Hot Rods What type of cars make the best gassers

In my experience, the majority of the "born again" street "gasser" guys have no interest whatsoever in learning even the first thing about drag racing history, or what real gassers are all about, they are actually totally adverse to learning anything about it.

 

YOU KNOW 55 chevy or just about anything YOU KNOW they ALL LOOK COOL

 

I would like to learn, guess that makes me weird. I really don't like the modern style.

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Haha 55 chevy's are alot of money and everyone who has a gasser in mass seems to have a 55

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Hey guy. Would you say a 302 would be a good gasser motor? The fe in my truck really doesn't fit, and really the way the trucks set up I don't need the fe torque and power.

BTW: I want to keep the thing streetable as gassers supposedly were. Mounting the motor off center to clear the steering system really will not help. Right now you have to take the alternator out to fit the radiator in and there's only a half an inch between the rear corner of the head and the steering column.

I'm not putting power anything in it but I would like to think if I hit a pothole on the highway I won't die. I don't want ifs on it. That, to me would be just wrong.

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If you just call it a truck, not a gasser, then a 302 would be a fine motor

 

Haha yeah that's true.

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You don't have to find a light car because there where many gas classes. D and E classes being the most popular in the early 60's because that's what people could afford. Normally that would be a 55 chevy (or similar) with a 3 speed on the TREE because again that's what people could afford. If you really had some dough you might have a 4 speed, straight axle and if you really had deep pockets maybe mechanical fuel injection. I'm 45 and I know this because my father raced D gas in the early 60's and did real good until someone like "Stormin' Bull" came to town. They financed their drag racing with street racing which dried up pretty quick on their side of Houston...nobody likes to lose. He isn't on here anymore..got ran off and now he's dead so guess it's up to me to keep his reality alive.
When people discuss gassers now they are really talking about what the A gas cars used to be and no those cars weren't on the street. Some of the lower class cars definitely were.
Don't feel like you're a poser if you're not fast either. High 12's was screaming back then..it's still pretty fast now for a streetable car. Truth be known maybe 10% of the guys on here really have speed in their blood.

 

Odd Ball Gasser/Altered projects? Here's a link to 3 '50s Triumph Mayflowers for $5,000. I've never seen one as a gasser. Hell I've never seen one at all but it would work.
http://barnfinds.com/pilgrims-need-...urce=Newsletter+(Daily)&utm_content=imagelink

 

It was an altered.

 

My favorite has always been the Henry J.

 

Lot's of the HUH? factor here.
What do YOU mean by gasser?-street freak, modern traditional, NHRA 60's types?
What's your vision?
Not many Nova's etc in the 60's, those were pretty new cars to cut up. LOTS of 30'-40's 50's cars though. Relatively cheap. Think tri 5's.
Straight axle? Most gassers had stock fronts.
No gutted interiors, no altered wheelbase, no spindle mounts, street Eliminator. STREET!
Try looking at my Traditional Gassers thread! Mostly REAL 60's gassers.
Tri five Chevies are spendy, Fords aren't.

 

They find us matter where we try to hide and just talk.

 

Sounds like something you used to say to your girlfriend

 

[My favorite has always been the Henry J.
Kinda' like these. Not mine! I wish!
Pics borrowed from the Interweb.

 

Damn it! Another one of those flashbacks.

 

The big 3 IMHO

 

Hello,
Living near Lions and watching all of the early gas coupes and sedans, we wondered what would make a cool gas coupe for us. There were more Fords than anything around. So, we decided on a 40 Willys coupe. Only a few were running at the time. As the gas class wars started coming on after 1960, there mass proliferation of Anglias, small Willys trucks, then the 33 style Willys...The list goes on until they looked like funny cars.

So, if a car is modified from stock, back then, it was in the gas class. Our 58 Chevy Impala was in A/Stock. As soon as we put in a cam and lifters, it was no longer stock and we were moved to the gas class. When we put in a C&O Hydro, we were designated gas class car already and that made no change. Could we run the C&O hydro in the stock class? Nope. Any mods put a stocker in the gas classes.

Our era was late 50's to early 60's in drag racing. The purpose built gas coupes and sedans did win most of the trophies for the gas classes. A few modified stock/street cars did win when the purpose built cars were absent. Those were the field days at Lions. But, in order to race, they all had to be street legal. Our 40 Willys had mufflers, front and rear license plates, wipers, lights, and emergency brakes. It was licensed for street driving. It would not go farther than 12 miles total...6 out. 6 back with the small amount of gas in the inside, Moon tank. We had the original gas tank, but it was filled with water for extra weight to drop down to the C/Gas class. But, it was street legal.

Jnaki
Different strokes for different folks:
1960 Lions Dragstrip gas class: three across as well as one on one:
JUNIOR THOMPSON VS..


