else is just like the pictures from around '60, '61 era. it was never suposed to be a record holdin car like the gassers that have been mentioned. those cars were and are built for the drag strip. i built the stude to run in the c or d gas class. classes that had gas station attendants wrenchin on their cars after hours then drove them to the track, changed the tires, put a tune on it and ran. thats what i do. with that said it runs right on the national record for that time.
yes the engine i ran headin out to vegas and california was nothing more than a warmed over 355, with 3.25 gears. the car still ran in the low 13's at muncie dragway a week after i had returned to indy.
as to the comment of it 'not handling very well like a washer on spin cycle', ya runnin close to 100mph, full spool and the 11 inch slicks ON TOP OF THE FLOODED STREET', yes it will handle like shit. and before i get reemed on that.... yes i was a dumbass for runnin that hard after an indiana monsoon.

has others drivin their cars great distances before? yes. is this anything special? maybe not to others but to me, it was. it was a trip of a lifetime. will others do it? i hope soo. thank you for your time.. and keep cruisin!!!!

 

Its about time you chimed in.

 

the term "hot rod" is used just as loosley as the term "gasser" guys drag racing on the streets, and running on the flats in the 40's and 50's would have a little bit to say about what we consider "hot rods". By todays standards its used on every vehicle from motorcycles to 90's pickup trucks. Now days most people wouldnt drive any car out of state without a/c, let alone a 11 sec. "gasser" across country. No one said this car was a all out race car, but i bet it would beat the snot(yeah i said it) out of most of the so called "hot rods" of these guys squallin about it.

 

Diggin it. Congrats on the magazine coverage. Enjoyed reading about it and seeing the pics on the HAMB.

And I am a little jealous because my 4.88 gears don't let me get down the road too far. 4000 rpm at 60mph is good for awhile...

Hope to see the car again at the WOW in Indy.