GASSER MUST HAVES and cant haves?

I guess it would mostly depend on the size of the bank account,and if it was a local,D or E Gas car,or a national level AA/GS car....
Maz's car had almost everything but the engine block chromed!

Scott


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Steve you are exactly right and I put the money where it counted the most= 121.80 record ' Priceless "

A few guys had really deep pockets and could have the whole package, but most were working guys like me that spent every cent we had to build our cars & keep them running

G Don

 

Abone:
I just saw George's car at The Henry Ford a month ago,and it is absolutely a-frickin-mazing!!!!!

Scott


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Hi Don,
You had your car slicked up pretty good too though......That shot of you from the Hot Rod article with the door open shows the chromed window garnish moldings.
Some guys had them looking good enough to be a show car,others didn't spend a nickel unless it made the car run faster.

Scott


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Yea that car is awesome , I'm doing my front end on Willys 35 just like his in the older version, just finished drilling two axles, put one up for sale , kept the other even drilling that one lighting hole in the steel lift block like his, all mine will be chrome too. Yea your coupe got an awesome look and that Texas Terror car is freakin bad as#


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That picture of the coupe in my avatar is the car I searched for for about a year,but couldn't track down,so in the end I bought another one and In building mine to look a lot like that one.
Gonna start assembling the rolling frame to mock up engine & trans mounts soon.I'll start a build thread when I get rolling.

Scott


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Hey Don thanks for confirming my thoughts, however I do like a chromed and drilled axle.

 

I remember when I first saw this 33 Willys in Cars magazine back in 1971. I was blown away with the workmanship. The front axle, spindles, front springs, shocks, rear end housing ,rear springs, roll cage and cross member was all chrome plated.

 

One thing to consider when asking how finished or chromed out a car was, is sponsorship. Nobody wanted to sponsor a slow car, but nobody wanted to sponsor an unfinished car either. They didn't have to be the quality of a SWC, Big John, or Ohio George; but they needed to be tidy enough for the crowds to love them and occasionally get some print.

 

One of my favorite cars from that time frame was the Mazmanian Willys coupe. You can't beat a candy red willys coupe with a lot of chrome.

 

SWC did...

 

If you had all that ' Chrome ' it had better run plenty good or you would get laughed at big time

You know the saying ' If it don't go Chrome it ' well that is the real deal

G Don

 

Right on Don.

 

Don can we talk roll cages ? When i researched mine I found very few pics of interiors or cages, I went with 2" tube as I thought thats what would of been around then, Can you throw any light on tube size and configuration used back then ???

 

Back in the '60s chrome wasn't that expensive. An axel would cost $70 to chrome and was right out there to ogle.

 

NHRA was 2" - 1/8 wall tubing for the main hoop if I remember right. Not sure on the supporting tubes. This was in the mid '60s.

 

Yeah that's what I used. Anyone got any pics of the cages ?

 

Minimum wage was $1.40 an hr. then and it's $9.00 now. It's all relevant.

 

Steve, I was just looking at an old picture of the Mallicoat Bros. '41 Willys coupe the other day by chance. It was one of the fastest A/G Willys around in 1965, with their turbocharged SBC combo making well over 700 HP! There was a head on picture that showed the rollbar pretty clearly, and it was a main hoop, with a single back brace in the middle in 1965. It was full width, but from pictures I've seen of the early 60''s, most either had no rollbar, or a single hoop that just covered the driver.
I don't think cages appeared until the end of the gasser days; late 60's. At least I couldn't find any cages until that period from my searches when I was building mine.

 

That along with all the EPA rules today. Just spent $450.00 to re-plate the two windshield garnish moldings on my 49 Olds.

 

I spent $20 to have my shifter plated in 1967. I'm guessing it would be $125-$150 today.

 

Interior pics are hard to come by so any are appreciated. I will post what I have when I fire up the pc tomorrow.

 

The first one is a roadster,which is not really a perfect example,but the second one is the cage frame Gene Cromer's "Moonlighter" Willys.....Thats about as close to your car as you can get Steve.

The first one is a pretty simple setup from a model A coupe in Australia (if I remember correctly),and the next few are from Quain's build thread on "The Executioner" Willys gasser.

Hope these are of some use to you Steve and Dave.

Scott


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I like fenders, seems like nearly everyone is taking em off these days

 

Hi Steve

I had a single hoop over my head and the bar went on an angle over & down to the other frame rail

Then a single tube from the hoop right above my head straight back to the frame rail in the trunk

Just a simple 3 point bar and that was fine with NHRA in 63' when I built it



About the chromed axle for 70 bucks when you are making 2 bucks an hour that is still a lot of money

Like I said earler it took every cent I made for 8 yrs to build & run the Gasser

I 68' I sold it as I was tired of being broke all the time and after 4 yrs and 200 runs of racing I had enough, besides gassers were going down hill since the fuel funnys & match race cars were the new hot deal for the fans

But it was a great ride while it lasted ' Priceless '

G Don

 

I think these might be close to what Don is talking about....and they look pretty badass,too.

Scott


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This ones from a car a HAMBer had up for sale a while back.
It's an old Model A gasser that used to run in Ohio,called "The Tasmanian".

Scott


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Thanks for the interior pics guys, I knew there must be more out there, I started a thread on it a while back but got little response.

When I made my cage I only found one clear pic and it had a diagonal bar going forward off the hoop at an angle to the passenger footwell, I did mine this way. I don't think its too far off.

Heres a pic

 

Thanks for posting them, I've seen Quains cage and whilst its a nice job it looks too modern for me, But he had rules to build to I guess.

 

Thanks for the info Don.