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Gasser or A/FX

Discussion in 'The Hokey Ass Message Board' started by Rob Kozak, Mar 3, 2009.

  1. Why is this so hard?
    If it fits the original style of a Gasser; Stock Wheelbase, Gasoline, Street Legal Equipment (lights, fenders etc.) no more than 10% engine set back and based on an American Coupe or Sedan (with a few foreign exceptions ,like the Anglia and Austin, and later Fiats and VW's) then it can be called a Gasser.

    If it has an altered wheel base/wheel wells but is otherwise similar, then it's more of an FX type car.

    If it doesn't have fenders, hood, no street equipment etc it's an Altered.

    If it kind of is like a Gasser but sits like a 4X4 and is more cartoonish, exaggerated, it's a 70's/80's Street Freak

    Yeah this is pretty simple and incomplete but should give a basic idea of the differences.
     
  2. Thorkle Rod
    Joined: May 24, 2006
    Posts: 1,392

    Thorkle Rod
    Member

    Now you got it. In 1971 I ran My 61 Falcon with a 327 Chevy and Muncie that sat pretty much flat at 8' off the ground was what I drove on the streets for $20 bucks a race I didn't care what you called it, just hand over the $20 bucks. It was definatly not an A/FX car, by the way it was Forrest Green, plus I could whip yuour 440 hemi. No possers please.:)
     
  3. I recall the designation A/FX as meaning "Altered Factory Experimental"....
     
  4. texoutsider
    Joined: Jul 6, 2005
    Posts: 826

    texoutsider
    Member
    from Frisco, Tx

    Altered ? Factory Exp?...not hardly

    A/FX...........class designation...A
    B/FX...........class designation...B
    C/FX...........class designation...C

    altered wheelbase car "could" fit in either

    Gasser?.......A thru G or so...sometimes 4 bangers ran in X/Gas

    M.
     
  5. racer67x
    Joined: Oct 30, 2007
    Posts: 261

    racer67x
    Member

    my A/FX eats T/Jets for lunch.

    :)
     
  6. Steves32
    Joined: Aug 28, 2007
    Posts: 1,280

    Steves32
    Member
    from So Cal

    Had this saved on my HD for several years. A cut & paste from somewhere. Pretty much defines the year of the FX cars.




    The Detroit hybrids of the 1960s led to the creation of Funny Car and Pro Stock John Jodauga
    Though the Factory Experimental cars that thrived from the early to mid-1960s never recorded runs quicker than mid-10 seconds, they were among the more influential drag racing vehicles that ever existed. The intense competition between the factory-- backed A/FX entries inspired the birth of Funny Cars in 1965, arguably the most exciting season in drag racing annals. When the wild new breed began to stray from its roots by switching to supercharged engines in the late 1960s, the movement to revive the original A/FX format of heads-up racing with carbureted vehicles spawned the introduction of Pro Stock in 1970. Inspired by the Optional/Super Stock categories of 1961, NHRA introduced FX classes in 1962 to provide a showcase category that allowed Detroit manufacturers to experiment with exotic and imaginative engine/body combinations that were not available to the general public while still maintaining the integrity of the Stock classes for daily-driven production vehicles. Essentially, factories were allowed to transplant engines and drivetrains from any current-year vehicle to another to produce the quickest imaginable Detroit hot rod.
    FX classes differed from Stock categories in that they were determined by cubic-inch-to-weight ratios rather than advertised horsepower. The original weight breaks, introduced at the 1962 Winternationals, were 0-8.99 pounds per cubic inch for A/FX, 9.00-12.99 for B/FX, and 13.0 and higher for C/FX.
    Among the early entries were such unique configurations as Pontiac 421-cid engines from full-sized Catalinas shoehorned into the engine compartment of compact Tempest bodies, 413-cid Ramcharger engines installed in compact Dodge Darts, and fuel-injected Corvette engines running in Chevy II station wagon bodies. The FX classes also became testing venues for combinations that would later be built in sufficient quantities to qualify for the high-profile competition in the S/SS (stick) and S/SA (automatic) categories.
    On the next several pages is a year-byyear summary of some of the more significant developments during the era of Factory Experimental racing.
    Epilogue
    By late summer, the mind-boggling performances of nitro-burning Funny Cars had captured the hearts and minds of fans. The Ramchargers Dodge, rumored to have been using hydrazine at the time, ran an 8.91, the first eight-- second run for a full-bodied stocker. Just before the end of the season, Gary Dyer piloted Mr. Norm's supercharged altered-- wheelbase Dodge to an 8.63. Though the mid-10-second clockings of the legal A/FX Fords were impressive for carburated and gasoline entries, they were overshadowed by their match race counterparts, and their drawing power waned considerably.
    Only two legal A/FX entries, the Ford Mustangs of Gas Ronda and Les Ritchey, showed up for the 1965 Nationals, and none of the factories bothered to build new A/FX cars for the 1966 season, a year in which class winners primarily drove Fords that were updated to 1966 body specifications. The FX classes were officially dropped at the end of the year in favor of the new SX classes for Funny Cars, and NHRA formally added the Funny Car class to all four races of the 1969 season.
    As the newly established Funny Car contingent began to rely heavily on superchargers in the late 1960s, the category became dominated by Top Fuel drivers and engine builders, which created an identity crisis for fans. Many of the original major players in the A/FX-Funny Car revolution, such as Landy and the Sox & Martin team, parked their Funny Cars in favor of campaigning in the newly established Super Stock class, created specifically for the wide variety of muscle cars that had emerged.
    Though the new Super Stock category was conducted with handicap starts for its 10 original classes, it wasn't long before the breed's top stars ran heads-up match races with Camaros, Barracudas, and Mustangs that were equipped with 427-cid engines. It was an unveiled attempt to recreate the mystique of the original A/FX era, and these heads-up match racers, who by 1969 were making nine-second runs, proved to be so popular that NHRA created the Pro Stock class for the 1970 season.
    In a note of irony, the 1970 Funny Car national records of 7.37 and 198.67 pale in comparison to today's Pro Stock marks of 6.750 and 204.91. Admittedly, a significant portion of those performance gains can be credited to rules changes that allow the use of 500-cid engines and lighter cars, but today's Pro Stockers still run on gasoline, use carburetors, and accordingly maintain the muscle-car heritage of the Detroit hot rods that was so memorably established by the A/FX era of the 1960s.
     
