Hot Rods GASSERS GOOD OR BAD?

ok here is my question back in the day gassers were created as race cars, somewhere along the line they turned into street cars but maintained their gasser look and function Willy's, Tri-fives, Anglia etc. When did anything with a straight axle become a gasser? and when did it become alright to straight axle anything and call it a gasser? Isn't it just a street car with a straight axle? Don't get me wrong I like them all but isn't there a tradition for this? I know here on the HAMB everyone talks and rags on about traditional hot rods and back in the day. Shouldn't that same attitude be used when we look at a gasser. I know my 57 Ranchero straight axle car is not a gasser although I call it one, but its really just a poser. So what do you think anyone wanna way in?

 

search and you'll find several locked threads discussing this....

 

Um, never.

But then, there's a company that sells things called 'gasser' wheels and gas cars never ran them in the day, so that's crap too....but people with their so called gassers run them now like they are part of the uniform.

People like to jump on fads, it's got nothing to do with history, accuracy or reality. Apart from that, I think people just like the word.

 

Street coupes and sedans ran in gas classes when they could no longer run in other classes because of their performance engine and chassis mods. The term "gasser" was a product of promoter hype in the early 60's. Straight axles were used for weight saving, and a way to gain front end altitude for weight transfer. I never saw a gas coupe or sedan run American 12 spokes. Why a manufacturer would make a 10 spoke wheel and call it a "Gasser' wheel is beyond me. I saw later model cars raised up in the front to emulate the big name super stockers, but not with a straight axle. Guys my age know what a gasser is. Guys building posers today out of station wagons, big sedans, and pick up trucks, have no clue what those that were there think of their creations. They do a dis service to the cars that fought the gasser wars in the 60's. I know I'll take heat for my opinion, but I'm not alone. The truth is the truth.

 

My strait axle gasser.

 

There were a lot of odd ball cars made into gassers back in the day. Some successful, some not. I have seen anything from an old Truly Nolan bug company 50's English Ford with a 427 Ford to a Packard with a small block Chevy. A lot of lower class Gassers did not run a straight axle. A lot of gassers did not get jacked up in the front like the street freaks you see today.
Quite a few were just street raced hot rods with a motor swap that NHRA could not put in any other class that wanted to run on the track. Too chopped up for modified production and not an altered.
You have to remember most times you were only racing for a trophy anyway.
One of my favorites back at Miami- Hollywood was a 59 Biscayne with a muti carbed W motor and a welded together tilt nose. who flat towed from the keys just to race. He never won anything , but it did not deter him from trying.
Anybody remember the big black 58 Ford B/Gas car that ran down there. Rumor was he stole Chevies and sold parts so he could buy new Ford parts over the counter.

 

It don't seem logical to cut the frame and weld on a independent front suspension on a straight axle truck or car. Or install a independent front suspension kit to improve handling and drivability. And yet many folks remove a perfectly serviceable independent front suspension and install a straight axle and make their vehicle handle and ride worse. Just so they can call it a gasser? If having a straight axle makes the vehicle a gasser I suppose every 1950,s truck was a gasser? There likely isn't much weight savings to a straight axle. What you do gain when you cut the frame off and install tubing and a axle is clearance and room for bigger engines and hedders ect.

 

Dean hit the nail square on the head.
Pete

 

I can't wait for the "gasser madness" to end.

 

Me too, but I've been waiting for the Harley fad to pass since the 80s,

So, I'll just keep trying to do what I try to do, but I won't ever call my Anglia a gasser again.

 

The ones in the Know are the ones that shouldn't really Care because they know the Real thing when they see it. One of the many fads/build styles of the past were called "Street Freaks" and this is what I think of when I see most of the current crop of G-----s. If in doubt, please refer to Dean's post above. Have a great Memorial Day, Never Forget!!

 

I am with Todd and Dean also. I don't think every car with a straight axle is a gas style car. And not every gasser had an axle. And NOT every car should have an axle and/or be called a gasser. I have two friends building '55 Chevys. Both are putting axles under them. Wish they would look at some old magazines. To see there were far more '55 thru '57's with 409 station wagon springs and ball joint spacers than axles. But I keep hearing "gassers had axles". Oh well.

 

....And they sell the sh*t out of those things. Even to guys who should know better.

