GASSER MUST HAVES and cant haves?

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somebody has to call somebody else an idiot to get that kicked off again!
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idiot!

 

Lmao

 

Don't jinx it you fawkers!
We haven't had to hear any pearls of wisdom about how we should all have the big tires on the FRONT of the car for weeks now...!Lmao!


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cant haves...

 

Wonder what that guy was thinking? Did he think his front axle had a differential?

 

Not sure, I'll have to check. Pretty thick though.

 

As far as most peoples incorrect interpretation of a gasser, I don't think it's entirely their fault. In this day and age, the internet has become the main source of information and learning for people. Google the word "gasser" and hit the "images" tab for the results. What do you see? Pages of ridiculously exaggerated street freak cars, most sporting the fake spindle mount wheels, empty moon tank, on and on, but very few true gassers. Go to eBay or Craigslist and search for "gasser". Not to mention Facebook and so on. Same deal - seems even any stock old car or truck older than say 1970 is a gasser to some. Then you have wheel companies actually naming a wheel "gasser" when it is nothing like anything ever ran on a "real" gasser - google " gasser wheel". So these young guys trying to learn see all this and think "shit, man, them old guys on the HAMB don't know nothin". Not only that, but I think there are a lot of older guys that, even though they were "alive" back then, they weren't really involved enough to be very knowledgeable about a lot of things - like the guy that had maybe a mild street cruiser and a wife and kids and maybe did some local cruising on the weekend versus the guy that was a hard core drag racer. So, I don't think anybody is trying to re-write history on purpose. They are doing what they see and truly think that it's correct. Just some of my thoughts.

 

X2 Steve I think you are exactly right.

 

I'll add a couple thoughts to what "Steve" posted. First, there were few true gassers that ran spindle mount wheels back in the day. So it really doesn't matter if a car today has fake or real spindle mounts, as they just weren't used much in Gas class, and certain Gas classes didn't allow them at all.
As for Moon tanks. Lots of gassers used Moon tanks, so having a Moon tank on the front that is dry simply means you don't want a couple gallons of gas hanging on the front of your car, but you want your car to appear correct for a period when Moon tanks were allowed by NHRA. Would it really be better if people hooked them up and filled them with gas, just to be acceptable? I think I'll pass on that idea. Having a Moon tank, or not having a Moon tank doesn't make a car a gasser. And it shouldn't send a message to the younger crowd that Moon tanks shouldn't be a period correct thing. I can tell you that a lot of younger people don't know what they are, or why they are there; but when they see one they ask, and it gives the opportunity to teach a younger person what they are, and why they once were popular in the Gas classes.
Building a car to emulate a certain era or class is fun, but even if we build them 100% correct, they're still copies or clones. So everything we do is not real, but just a reasonable facsimile. The cars that were there during the era are the ultimate, and I think we all admire those cars, and appreciate what their present owners do to keep them alive and correct. The rest of us just try to have some fun, and hope we don't break too many rules in the meantime.
Hope I'm not stepping on any toes while having fun with my cars.

 

NO MONSTER TRUCKS!..,I MEAN STREET FREAKS.., UH I MEAN MONSTER TRUCKS! (ok, I'm sure that stirred the pot good..,here comes a wave of pissed off monster truck..,ER uh I mean street freakers)

 

I agree that very few true gassers ran spindle mount wheels, mainly because the rules required them to have front brakes, as has been discussed on here many times. Yet, an overwhelming number of cars built today being called gassers are sporting these spindle mount looking wheels. I think this started with ET or Team 3 wheels when they came out with their bolt-on spindle mount looking wheel and named it the "Gasser". They should have named it the"Altered", as that is what ran the spindle mount wheels mostly back then, with few exceptions. But they called it the Gasser wheel and guys that didn't know any better thought that they were period correct Gasser wheels and it just snowballed until now, like I said earlier, if you google or search "gasser" the majority of the cars in the results are sporting these wheels, which are not what many would call a period correct gasser wheel. Also, lots of gassers did use "moon tanks", but the ones with the tanks mounted high and up front was because they were fuel injected and the mechanical fuel pumps were gravity fed. A modern build that has a tank mounted high and up front and is not injected is a cool looking hot rod, but not really a period correct gasser. Today, like it or not, the word gasser means a lot of different things to different people. There are the guys that own the real survivor cars and they very lucky and I think that they are very proud of their original " gas coupe and sedan " class race car and understandably don't really care for the term being used these days to describe a hot rod with "gasser styling". To them it's all about being original, and that's OK. Then there are the guys that build the clones or "tribute" gassers, that take a lot of time and money to research and build a truly period correct "gas coupe or sedan" class car. To them it's all about being period correct, and that's OK. We also have todays racers, guys like Quain Stott who not only love to build but also race and have fun at the strip with their cars, but that makes it difficult for the cars to stay 100 percent period correct. To them it's all about going fast and having fun, and that's OK. And then there are the guys that have the street/strip cars. They don't have to worry about being the "caretaker" of an original gasser that has to stay original. They don't have to worry about all the little details of having a 100 percent correct clone or tribute car. They don't have to worry about following a racing group or organizations rules. They have the freedom to build their car however they want and enjoy it. As long as they do not think or claim that it is a "period correct" gas coupe and sedan class race car. Seems like that is when the trouble starts. It's a gasser style hot rod, and to me at least, that's OK too.

