I was reading a post by @Robert J. Palmer about cars that push the limits and it talks about the Malicott Bros. winning the '65 winter nationals with an Isky built tubocharged 327 in B gas and it got me too thinking about the first gasser car to run a hemi. I seem to recall an artical where SWC got beat by big John Mazmanian in '64 so Lenard Woods jr decided to put one in the SWC car for the '65 season and i also recall an reading an old HOT ROD magazine where Doug Cook said it ran so well they were going to put one in the Swindler B car.
There were thousands of Chrysler, DeSoto, & Dodge double rocker arm powered hot rod coupes & sedans built before the term "gasser" came into play ...
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ The man from Idaho said it right. Back in the real world of hot rodding before some guys from an outfit called Ramchargers showed up at the track with their jacked up rig. Running in Gas class for the most part meant that your full fendered unchopped car had had an engine swap to an engine that didn't come in that model. Meaning that the first hot rod no matter what it was that someone snagged a hemi out of a wrecked Chrysler and stuck it in their car and headed to the drags was the first Hemi powered Gasser. Gas class meant just that. full fendered stock bodied car with an engine swap. When I was about 10 my stepfather traded a tired 52 Mercury and some cash for a seriously lowered 52 Ford Victoria Hardtop that had a 56 T bird 312 and a 3 speed overdrive in it. That car held the C/G track record at the Ellesberg, Wa drag strip then (late 50's) but looked so far from the current vision of a gas class car that guys on here would argue for days that it wasn't a "gasser" even though it would be another 30 years before they were born. First well known Hemi powered Willys coupe gasser, I'd think some of the gasser historians probably know which one may be the earliest well known one.
@Mr48chev I guess that's what i'm asking is who had the first gas supercharged car with a hemi in it.
Don Montgomery said it was John Mazmanian at the start of 1964. From his Supercharged Gas Coupes book: "The first big Shock wave came in January when John Mazmanian had his driver, Bob Balogh, build a Chrysler for his formerly B/GS Willys. Remember, as previously stated, it was common knowledge that Chrysler Hemi's did not run as well on gas as the wedge chambered Olds and Chevys. Fresh off the dyno the 467" Chrysler quickly rocketed Big John's Willys to 150 mph clockings while breaking under the 10.0 second mark. Any question about the effect of John Mazmanian's Chrysler power plant on the A/GS class was soon answered when both the Stone-Woods-Cook and K. S. Pittman cars appeared with their 'if you can't beat them, join them' Chrysler Hemis."
The Jalopy Journal
