History TRADITIONAL GASSERS, Gas Class cars and modern TRADITIONAL cars.

Schutties Racing team



Vitamin C



John Carter & Lou Ky

 

John Carter & Lou Ky


Actually that is John Carter from Louisville, Kentucky.

Roo

 

@rooman
Roo, the front wheels on the Vit C Willis sure look like Minilites, not a wheel one would normally see on a drag car, at least in the states.
Do you recall when they first came out?

 

Google says Feb. '64

 

Denny, I noticed that too. Minilites have been around since the early 60's but I am thinking that in this case the wheels may be the EMPI knockoffs (visually, not functionally ) that a lot of the VW guys ran on "California" style bugs.

Roo

 

DDDenny, see that notch in the spoke around the lug nut that I circled?


I believe those are American Racing "Silverstone" wheels.


Limited info I have found:
"This was AR's take on the 4-lug, 8-spoke British Minilite wheel for sports cars. The main difference was that one side of each spoke was relieved near the hub for lug nut clearance. with the other side of each spoke continuing to the hub circle. These were cast in magnesium for racing and in aluminum alloy for street use."

"Back in 1962 American Racing Equipment® (ARE) designed a new eight spoke wheel for the North American sports car market. They called it the silverstone after the famous race track in the UK. "

 

Roo, I've been a fan of Minilites since the early 70's, actually had planned to put a set on a a couple of different OT cars around 1980 but they had limited U.S. dealers it seemed.
Looked at the knockoff versions but they really didn't hit the mark for me.
Thanks Sancho, as a matter of fact, that shiny spot you circled is what I first focussed on after I noticed what they were.
I forgot about those American versions, you saw them so seldom, they really are a cool looking wheel, just seemed so out of place on a Willis, at least here in the states.
Thanks guys.

 

@DDDenny, Ollie Olsen also ran them at some point

 

March 58 HRM. Gene Adams world beating Olds!
Gene Adams was busy grinding up speed records at the Okey City Nationals (111.24 mph) and the Santa Ana drags (112.77 mph). In those days, nobody gave a hoot about how long it took to do it; elapsed time wasn’t even a factor. The highlight of the two-page spread was a GMC-supercharged 370-inch Olds motor. Gene had sunk the pockets in the polished combustion chambers with cut-down Chrysler exhaust valves (1-¾-inch to 11-1/16) and GMC 1-7/8-inch intake valves. Then he welded dividers into the siamesed exhaust ports so the spent gases from the two middle combustion chambers were channeled separately, thus producing a mild tuning effect.

Note the licence plates. Gassers were warmed over street cars then.

 

Good call Sancho. Once I put the photo up on the big monitor at the shop (32" which helps my old eyes) I could see the notches which the EMPI wheel does not have.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/330850250286?lpid=82&chn=ps&ul_noapp=true

Roo

 

One Sunday nite in 59' i was setting in Bob's Big Boy in San Fernando at closing time, and heard this in-corked blown car and low and behold it was Dick Harryman in his blown Olds like Gene's above

Just out for a 12 o clock putt since i was just leaving and we both lived 4 blocks apart I followed Dick home

Pretty cool being behind him hearing him shift the 3 speed floor shift and getting into it just a bit at each stop sign, lighting up the rear slicks a tad

Those were great days ' Priceless '

DND

 

I'm so jealous Don!

 

That time of the week and in those yrs you would never see a police car in our town, so there was a good chance you would not get busted taking your racer out for a spin

I remember that nite like it was yesterday, stuff like that is one of the reasons I had to build me a gasser so the 37' was born a yr later at the end of 60'

I ran the 37' 3 times on the street in about 65' I was along side of the 405 fwy going north and the CHP was up on the fwy going south, since I was full tilt in high he just saw a blue flash go by below him

Oops i'am in trouble now and he just said hook her up and get it home as next time you will be busted ' Yes sir Officer '

DND

 

Even in Portland there was very little traffic at night, and few cops ( in the 60's).
Guys used to race on Oatfield Road in Oak Grove on a regular basis, even had a quarter mile start and finish line painted on the road!
Those days are long gone!!

 

My brother was a PDX sergeant mid 60's/70's.
Had more fun busting hippies and hookers.

 

Yep. We did the same on Torrens Island on the northwest side of Adelaide in South Australia. The local power station was just a bit north of where we raced and the only traffic came with the shift change or the occasional guy going fishing so the cops pretty much left us alone unless someone complained. Some nights they sat by the bridge leading to the island and watched us race.

Roo

 

Hey Don,
We tried to run our 40 Willys SBC 671 on the street at first, but did not know how far our small 2 gal. Moon Tank would take us. At first, we drove over to the local speed shop where we originally bought the 283 with the Strombergs to show them our first try at a drag race/street legal, gas coupe. After we modified that 283 with the 671 and other go fast rebuild stuff, we took it on another outing,. We tried 3 miles to Lions and back and did not run out of gas.

So, our last run was to Grissinger's Drive In in Bixby Knolls, about 5.5 miles away, a 11 mile round trip. The little Moon Tank was bone dry by the time we pulled up in our backyard. The 292 with the 671 used up more gas than with just the Strombergs, but we made it home.

We did see a couple of LB black and whites on that last trip. But with the tube mufflers, short tail pipes and everything legal to be a licensed night time running street car, we felt ok. As long as we did not run out of gas, we were street legal and safe. That fine tune rpm made a nice modified race car sound that was not overly loud, but when we stomped on the gas pedal, whoa!

Junji
It was a good thing that it was a warm summer night without any mist on the ground. Our Bruce slicks would not be much help in any emergency stops.

photo by rruss

 

don't see too many 4 door mopars as gassers LOL













A/G ??


We Haul Special

 

"don't see too many 4 door mopars as gassers LOL"


'cept its a 2 door. The four door version had shorter front doors and the "B" pillar was vertical

Roo

 

Correct, and the rear seat windows on 2-door cars had "wing" windows.

- EM

 

George Montgomery

 

Not exactly a gasser when it is labelled BB/Altered on the rear fender. Plus it is center steer and has individual headers at a time when the gas class rules still called for collectors.

Roo

 

Loudbang,
You posted this one on Monday. "Pay attention son!!!" ( In my best Foghorn Leghorn voice)

Roo

 

This one is running in I assume "modified coupe", but I think that's some non NHRA class for gassers.Sure looks like it to me!