  7. It is of the highest importance to use the proper terminology, no matter what the subject.

    Language that is written is the only element that distinguishes humans from other animals.
    Communication is the key to every situation. Conveying information enables one to go from a thought inception to rendering a conclusion thru reasoning.

    Once the object in question gets reduced and diluted into generic terms, these objects tend to mean absolutely nothing at all.

    For example: the generic term word "thing", every single object can be correctly referred to as a "thing", if every object is a "thing" then every object, meaning all of them, is reduced to no relevant meaning at all and therefore means absolutely nothing.

    This dilution has spread to verbs being incorrectly referred to as "thing".

    If you are one who thinks that terminology dilution and definitions are not important, that it is acceptable and correct, then the this paragraph/post is most likely will not be comprehended by you.

    How this actually sounds is : "I was doing this thing to the thing that things to the other thing and it thinged the other thing and now my thing won’t do its thing the right way, no what i mean"
    Can anyone understand that, perhaps you can?

    Of course hotrods are cool, and that is why people who think it is brand new want to be involved. Just like any other ability or understanding, it starts at the basics, the basics are terminology and language.
    The new guys who want to be involved need to be educated, not scared off. If they get scarred of that easy by the correct vocabulary and terminology, they may be better suited spending their time on something else.
    This proper education will provide a firm understanding and footing for the history, the skill and culture of hotrodding (or any other subject you want to teach them)

    When I see or hear someone "strike the pose" as knowledgeable in order to fit in, appear to possess superior knowledge or to protect their own ego, or in an attempt to defend their viewpoint, they lose all credibility and are forbidden from speaking any further.
    Attempting to reason with this individual is impossible and a complete waste of time.
    If they had the ability to reason they would have seen that it would be better to listen or ask questions in the first place.
    Spewing nincompoopery is assault and battery to a person who is knowledgeable. Asking questions of a another person is a great enhancement to the learning process. Correctly answering another’s question is not to be taken lightly!

    Now wtf told you that it didn't matter?
     
    Last edited: Mar 4, 2009
  8. cactus zach
    Joined: Nov 11, 2008
    Posts: 74

    cactus zach
    Member

    REALLY!!!! now why did you have to say those "stupid,gay, retarded, messed up, dumb" cliche words about mopars a 440 and a hemi are 2 completely different engines unless you bore the shit out of a hemi
    while we are on the topic of getting shit right
    GET YOUR ENGINES RIGHT!!
    thanks thats my rant lol:p

    p.s. race my 27 T Tub 512rb dodge
     
  9. wally bell
    Joined: Apr 15, 2008
    Posts: 418

    wally bell
    Member
    from VA.

    This thread is "pure entertainment"....

    Thanks......
     
  10. Actually most of what we call gassers on here were not even popular until the later '60s and early '70s.
    There just weren't that many cars around in the later '50s and early '60s that had a straight axle swapped in. If it didn't come with a straight axle it usually didn't get one. And you almost never saw one that looked like a mud bogger with slicks.