 

Todd, your Ranchero back then would've been called a "Street Machine". This whole "If it's got a straight axle must be a gasser" thing is like calling all tissue "Kleenex". As others have stated, just because it has a straight axle does not qualify it as a gasser. As for "Street Freaks", just because it's elevated doesn't put it into that category. To become a "Street Freak" you would have to exaggerate the modification. As an example stuff a supercharged big block Chevy into a Corvair (stock height); Or maybe install twin engines; Drive from the rear seat; Lift the car 10" or over; Have rear tires stick out 2" to 3" from the fenders; stuff a couple blowers on top of each other; maybe add a parachute off the back. You get where I'm going with this. Be "unconventional".

 

Oh Yeah, Dare to Different!!

 

I thought we were not scheduled for another gasser bitchfest until next month.



https://www.google.com/search?hl=en...0..0.0....0...1.1.64.img..8.0.0.0.qFkiZ4I71xU

 

Back in the 60's the jacked up look was popular,I had a straight axle under my 63 Falcon and air shocks & the rear springs were relocated on top of the axle to aide in the height.

Here in the South we called them jacked up or high ridders,it was a fad and I never heard them called gassers. HRP

 

I've worn these files out, but here they are again - one local car and one national record holder.

And I kind of wonder how many of todays gassers run mechanical fuel injection. They were pretty well standard issue until 1968.

BTW, to some folks gassers are still race cars.

 

I am sorry I did not mean to create a problem for anyone I was just thinking out loud. If I have over stepped anyone's boundaries' I apologize! I just wanted your opinion and what everyone thought about a later model chevelle with an axle being called a gasser. A gasser to me is a Willys or Anglia stuff like that. I understand the need to different we all want to stand out at the show or cruz night. I am tired of everything being a gasser and then have the same person tell me it's the way it was back in the day, at that point I raise the BS flag. So I am sorry if I offended anyone.

 

I've been around long enough to remember the tail draggers & the jacked up rear ends,the high ridders and the low ridders and have built most of my hot rods low to the ground.

I am in my 60's now and if the right car came along,maybe a '54 Ford Business coupe,I would like to build another jacked up/gasser looking hot rod for the street.

The only trouble with the style is I ain't as agile as I use to be and climbing up in a high ridder I just might need a step ladder! HRP

 

I doubt you're offending anyone....it's a subject that's been beat to death here.

 

I think the second picture is right after a runner up at the World Finals. This, after a win at Indy.
Of course someone will say it's a lower class car, and probably needed the weight anyway.
Anyway, I really don't have that much of a problem with strange body styles , as "Gassers".
There were probably quite a few of them that were raced locally, that we never get to see.
Big problem I see with this fad is in the execution. Some uninformed soul will take a nice 59 Rambler station wagon, and stick a straight axle under it, and some fake spindle mounts. and think they're cruising around in a gasser...Totally out of touch, without a clue.
Oh yeah. They have to post it on the F/B Gasser page, too.

 

Today's gassers remind me of the pro street cars with 14" wide tires, pro stock looking paint and a tuneport 305

 

Some of "today's" gassers that are pro street cars with an axle lol.

 

How about this ,everyone build what they want ,or what they like and no-one care or complain. I am building my 57 like I can afford . Its not meant to be from one particular era . Just post them all up and lets look .No need to judge. Just my opinion ,I could be wrong!!!

 

We all have our preference. I grew up on a gravel road and I never liked a vehicle that was low to the ground. And to this day a bagged pickup don't do anything for me. I still want road clearance so as to not drag off my mufflers. Every 55 or56 ford I seen in the sixties had the schakels on the rear springs reversed to raise up the rear end, My brother in law had a 65 big block super sport impala. He installed station wagon rear coil springs to raise the back end up. I never saw very many straight axle cars at George Rays dragstrip in the 60,s. I don't think I ever saw even one Tri Five chevy with one back then. A guy at the DX station in the early 70,s had a straight axle falcon with a 44o dodge engine and a 4 speed. Never saw him race it. He eventually pulled the engine and trans. My older brother bought the body. We installed a 289 ford and three speed. It handled so terrible that 40 MPH was as fast as you dared to go. Pulled that engine and sold the body to a guy from Imboden. There is a lot of skill and knowledge to change up the suspension and get the spring rates and geometery correct to make it handle and drive properly.

 

I think this thread should die a quick and painless death! Thanks for the reality check, sometimes I get caught up in the hype and forget the real issues. Thank you all for the input and comments I truly appreciate each of you.

 

Funny to me how so many tend to get wrapped up over a simple word.

I'd rather a guy be outside building a "gasser" from a 4 door '68 Malibu than posting a picture to Fakebook of his goddammed meal at some restaurant.

 

Just gotta have a sense of humor..

 

Todd, The Ranchero is gonna be Kool!