Barn Find! Original Northeast '55 Gasser!

Try the Gasser Madness site. The guys that hang out there should be able to help.

 

try the Conn drag reunion, I think (but not sure) it's sat feb 23 in Wallingford at A K.C. I think the guys name is Pete Bozzo but I'm not sure. good luck

 

p.s. drag that bitch! just my vote lol

 

I suspect that no matter what your intentions are...this car will find it's way to both places in the near future. Great car!

 

Very cool find, and you get to do research on the early years of the car, that's very cool.

I'd do pump gas friendly and street/strip. Not sure what size tires are on there, 28's? If so 4.57's would be no big deal, though I'd probably run 4.10's.

 

I found an old '55 drag car and kept it looking the same... and drive it on the street, and an occasional trip down the quarter mile.

You'll have fun driving it on the street... the looks from people are great!

Sam.

Check it out below.

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=60533
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=183989
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=189402

 

Nice car Sam, 119mph has 11.2-11.4's in it with a 60ft in the 1.5's. Post an update I drag race two of my cars all the time (00 Z/28 10.92@122 na 1.48, 10.00@133 n20 1.38; 98 Formula turbo 9.4@144 1.35)

 

UPDATE! Thanks to leads from octane here on the HAMB, I was able to make a few phone calls and located Wes Johnson. He is in his '70s now and still owns a auto repair shop in Chesapeake VA along with his son Don. Wes ran several tri-fives and four or five rails at the time. Two "Locomotion"s actually exsited, the first being there flagship car, painted orange with a glass tilt nose and small block power. That car was later stolen. My car was picked up at some time in the mid '70s and run with a hillborn injected small block with no hood. His son ran the car once and blew the engine, spraying oil all over the windshield. For Christmas, the car was given to Gary McDonald to prepare and drive for Wes. He installed a 360ci tunnel ram small block and the hood that is currently on the car. I located him and got to speak with him as well. The car my hood came from is still around sitting in a garage down in VA and was another '55 Gary used to run. He told how one time a trans crossmember blew out and the V-Gate shifter pinned his hand and he basically held the 4spd up as he went down the line. It was popular on a 1/5 mile track during this time, running it's current '59 Pontiac 6:14 locked rear. Around '79/'80 it was sold to James Grob (see earlier post)....so it's still unknown where the car came from during the '60s but thats the story so far!
-Dean

 

Great Gasser ,with a neat history.I would drive it as much as possible on the street and race it as much as possible on the strip .Good luck with it...

 

Street/drag!!!!

 

>>>After some digging it seems like the car was probably originally built earlier, with the engine in the standard position, and was purple with white pinstriping everywhere.>>>

My uncle ran a purple (with white pinstriping and raduised wheelwells) 55 Chevy in B and C/Gas at Connecticut Dragway when I was in grade school.

The car started out dark green and was called the Mindbender, then was orange with BIG flake for about a week before we (as in me too) sanded that off then was purple for the rest of the time he had it and called Purple Passion.

He sold it around 1971 or so and went the Vette route for a bit.

Anyhoo, nice find on your part - Cool car. Personally, since you asked, I'd convert it to street/strip use.

Al in CT

 

That Chevy is cool, reminds me of this one!

 

Your one lucky man!

 

On the street vs strip thing...I remember back when I was about 14 being very impressed by seeing a very noisy '55 going down the street with a crude sign saying "race car in tow" still in the back window.
What class did it run in its final form? It probably started its career as a gasser, but certainly wasn't one anymore as shown. Probably some form of heads-up classless racing, it would have been a real oddity in altered, and by the time FX and Funny cars came along it was too old for that.
Looking again...I see something/A on door, so it did indeed run in altered class!

 

Hey Dean...you say the Johnson's still have a former '55 gasser at their Chesapeake garage? Did you happen to catch the name of the garage...that's about ten minutes away from me!

 

Hey octane, Wes owns Frankies Auto Service in Chesapeake along with his son Don. I guess Wes still bombs around in a 4dr '57 Chevy. The original orange "Locomotion" is MIA and I think Wes is still pretty bitter about it. I talked to Gary McDonald of Virginia Beach VA who drove the car for Wes, and he said the black hood on my car came from another '55 he used to run that still exists sitting in rough shape in some garage.
-Dean

 

Enjoyed the story and seeing these pics. I added them to my tri-five gasser pics in the link below! Cool.

 

great find...my thoughts are " if you want to build this into something it is not...[ street car" than it will no longer be what it is "a unmolested race car with history" in the long run which will be worth more ? ,,,for enjoyment and investment? cars that have not been molested with race history CANNOT be made new- a street racer 55 chevy CAN be made everyday... but its your ride so go for the enjoyment..which ever way its right for you...good luck nice car. cadillac dave

 

Do both street and strip! An take a few more pic's after you scrub the car down. Nice score.

 

BTTT some updates...So the history list so far is:

~1960's/early 70's- Red paint job, then Purple paint job with white pinstriping, then the yellow/silver paint job.....also looks like there was some gold paint around the door frames?
~Mid 70's to 1978-raced by Wes Johnson as "Locomotion", powered by a Hillborn injected 331ci
~1979/1980-raced by Gary McDonald for Wes with a 2x4 tunnel ram 358ci
~1980/1981-raced by Scott Pettit for one season with a big block Chevy
~1981/1984-raced by Jim Grob as "About Time" with a 4bbl 331ci
~1985 stored away in New York


Here are some recent shots of the car. I put a 454ci in it. Still looking for ANY info on this car, especially if someone could recognize it from the 60's. I've been looking at how 55's were radiused in old pictures to indentify the car, they seem to be a fingerprint to these old gassers.
-Dean

 

That thing is bad ass.

 

My vision. That needs to be sitting on an open 4wheeled trailer pulled by one of those quad headlight Chevy/GMC 1/2 ton Pickups of the mid/late 50's with the name of some gas station on the doors. The car needs it's lettering restored (but aged slightly) and a 301 small block w/Hilborn and a borg Warner 4spd. DONE!!!

Frank

 

Bring it back..... once a drag car always a drag car. A car that looks pissed off should also be able to haul ass.

 

What ever happened to this one?

Pat

 

Good question, and how did you find this thread? I missed it the first time around. Bob

 

bump 4 old post

 

This car is one bad egg

 

What does it say on the side of the car in faded lettering?

I could not make it out. Real part of history going with this car.

Jimbo

 

Rad find.


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See posts about this car over the years on a couple different sites. I think it is in the same condition that it was 6 years ago. It would be nice if someone did some work on it.
Jay