Hot Rods 65 Nova White Noise Gasser

Hello! I'm a new member as of today and was hoping someone here knew anything about the history of this 65 Nova Gasser I just got named, "White Noise." My understanding is that it was built by a H.A.M.B. member from Wisconsin. Any information on the history of the car and details of the build would be greatly appreciated! Thanks, Mark

 

Built by @II FUNNY
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/media/albums/chevy-ii-build-pics.29491/

 

The wheels do not look like they are in the stock location, if that is so car is not a gasser more like a altered

DND

 

WOW! This is great!!! Thanks so much!!

 

Yep if they are moved it would run Altered Wheel Base [AWB] or would have when gassers and other cars from the era had rules. These days anything with an axle under the front is a gasser..

That is not a put down for the car, I like it. I am seeing it two ways here stack injection in the avatar and carbureted in the pics. I like it carbureted better just because it is a more functional car. but the stacks are cool and work real well if it is a dedicated race car. Cool car either way.

@White Noise you need to meet @squirrel I think you both may fit into the same outside of the box.

 

A few pics from Meltdown 2015 (my car is the red one, two cars ahead of White Noise)

 

Well I see you two have met. good deal.

White noise has both axles moved, how cool is that.

hey Jim did you move your front axle? I don't remember.

 

I don't understand how it is supposed to be a gasser when it has A/FX right on its side, very strange stuff going on these days

 

Definately AWB. Rear moved up 8" and front axle moved up 4" and engine set back 2" - not sure when Hilborn EFI replaced carbs, but it runs great. I have no intentions of racing it, just taking it to local shows and cruise-ins. Also, has a 454 (468) in it, but assuming it originally had a 396?

 

I actually traded a 56 Fairlane gasser even up for this car from a dealer in Florida who bought this at a Mecum auction.

 

yeah, my front axle is 4" up. Rear 8". Just like this one. 50/50 weight balance....just like the doctor ordered.

 

DND, There's your answer.

 

LOL there is a lot about new age traditional gassers I don't understand. Alcohol, rocker required to be above the spindle, import bodies with big blocks, ultra short wheel base. I could go on but you catch my drift right?

But you are correct it is an AWB. I think that most people until they learn think that anything with an axle is a gasser. Then they become more knowledgeable, or that is the plan.

 

We can educate the masses, one person at a time. It's gonna take a while.

 

If you win one and they win one and so on and so forth the numbers rise exponentially.

But you are correct, one person at a time. A little patience and a lot of luck. I am pretty good at the luck part and you got patience in the bag, together we are a whole teacher.

 

Thanks for all the help!

 

Wow....killer car!

 

Don't run off, we just got caught up chatting among ourselves. Not about you at all, you were just here for the fun.

be sure and keep track of @squirrel he can tell you more about riding and drive that old heap than anyone.

As for the stacks, instead of carbs. My ol man knew Stu Hilborn and he was fuckin old. The guys that could afford injection were running it as soon as they could buy it. Long before AWB cars came around.

 

Years ago, at our Speedworld events, we created a Straight Axle class.
It was all bracket racing format, and one of the locals had a 58 Ford pick up that he raced regularly.
He was sort of grand-fathered into it. All was fine until he won a few of them.
Some of the guys (one in particular, with no front bumper ) wanted in.
I had to tell him we called it Straight Axle, not Gasser. If we change it to Gasser, then we've got a whole new set of problems.
It never caught on anyway. It seemed that most of the new s/a cars around turned out to be just street poseurs.

 

I'll stick around, but admittedly, I'm not at all knowledgeable when it comes to how these cars are or should be built. I'm a buyer, not a builder! LOL, but I sure do love 'em

 

So, what then defines a gasser from a straight axel car? I posted a pic of the 56 Fairlane I traded the Nova for and was told that the Fairlane was a gasser, or isn't it?

 

Two ways to discern what is a gasser and what is not. for me I snag an old rule book (there is a thread with different class rules from different years) and use that to decide. The other way is to follow the heard, a little dangerous because you never really know when the lemmings are going over the cliff.
A lot of what currently gets defined as a gasser is really just a street beast.

Simply put in the beginning a gasser was just a gas class car. From earlier times the class was called gas coupe/sedan. it was a street legal class, then around '65 or '66 it became a dedicated race class and the rules were changed.

Around '69 or '70 I was racing a '55 ford with a Y block. It was a 2x4 car and at a lot of tracks I ran in stock class. But at some tracks I got bumped to gas class or gasser. had nothing to do with my suspension, I was running A arms, and everything to do with my engine mods and how the techs defined the rules. real competitive in stock class not so much in gas class. That's racin',you got rules and you are allowed to bend 'em a little but better not break 'em.

 

Very interesting! Like the rest of us lemmings, I thought "gassers" was a slang term bc of the straight axel suspension and Moon tank up-front. Another lemming told me they called em gassers bc they stripped em clean of as much weight as possible and replaced the factory gas tank with a Moon tank that held just enough "gas" to run a 1/4 mile - LOL

 

My Fairlane had a 350 2x4 in it. Looked great, sounded good, but was a dog - all show, no go, so I traded it for the Nova vs dumping another $6000 in it for a 383 stroker

 

Gas Coupes and Sedans (gasser) used to pertain to cars built under a certain set of rules, usually under NHRA or IHRA.
For instance, gassers weren't required to use a straight axle, but they were allowed.
Front bumpers were not required, and most of the time, off they came.That was a freebie for the local racer.
Also , the crank centerline could not be more than 24" off the ground. The 56 appears to be more than that.
I would call that thing a cartoon car..An exaggeration of what was.
Today, with C/L and EPay and other site, people will throw up a bunch of buzzwords or keywords, like "Gasser".
The next uninformed guy comes along and says he bought a gasser on the internet...Not hardly, in most cases.
Hope that helps.

 

heh...I built my blown 427 for less than six grand.

 

Very informative and helpful, thanks! Funny, my dad thought the Fairlane was a Shriner's parade clown car!

 

LMAO

They are called gassers because they run on gas not fuel. I guess if they were built from mac trucks they would have been called dieselers or if they were built from Stanleys they would have been called steamers.

We used to have a '64 cutoff date on this site it has moved out a year or two since then. The '64 NHRA rules state OEM suspension, not body or suspension lift to gain traction, engine setback to be no more than 10%, full interior, working lights and horn, bumpers (the rear can be a pipe bumper). American made coupes and sedans ( I am a little hazy but I think some pickup trucks were allowed.)

Ohio George managed to bend the rules a bit, he used Monroe (I think) coil over shocks one year. They were going to bump him but the shock company designated the shocks as stock replacement shocks and that made the powers to be happy.

If you are really interested find a rule book. I go by the NHRA rule book but there other sanctioning bodies as well and the rules were a little different from one body to the next but all were pretty close.

 

Wish I had that talent and know-how. $6 grand was all in from White Performance - engine and labor - I'm a buyer, not a builder

 

It takes years of experience and scrounging...

But hey, you're having fun with old cars, and you can afford to buy a nice one, so all is well.