What makes a gasser a gasser?

"And i'm thinking of leaving the center grill and upper bumper halves to help keep some idenity and remove the lower bumper- any thoughts?"

I had that same thought but decided to keep the odd looking front bumper on the car. I already have the seperated front bumper (off the car) if you would like to try it out for looks. The ends of the top half will need to be supported because they wobble quite a bit without the lower half of the bumper to hold it still.-Tad

 

Thanks for the offer Tad, but the 55 bumper is quite a bit differant than a 56. I'm going to try what I have first.

 

Just to fuel the fire...

There's an article in the Hot Rod book- Best of 1949-1959 from circa 1957 that talks about narrowing the rear of a 57 Chevy. They didn't actually say what car it was for (I think) but it proves it was being done, pre 1959.

As far as what makes a gasser a gasser? That's like saying what makes a woman a woman? And I'm not going there.

Jay

 

I'm just catching up on this one. As far as gasser, it was all about weight per cubes. Having a hot mouse motor could be a good thing because because it would dominate the b/g and lower classes.

For the look, raise the nose enough to get decent traction and strip unnecessary parts off the front. Paint a name on the door. The maximum crankshaft center height was 24 inches. I run a 327 in my Henry J. It sits pretty high (within specs) and would fall into a c/g class. It launches straight and gets with it pretty well. It does not seem to be very unstable at high speeds. In my oppinion if you radius it you need to roll the edge. Other than a rolled edge having a great appearance, it may prevent tire cuting.

I strongly feel that any gasser build should stick to the idea that everything should have a purpose.

 

Remember it wasn't about getting the car as light as possible, that is to say, at a certain point, losing a few pounds could take you from the lightest car in C/G to the heaviest car in B/G.

 

Here are a couple for my 2 cents, I think we need to define what stage of the gasserdom era you want your car to represent, 50s to 63 or 63 and later. Alot changed when detroit started building smaller / lighter bodies. The noses went up!

Just one opinion.

Dave

 

What's not to like about ANY gasser? They're all cool.

 

Amen.........with perfect timing there,s Ryan,s thread on the S.W.C. Willys and a few kool gassers thrown in for good measure,Enjoy

 

had to throw this shot in. My preferance is toward the mid 60's 55 Chev Gasser but you gotta love the unique like this Stude or the previous shown Jeep

 

Thats just the way I feel. To hell with all this "period or era correct" bullshit!! Some of these guys are getting worse than the antique people. Just build the car the way YOU want it and then HAVE FUN with it! Have some forgotten that having fun is what this whole car thing is all about ? The next thing will be "you can't put basecoat/ clearcoat on your custom because they didn't have it back in the 50's" YIKES!!!!

 

Whoa..lets back the bus up. The H.A.M.B. was started as a place where people interested in preserving the old traditions of hot rodding could gather and enjoy their mutual interest in this one area of hot rodding. There are many sub cultures in the hot rod world. Some like the muscle car era, some like street rods, some like vintage sports cars, some like monster trucks, some like NASCAR, some like period gassers, some are only interested in vintage speed equipment, some only in literature. Build your car, or pursue your interest, the way that makes you happy - Absolutely! BUT...when you have decided on what your interested in, find a gathering of like minded people and enjoy yourself sharing your interest. The H.A.M.B. is such a place. It is a refuge for those of us that live and bleed TRADITIONAL hot rods,and enjoy being together with those of the same calling. You can certainly be interested and involved in more than one area or time frame of this hobby but this place here, The H.A.M.B. is dedicated to preserving not only the cars but the authentic equipment and construction of times past. If we have no boundries, if we begin to accept the idea of "whatever" we are in danger of having the face of this place change and becoming a sub-form on our own board. I know Ryan and lots of supporters would never let that happen but I just wanted to bring this up for thought as I've really started to notice an undercurrent of " expansion of acceptance" lately.
This is only my opinion and it's worth what you paid for it. I hope others share it.
Thanks Ryan and all you guys and gals for this old garage.

Terry

 

Terry O - I understand what you are saying and agree 100%. I just meant that I feel some people take this "period correct" stuff too far. IMO. I never meant that we shouldn't have boundries, etc. on here, and that it should be a" free for all ", or whatever. Sorry if you took it that way, it wasn't meant to sound/read that way. Myself, I try to make my rides as traditional as I can without killing myself finachially, or physically ! Thats good enough for me. Take care.