 

Steve!, I'd say you've summed it up real well.

 

gassers were in a constant flux, evolving as period the class lasted they were like the Pro Stocks of to-day were nothing stays still in search of the best performance.
Steve! hit it,it's how it's perceived to-day.

 

I agree 100%

 

From what Steve! said and so many agree with; that is why it is even More Important that we stay vigilant to educate and inform people to what Gasser's really were. And the NHRA isn't helping by letting what are essentially Pro mods run as Gasser's in the Heritage Series. But then again they have pretty much made the Nostalgic Funny Car class into Alcohol Funny car chassis with an old body and a mish mash of engine rules.


Funny note about Spindle mounts. My car Never had front brakes, was an NHRA, Lion's and Irwindale record holder, but ran bolt on wheels (Cragar's, they paid the best contingency) just no brakes.

 

Vigilant. Knowledgable. I agree Don.

To be fair, NHRA just followed Goodguys lead with Heritage Series classes. Not that they can't screw up a steel ball on their own, I was involved when GG changed A/G from a weight-to-cubic inch deal to ANY SIZE MOTOR, ANY SIZE BLOWER. BAM!! They already had the 7.60 index, it was just too much trouble to do it the right way, even though history told how it could be done. The rest is history.

 

I've often wondered why guys would take light weight magnesium wheels off back in the day and replace them with heavier Cragars and cast aluminum slots, 5 spokes etc. Always figured the "mags" got fatigued, and so did the owners trying to keep them shiny, while chrome Cragers always stayed nice looking (one of my favorite wheels by the way), or guys used them to add weight for a different class. I guess back then, guys were not so concerned about wheel weight, but never even thought about the contingency side of it. My dad said he always hated "mags" cause they were such a pain to maintain, and today more people like em oxidized..,go figure.

 

I think the reason you see so many Cragars on mid 60's Gassers is that Cragar gave the wheels to the teams for advertising. I'll bet they paid for themselves many time over.

As far as spindlemounts on Gassers, front brakes were the problem. But Hurst/Airheart sold a disc brake kit (single spot go cart calipers) that were used on spindle mounts. The rules didn't say they had to work, they just had to be there. The 5 spoke spindle mounts I have came with small disc brake rotors on them. Lots of companies make kits for spindle mount wheels now days, but I think it's easier to put rotors on the newer wheels than the old Americans.

BTW, my old Anglia <<<<<< ran a basically stock front suspension and stock wide five wheels, but no backing plates or brake hardware. Go figure.

 

Yep Mine went from Magnesium Halibrands to Cragars Frre Wheels and Contingency money plus ability to sell the Halibrands was a no brainer back then.

 

Hopefully I'm not pulling the thread off course too far here. Can you guys who ran the magnesium wheels chime in about fatigue? I'm a little concerned about this because mine are Americans from back in the day. Got a set of Cragars for something with tread to use if rain is an issue. But the mags have the slicks and that's what I'm planning on using most of the time.

 

I've seen more aluminum wheels fractured or broken than magnesium. I've also got a pair of magnesium wheels from the 60's, and they look as solid as they were new. There are still guys running old magnesium wheels behind some serious HP cars, and going fast with them!

 

The don't look safe to me. Better send them to me and I'll dispose of them properly....

 

Duh! Why didn't I think of that reply?

 

I'm a hop, skip and a jump from Gettysburg so it would be easiest for all if I disposed of those dangerous wheels for you chevy57.

 

Ah, dangerous ones they are! Endangering my fellow HAMBers just won't do so I'll have to risk it myself!
Baron, your Vette is way cool!

 

HAMB member Tony ran magnesium wheels on the street on that chevy truck of his and I think he swapped them over to the blown deuce he just finished.

 

I never knew that mags fatigued, I was just trying to figure out she guys "ditched em back in the day. The free Cragars, contingency money, and selling the mags makes sense. Anyone on here ever tear the center out of a Cragar, or witness it happening?

 

Yeah, I tore the center out of an old Cragar wide 10x15 with deep offset on my '71 427 Camaro when I mounted up slicks and screwed them to the rims. They were pretty crusty old Cragars I bought just to use for the slicks, and one tore out the center on a hard launch at Woodburn Dragstrip back around 1973 or '74?