Sweet ride! My friend and I are working on a 52 pontiac gasser with 2x4 setup. Not fun finding parts for this car. Do you have any extra parts you like to sell? Will send picts when I get them.
I'm pretty much a chevy owner although I did own a 65 GTO, anyway there is room on my tin pile for one of these. Your car has a lot of character and I think your are getting a great response on the build. I'll present my opinion, keep the heavy metal up front, it adds to the identity of the car, leave the hood with the waterfall, Pontiac 455, 10" Halibrands or Ansens out back with tire overhang, moontank maybe in trunk, color choice if you go dark either black or dark blue. Going bolder on color either orange, gold metalflake, or candy green. To be stand out different and drab, olive green and your decals. These are just thoughts, anyway you really have got something going, good luck, I love it!.
Thanks for the comments guys. I have not found a motor for it yet. A Pontiac 400 with an aftermarket tri power and 4 speed fell through. The 389 is still available although I have not seen it. The car it is in is sitting 40 miles away in deep snow. As for parts I won't sell anything yet, most stuff is body stainless that I will keep. I like the full grill as it makes it a Pontiac. I have a fuel cell so the Moon tank will go. Still looking for wheels locally as shipping from US is too high. I should get the floor and rollcage done soon. I am thinking of motor set back maybe 10" if I don't have to modify the x frame. It will be a slow build, money is short right now.
Gassers are just sweet! Especially ones like your pontiac. A little different from the cookie cutter chevys. Of course I do like the 49-52 Chevys. Just a nice body style.
Think about a set of Radir wheels, check out his web-site ,Rich and those Jersey boys build some wild up in the air gassers rides!.
Radirs are nice wheels. I am also looking at these wheels http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/15x10-Polished-Slotted-Mag-Halibrand-Gasser-replica_W0QQitemZ330316846162QQcmdZViewItemQQptZMotors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories?hash=item330316846162&_trksid=p4506.c0.m245&_trkparms=65%3A10%7C39%3A1%7C240%3A1318 Didn't get any work done on the car this weekend. Hope to do some next weekend. I hope to go to the Gimli swap with some stuff to sell next Sunday.
The early sixties were the primetime for the gas classes. Get a rule book and build to that. 10% engine setback, crank center at proper height, stuff like that. Vintage drag racing is big fun. Build it to the rules so you can get it on the track.
Hey...what's the swap meet in Gimli all about? What kind of stuff are you looking to unload? Oh yah I still have to talk to you about those wheelie bars...
Those wheels do have a place in the hot rod world but I think they are too new for your car,(opinion), we bought a set of four at Carlisle for $400, they seem to be popular at swap meets and vendors will barter, cash and carry.
I have the good fortune of having the Gimli tech guy building my engine for me (Pete Boslovitch, K/SA record holder). Luckily he was there as I was positioning my engine in the frame and fabricating engine mounts, otherwise I would have placed it in an illegal (for racing) position. 10% engine setback is max. Based on wheelbase. This is from the front wheel centerline. My wheelbase is 100.5 inches which means I could set it back 10 inches and still be legal. Max 24 inches from ground to crank centerline. (Mine ended up at 22 inches) With the hieght you have your front end, you may want to be careful about the hieght of the engine once you set it in. (If you ever find / settle on one...)
Just to clear up some misconceptions, all US GM cars before 1961 had their own individual frames because of design and wheelbase differences. Pontiac and Olds shared some suspension components. This car is clearly American, you can see in the pictures with the front clip off the C-shaped frame rails and the pictures under the large center X-member that US Pontiacs had.
Please don't put vinyl decals on that car when finished!!! Support your local striper or letterer and have them paint them on. It will look 100 times better. Just my opinion anyway. Brian
Not much progress on the car in the last while. I did buy a pair of original Raidirs 14 x 5 and a pair of 15 x 10 slots 3" backspace. Also have a pair of vintage wide whites for the front. Raidir will be making a 12 x 15 wide white slick this fall. I will order them as soon as they are available. The 2 Pontiac big block motors I found here were not good for me. I hope to get some work done in the next weeks. I will be going to Back To The Fifties in Minneapolis next month. Maybe I can score some deals at the swap meet.
Progress is slow on the car. I will be getting more done in the next few weeks, floor, roll cage, ladder bars and some frame welding. I was at Back to the 50's in Minneapolis last weekend and picked up my rear slicks. They look great on the car. Coker Tire was great to work with.
Wow! Great project - I can't wait to see the car when it is finished! I spoke with you this evening at CanadInns and decided to look up this thread once I got home. Keep doing what you are doing - the car looks great so far! My only advice - get a professional to hand-letter the car rather than going with the vinyl graphics. Vinyl just looks wrong! For a while I considered some vintage race graphics on my car and found a guy here in Winnipeg who does beautiful work - all by hand. Although I ultimately decided against it (just wouldn't look right on a street car), a Gasser like yours needs period-correct graphics! It has been quite a while, but I believe the artist's name is Peter Tetrault. I first learned about him a couple of years ago when I saw this beautiful '64 Thunderbolt and asked the owner who he had do the lettering. Way cooler than vinyl!
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