Technical Real Gassers 101...OK what is this?

273359118_3142612786023374_6376743631069772926_n by Travis Brown, on Flickr

First off, I love it.
This is not the stereotypical gasser yet it's in the stereotypical gasser period. (1964ish..)
Notice the details...
No big straight axle.
The front may not be as high as it looks due to the small tires.
Apparently, flathead power
Traction Masters on the rear
N/S class, I have no idea what this is.
It's really interesting and looks like a fun class/endeavor with a stockish car.

 

Ford shoebox coupe

 

N/S non supercharged?

 

N/S...... stock class.

Not all gassers had straight axles BTW. I would say most didn't.

 

N Stock is a 14.50 Pounds per horsepower. Stick cars @ about 12:9, automatic cars 13:00

 

I love it! A traditional car that's hard to recognize....

 

To start with pre-65 gassers were stockish. "No body or suspension lift . . ."

If you look at the monicer (N/S) it is running N Stock, yes it is a gas class but not what one would consider to be a "gasser" to run stock class you have to run an original type engine and no engine set back. The distinction on stock classes was cubic inch to weight ratio just like gas class.

Cool damned door slammer. That is one slick pic my friend.

 

porknbeaner I believe it was HP to WT in the stock classes.

Pat

 

They did not have a dyno at the track, well at least not that I am aware of. Most sanctioning bodies did have a tear down rule for protesting a car. An over bore or a stroke difference could put you into a different class.

A HP rule would be pretty hard to enforce and would actually be counter productive. The idea is to build am faster car than the other guy within the parameters of your class.

OK just did some reserch. The rule is HP, but not actual HP, NHRA factored HP for the engine being run. learn something every day. I must guess that the tear done for protest was the prove that you are actually running what you say that it is.

Hmmmmmnnnnnn gots me wondering, now see what you done.

 

^^^^^ Things changed around so much and without my book on the history on hand I can't break it down to years. I'm more familiar with A/G B/G C/G D/G and so on.

 

1951 Ford coupe. HRP

 

I have a '64 rule book but gawd knows where it is. I did some mucking around online to find the HP info. Surprised the hell out of me.

By the time I started racing on my own the rules had changed a bunch, for example the NHRA had an F Stock class in my early years that was basically a 4 cylinder NOVA class. It was based on displacement and weight. But that was later '60s or earlier '70s. I made an assumption based on experience and missed the mark. Chit changes I guess.

 

As Danny said it’s a ‘51 and that could be a business coupe with no back seat so it was the lightest Ford of the year. N/S in 1966 was 25.0-25.99 lbs/ hp , and the flathead was rated at 100 horsepower, I wonder if that Ford went across the scales at 2600 lbs? Seems too light to me.

 

I think that one specific car is in one of the street rod mags I have from a few years back. Story goes something like ALOT of wins with a flathead V8.
Original owner still has it. I think he swapped running gear with a friend back in the day between coupe and business coupe to meet different class rule or something.
Maybe even because he had a leg missing from an accident as a teen and swapped to a auto.
Will see if I can find the issue.

 

Yep, I own a '51 Custom Club Coupe.
I'm really curious about the class the '51 is in and how it's built.
It's hard to tell in the photo but the car pictured may be a Business Coupe, not a Club Coupe. The decals on the windows make it hard to see if windows are fixed or pop out.

 

I do believe the dry/curb weight of a Shoebox Business Coupe was around 3100lb.

 

Yep, I could believe 3100 pounds. The photo is from Fremont, did they run NHRA rules or something else?

 

It's sponsored by a junkyard, just doesn't get any better than that!

 

Beaner, I don't know for sure if it's 1964-'65. I know it has to be after that because of the "tongue in cheek" "Thunderbolt" on the quarter.
It could be later...
Judging by the hairstyles in the background it could be later in the 60s or beyond. I don't see any crew cuts like you see in a lot of early 60s pics.
I was not around until 1972 and my Great-grandfather took some BW photos of me as a toddler and it looks like the 1940s.

 

Not Fremont, Fontana

 

Oops!

 

A short history lesson -
Covina Auto Dismantling, bordering on Arrow Hwy. and Grand Ave. Covina on one side of Arrow, Glendora on the other side of the road. The second (maybe third) In-N Out burger about 500ft to the west. 1920's houses to the south, a big Strawberry field to the west, (behind the In-N-Out). About eight miles from the current Pomona Raceway L.A. County Fairplex. I grew up to the south-east, in a fast growing Covina, about 1/4 mile away mixed in between several orange groves. The city replaced the wrecking yard with a two screen drive-in, that lasted years.



Mike

 

Unlike today with semi for the car, travel coach to relax in, food couch, and a covered seating area. Hell that's 4 pit spaces!

For me these day's it may as well be a wide Hot Wheel track with a can of Bud in one lane and a Monster in the other and watch them roll to see which one wins. The good Ol day's were funner.

 

Old time Stock class based on the horsepower rating of the engine (factory) and the shipping weight of the vehicle (some sold without any undercoating). If a certain combo seemed to have an advantage, the powers to be would "refactor" the HP rating! Engines were "stock" but balanced and blueprinted and there was some creative rule interpretation. Look up Bill Jenkins tuned Monster Mash '55 Chevy!

 

Used to be one built pretty similar that would run Day of the Drags at Little River near Temple. Real cool car!

 

Lots More Here! https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/nhra-junior-stock.201085/

 

I believe N/Stock was the bottom class back then. Inline Chevies probably ran in it also...Maybe straight 8 Buicks .
Long time NHRA tech man "Kentuckian" could probably fill in all the details if he sees this.

 

Stock classes were HP to Weight. N/S would have been a stick shift class with N/SA being for automatics. The NHRA had books on the cars and pretty much used the factory advertised HP ratings however they did refactor some cars.