    Take a gander at the new TRJ at the pics from Indy. There are a lot of good pics of real gassers from the early '60s, or perhaps real common gassers from the early '60s would be a better term.
    You may also note thet altough many of the catrs are lifted the majority are not real extreme and a lot of the pre-war cars are actually sitting pretty close to stock ride height.
     
  11. Thorkle Rod
    Joined: May 24, 2006
    Posts: 1,392

    Thorkle Rod
    Member

    440 Hemi, ......was just sarcasm.
     
  12. 6t5frlane
    Joined: Dec 8, 2004
    Posts: 2,399

    6t5frlane
    Member
    from New York

    So Red Gasser, White AFX. My car is Red,White and Blue so must be B/FX ?
     
  13. straightaxlenova
    Joined: Feb 14, 2009
    Posts: 89

    straightaxlenova
    Member

    Gasser or A/fx. How about WGAS?
    [​IMG]
     
  14. Mr. Jean
    Joined: Dec 13, 2007
    Posts: 603

    Mr. Jean
    Member

    I agree Wally. Wish we knew people who built and raced those back then.;) Oh wait,,, nevermind.:D
     
  15. chaos10meter
    Joined: Feb 21, 2007
    Posts: 2,191

    chaos10meter
    Member
    from PA.

    Wow, guess if I wouldn't been stoned all the time in the 60's I would understand the importance of all of this.
     
  16. From that angle can't really tell if it's altered wheelbase or not. If it is by more than a little bit it should be called a */FX t style. If not it's a Gasser. Nice car either way! (although a Lenco, especially one without revers would not be quite period correct)
    And then we run into the "Modern" Gassers with the huge wings and other Aero Crap that really should be classified as Pro Mod cars!
     
  17. looking through old rule books, i can't find anything in NHRA past K/Gas which was 10 lbs (or more) per Cu In, and even that class was dropped in 1969 leaving J the slowest class
     

  18. Proper spelling should be part of this equation,too.
     
  19. jangleguy
    Joined: Dec 26, 2004
    Posts: 2,668

    jangleguy
    Member

    Gasser, Gasser, Gasser, Gasser, Gasser, Gasser, Gasser, Gasser, Gasser, Gasser, Gasser!
     
  20. Thanks markyac
     
  21. Crankhole
    Joined: Apr 7, 2005
    Posts: 2,634

    Crankhole
    Member

    how about just "Gassy"? that's how I'm feeling right about now anyway.
     
  22. The "F" in A/FX stands for "factory", right? As in GM, Ford, Chrysler. That alone should clear it up. Besides, Willys was out of business waaaaayyy before A/FXs came into being!
     
  23. "Hooked on Phonics" is not catch-and-release. Use a barbed hook!!
     
  24. pastlane
    Joined: Oct 4, 2007
    Posts: 1,063

    pastlane
    Member

    Gasser, A/FX, street rod, rat rod, hot rod, traditional.... why do we have to label everything?

    Why can't we all just get along? ;)
     
  25. Thorkle Rod
    Joined: May 24, 2006
    Posts: 1,392

    Thorkle Rod
    Member

    That made my coffee go up through my nose, what a Gas this thread is.
     
  26. jangleguy
    Joined: Dec 26, 2004
    Posts: 2,668

    jangleguy
    Member

    Yes!!!




    Yes!!!



    Yes!!!
     
  27. This is a friends '61 Biscayne that ran a 409/409hp in 1962. As you can see it was placed in A/FX class way back then because of the use of the '62 engine which had 49 more horses than was available in '61.
     

    Attached Files:

  28. Daddyfink
    Joined: Jan 27, 2007
    Posts: 464

    Daddyfink
    Member

    Did everyone forget the term "Street Freak"?

    I would say that about 85% of what some call Gassers or AF/X are really "Street Freaks"

    Do they run on the street and yet look like Drag Strip refugees? Then guess what, it is a Street Freak!!!

    You people make my head hurt!

    Oh yeah, is the white bunny stew ready yet?
     
  29. Although it certainly can get out of hand, labels or names are necessary in conversation to paint a picture of what you are talking about and therefore should be used correctly. If you ask a guy what type of car he has and he answers, a Gasser 55 Chevy you certainly have a mental image of what he is talking about. Now if it turns out that he is clueless and the car is really a stocker with mag wheels then the conversation and description were pretty much meaningless.
    If you see an event as being advertised for Traditional cars and for some reason think your smoothy billet wheeled Street Rod is traditional then you are going to be very disappointed at the very least when they turn you away.
    Misuse of terminology is a combination of laziness, ignorance, and apathy ~ even arrogance. There's no reason to propagate it.
     
  30. Eloquent, concise, and accurate. I hereby label you "The Man".
     

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