Hot Rods Anyone here drive a real street driven gasser?

If that's true it would be a sad statement on the "hobby".

 

And that folks is how it's done.....

 

Hello,

When we finished installing the 292 ci 671 supercharged SBC in our 1940 Willys Coupe, we did drive it one Friday night and then on another Saturday night prior to taking it to Lion’s Dragstrip for the start of our B/Gas nd C/Gas class runs. The first run around our Bixby Knolls cruise area locale was perfect as it was only a few miles away from our home on the Westside of Long Beach.

But, since we never drove it anywhere before, we did not know how much the SBC motor would give us for gas mileage. We had a 2.5 gallon Moon Aluminum Tank and pump mounted on the floor of the passenger side. So, relaxed cruising was not in the mode for the passenger. (me)

We estimated that with a full tank, (we kept checking every couple of miles or so) was around 6 miles. We kept checking at several gas stations after our estimates of going around 5-6 miles. It was the hit of the late night gas station stops. Families that were getting gas were amazed at something completely different sitting next to the gas pump. One little girl asked out of her sedan window, why were we putting in gas inside, with the passenger door open? When I explained, she still had the confused look on her face.

Jnaki

When we fired up the 671 292 motor, it was running through the small tubular mufflers and still made a giant rumble. The little girl had her hands over her ears before rolling up her window. Ha! Some impression. Her dad had a big smile on his face and nodded his approval of our teenage hot rod. That was approval that we did something right. It fit right in to the stares and accolades that we got when we arrived at the two local drive-in restaurant parking lots.

The acceleration and sound of the powerful 671 SBC motor was plenty of excitement for us. But, it was the admiration of our own friends that approved our first time hot rod/drag race build when they saw it in the flesh. A few runs on the local "Cherry Avenue Drags" location was a perfect midnight run for our newly built 1940 Willys Coupe. It would have been a great photo of two brothers smiling from ear to ear. I got one run in for the Cherry Avenue Drags adventure.

The night was a wonderful teenage experience and will forever be a highlight of building and owning our own 1940 Willys Coupe with a 671 SBC motor. It was a "real" Gas Coupe legal to drive on the street and drags. Street driven, yes, a daily driver? possibly, but not on the horizon for two teenage brothers. YRMV

 

https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/attachments/img_1933-jpg.5019531/

 

I will agree that every car with a solid front axle isn't a gasser, but if the 2nd part of that logic was true there'd be a huge number of real original gassers back in the 60's that wouldn't have existed. And even the higher gas classes had very few cars that had engines that had that much money in them. And not many lower class cars had 2 hp per c.i.

 

Dads 37 Dodge doesnt have injection or a magneto, but does see plenty of street and strip time. It's running a stroked solid cam 392 Hemi, 727 Torqueflite with a 3k stall and Mopar 8 3/4 with 4:10 gears
So far it's only ran a best of 12.50, spitting and sputtering due to a carburator problem. It feals mich faster with that problem rectified, and we hope to prove it soon.
EDIT, the coupe ran a best of 11.97 in '22. After taking '23 off to fix chassis problems we should be back running better then ever with a new roller cam and freshened up buttom end.

 

Where is kiwi kev and his willys

 

Been driving this on the street and racing nostalgia events since 2008. And the blown 392 Hemi has been the most dependable, and most trouble free engine I have ever owned.

 

After finishing my most recent gasser, my '39 Chev, I got 500miles on the fresh engine build, and headed out on a 1300 mile road trip alone. My wife thought I was nuts, as did most of my friends, but it went smooth as silk!
Somewhere out in Eastern Washington on my way up towards the Canadian border.

And a scenic stop at a dam up in northern Washington.


Then after summer driving, I tore it down and prepped it so I could give it a paint job during winter, and do the lettering.


Then I started up racking up miles again. It's got over 5,000 miles now in almost 2 years since I first got it on the road in 2021.
Engine is a full roller 355 SBC with Dart heads, Howard's roller cam, and dyno'd around 435 HP, 420 torque. Fun, but very reliable too.