DOUG COOK VS...

 

Well we have Gassers, that can turn in times of 9 to 11 sec, riding around on the streets but at a much slower pace. Then we have the high dollar, custom paint, four matching mag wheels, big engine Street Freaks, which can turn a high 14 on the 1/4. So you have to ask yourself, do I want to go fast or just look fast.

 

So, from what I understand gasses were basically just the "run what ya brung" class. People just started making them an actually fast.

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Hello,

Our friend built his 1934 Ford coupe for his daily driver/ weekend Lion’s Dragstrip racer in the A/Gas class, there was no doubt as to what motor to use. A big Oldsmobile motor, multiple Stromberg carbs, pistons, hot cam, and a LaSalle transmission. Most of the local hot rod coupes at Lions had similar set ups to include SBC motors and Cad/Buick powered coupes. That was the hot ticket in the early days of late 50s to early 1960.
34 ford at :23

Another popular car for the Gas Coupe and Sedan Class racing at this time in drag racing was the 1940 Ford Coupe. It was a popular car for the everyday Joe to modify with a Flathead or an ohv motor and use as the daily driver to work or school. But on the weekends, pop the hubcaps and go racing with good results, usually. But along came racers that wanted faster hot rods, so, that meant either getting a lighter weight coupe instead of the 40 Ford Coupe. The 34 coupe was approximately 2500 lbs. The 40 Ford coupe was 2970 stock.
40 ford coupe

The times/speed were getting faster with each passing year as more stuff was being developed and hot rod guys/girls were doing other stuff for the go fast speeds. Weight was now a concern, even at 2500 lbs for the Ford Coupes. So, the search was on for a lighter weight coupe that could take an ohv motor and be a winner in the Gas Coupe and Sedan Classes.
1955
Weddle and Stevenson… Weddle sound familiar?
https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/4-door-gasser.710587/page-2#post-13808450 green Weddle-Nichols C/Gas Sedan


So, at 2115 lbs stock the 1940 Willys Coupe was becoming the choice of a lot of top racers and competitors. On the street for daily driving? Not so much, if any, 1940 Willys Coupes were seen cruising around or used as daily drivers. A weight savings of almost 800 lbs from the popular 1940 Ford Coupes to the lightweight Willys was enough to go much faster in the similar classes. Now the rush was on to use the latest innovations in motor building and chassis work to go fast and faster.

Jnaki

So, the class was evolving and the racers used light weight Willys Coupes and Sedans for the Gas Coupe/Sedan Classes. Supercharging did a number on the competitors and eventually got moved to their own class regulations. This still left the daily drivers for running in the normal Gas Coupe and Sedan Clases until they, too were wiped out in the mid 60s.

The term “gassers” was a later name that most did not like, but to shorten the long name of Gas Coupe and Sedan Class to simply gassers was bound to happen with the modifications to the English language “colloquialisms,” or slang for a simple name.

Back then in the development of the Gas Coupes and Sedan Class, it was never listed as a gassers class designation: A/Gasser, B/Gasser, Etc. If anything, a change was from A/Gas to A/GS to accommodate the supercharged coupes and sedans.

1940 Willys Coupe 2115 lbs.
1934 Ford 5 Window Coupe 2540 lbs
1940 Ford coupe 2970 lbs.

The choice was evident...
BJM total 1964

 

Well since the old thread was revised IMO. Willys and henry j

 

I recall reading threads like this on more than a few occasions over the years. I recall people arguing 4 doors were never gassers. That hardtops weren't gassers. Then over the years photo's came out of the closets and you can find just about anything being run. There were the top guys with the money and sponsorships and then you had the kid who took the old car from behind the barn and ran it because it was cheap.

Even today I could never afford to run SEGA. I can run at one off events. Maybe no one ran a 4 Door Fury at your local track but they may have at other tracks. Not all tracks ran on strict NHRA rules.

There is no correct answer here really. Even the guy running a "slower" car is doing it the way it was done. You would build a car and improve on it over time.

I'd still rather see a "Fake" Gasser than a perfectly restored car.

 

the High & Mighty car was an altered, not a gasser, but cool none-the-less.

 

Wow! Can't believe this old thread got revived? Wonder if the OP ever got something he could build a gasser on?

 

Any two door sedan

 

NOCLUE

 

Great name for a gasser btw

 

I'm just going to re-quote this, because it's a good one.

 

The fact is back in the day there weren't that many people drag racing. If you go to a race today most all those participating are younger than me.

Each generation likes to pretend they were all that but the truth is, we just don't like getting older.

https://competitionplus.com/drag-ra...IZXQX3k3khboK51RJsYo-bXGtMo4UKfRmzDAXxAR6HCAM