Bernie

 

OK, im not saying my car is a gasser, but in reading some of your post it seems like my car may relate to what your looking for. I moved my leaf springs inboard and run 15x10 rear wheels. In front I used ball joint spacers and 63 impala coil springs for 5" of lift. The car drives like a dream, yea it has just a little more bounce then stock but it really handles like a dream.
Duke

 

Duke, great looking car!

 

Actually, I believe that without a hood you would have had to run in one of the altered classes , back then. VERY COOL car either way, and IMO looks like a gasser to me, today. Also looks like you did a super job on it. I bet you have a blast toolin' around in that!!!

Bernie

 

It's like obscenity "I know it when I see it"
IMO -The more obscene the better!
I have a '56 Pontiac 860 Catalina in the early stages
It has a 316 2 barrel + dual range hydro
It was stored since the early 80's
Changed gas and filed the points = Runner!
I was going to run it slow and low until I went to a swap meet
I saw an old Offy dual quad intake for sale -the visions came quickly
Until my budget slapped me back to reality
I had no idea this could be so political
If you want to build it your way, just do it, you can change things you don't like. Don't go cutting if you don't want to. You're not building a museum piece are you? Otherwise find a car that has the look you want and copy it. Have fun. To hell with opinions. Hope to see the progress on your car soon. If it is voted to be acceptably "gasser" enough I might even copy it some day unless people tell me it's not cool anymore.

 

Here's a "vintage" Pontiac "gasser" for your approval

 

joe6pack, that's petritl's car. He can fill you in on all the details on what the driver did to that car . I'll probably go check it out myself as time permits.

 

As far as running a hood....yes you had to run one to be in a gasser class.


I can see where some of thes people are getting all these different ideas of what a gasser should be. The HAMB has always seemed to be Pre-'65 for the most part. Gassers went well into the early '70's. Some HAMB'rs have a heart attack if people start talking out of "era". Street Gassers started morphing into 'street freaks' which were cruising right next to fender-flared Camaro's and mural painted vans. Cool, but not HAMB for some.


I have zillions of pictures of gassers, and they were all over the place. If the car would remain within the posted gasser rules people were running almost anything. Some of the smaller gass classes might not have been so hard to compete in.

I say it is in the eye of the beholder of what is a gasser. Some people just have a more common idea of what they think they might be. My car is supposed to be a gasser..... to me, it is more than a bunch, but not compared to some. Oh well.....I dig it and that is all that matters.






DuckusCrapus

 

Any more if you want your ride to be a "Gasser" you just have to call it that. Kinda like all this rustbucket, Jed Clampet lookin' piece of crap, ratroddin' nastylookin stuff is called "Traditional". Know what I mean Vern?

 

Since, we are sharing Gasser Pics.

This is from my friend who won the Nationals in 1961 in his class (he ran a 34 roadster).

The pic is from a Maryland Drag Strip.

 

Here is a picture of the counter of his Speed Shop my guess circa 1959 +/-

 

Some good points made here. And yes, as long as you like it , that is all that really matters. BTW, GREAT looking '55 your building there! Whats not to like about that?

Bernie

 

His class wasn't C/Gas or not the NHRA Nationals....matter of record.



On the inside - Larry Teter's 32 Vicky (1961 - 1962 NHRA C-Gas Eliminator)

 

unless i'm mistaken the car in that picture is the filthy forty which was driven by pork zartman and owned by charlie hill. My husband and i have done a look-a-like of the filthy and become good friends with pork and the S&S team. The plate on porks BMW roadster reads I1indy63. There are pictures of our car on fergusoncoachbuilding.com. under gassers I would post them here but can't figure out how. COMPUTERS!!!!!!!!!!
gasser girl

 

Correct, I didn't say he ran C/G

His class was BS/R

 

Anyone got any more pics/info on that Willys Wagon crackerbox? I have one sitting around waiting for me to do something with it.

Much obliged - David

 

More of a race car than a gasser????!!!!

 

Well up till i went for PERIOD WHEELS i think i had the stance right but the new wheel combo Pushed over the edge as i had to radius the arces which was no prob but the larger rubber rubbed so up she went

But heres a little bit of a bible for you

http://eastcoastgassers.com/NG-rules.shtml

 

please check out my photos in my personals: my30A Ford was built in 69/70 what was i influented by???changes made since then...now son &i are restoring it to its 69 look &we sound like this thread ourselves but are finally agreeing on the LOOK?but using only period correct parts as a theme/guideline..........