What makes a gasser a gasser?

Ditto. First and foremost a "gasser" needs to go fast. Forget the nose bleed stance, radiused wheel wells and straight front axle. If it's slow or "faux", it's about as cool as the 80's pro street trend where guys were running around with blowers that had no guts. Shit, even the emissions 305 I had in my pickup sounded hard with open headers.

Get a legit mill under the hood, then worry about "the look".

 

10:1 400 probably good for 400 horse, 2800 stall th400 and 3:90 9"ought to do it for now. Engine and trans are in, waiting on how wide a rear end(truck rear end) to figure out.

 

NO RADIUS, NO BIG TIRE=Perfect

 

I disagree. Some of the slower "gas" classes were slow! Remember this was an entry level, street car class at first. Not all Gassers were "A" Gas cars. Hell, it went to "H" or "J" and beyond i believe. Leave the rear stock height, screw in a few spring spacers up front for the "stance", remove(?) the front bumper, Period wheels up front, and black steelies with 6-7" cheaters out back, and rock it. As far as light? The gassed Hudsons for God sakes. It don't have to be light

 

A quicky attitude adjusted 442 to mimic a 60's Super Stock car

 

HA!

 

In The Day 99% Of The Gassers Had There Rear Fenders Trimed Or Quarter Panels Cut For The Slicks That Was The Look And Most Of The Time Only The Big Buck Teams Had Mags I Had A B/g In 66 And At Our Track Wattsberg In Warmups Gassers Could Go Up The Middle Lane To The Line No Waiting It Was Fun Tim

 

I'm sure there are tons of things that could fall under the definition of "gasser". But the things I like about them would be nose-high straight axle, fender well headers and radiused quarters.

 

Amen.

 

As far as rear end width goes,3"or 4" inches to get fender clearance is okay. One of the previouse posts showed Chuck Finders and a VERY much narrowed rear end. My two cents worth, look through the hotrod mags from the late seventy's at the "pro street"cars. Excesively wide rear tires,four link rear suspension,very low stance,and a basically STOCK apearing body shell. Build it WITHOUT those elements and you will be in the ball park with "the look". As for the 15 x10 Cragars? As long as you can see the axle tubes,springs and and traction bars, AND MOST IMPORTANT, YOU like the look of the car! Who is going to tell you,"you didnt do it right"? Some joker with clean hands and a fresh manicure who buys his toys off E-bay?
It's your ride, build it your way and drive it like you stole it!

 

You're absolutely right and I agree. But even for the lower Gas classes, they still had souped up engines even if they weren't running in the A class.

I'm just tired of seeing straight front axle cars with stock cams and 2 bbls with fender well headers

 

I've got to agree. One of the most important pieces of a gasser is the baddest engines you could build or buy for your class. It was a LOT more important than stance or what axle was under the car. The radical engines also dictated another real important piece of equipment. (G)

 

A couple of C/Gas cars running back in the day

 

In 1964 there were 3 very cool "gasser" style mid-fifties Pontiacs prowling the streets of the small town that I grew up in.
A bright red '57 HT with front bumper and grill removed, wrinkle-wall slicks, powered by a dual quad 421, it ran as good as it looked.
A "sleeper" dark maroon '55 2dr. post that packed a hot 389 and 4 speed.
And a jacked-up and bumper-less lavender '57 HT that ran strong with its original but "tuned" 347 / 3 speed stick combo.
These, owner built machines, were at that time capeable of putting serious hurt on just about anything that was available at the dealerships.
You got a '55? cool beans man! don't let anyone jive 'ya it is a great foundation for a genuine and true-to-the-period gasser.
Forget the narrowed rear-axle thing already, it just wasn't done that way, and would end up looking '80ish "Pro-Street" (gag, retch, etc.) just stuff the wheel-wells with widest rim/tire combo that you can fit. (we used to cheat just a little by trimming away the lip of the wheel-wells and using a hydraulic jack to bow the quarters out slightly for more clearance.....
But I don't think I'd want to mess up a pristine set of quarters nowadays)
Oh, by the way, look for some vintage appearing tires, as nothing can ruin the "look" more than running a set of "Yokomama" radials.

 

According to an article in the March 26, 2004 issue of National Dragster, wrinkle-wall slicks and slipper clutches were introduced in 1967.

In the same article, Don Garlits talks about narrowing rearends already in the '50s.

So if you want to narrow the rearend, do it. If Garlits did it in the '50s, I would guess a lot of other racers did as well, whether they ran in the fuel classes or gas classes.

 

hold on, handbags are out.A gasser has got to have the slicks wider than the rear bodywork and a tube front axle!This is what makes us point,dribble and get down on our knees to the Gods of hotrod.Yes fast is kool but a ferrari is fast,Do we want one........well I suppose we do,but the thing about gassers is they are weird.If its all tucked in and cute there,s no magic!When gasssers evolved to the"new" shape of mustangs/corvettes,it was the death knoll of the klass! I,m just putting on my bullet proof vest

 

Here you can find some pics of gassers throughout the sixties.
http://gassermadness.com/lamka/index.htm

Most of them were not jacked up way high in the front, and except for the Willys and Anglias, most did not have slicks sticking way out of the wheel wells. What passes nowadays as a "traditional" gasser is more of a caricature of what was actually built back in the day.

I remember the gasser look on the street in the late 60s-early 70s, where cars got stupider and stupider (Rod & Custom mag even had a monthly feature on the highboy of the month), kind of like the stupid pro-street look of the eighties.

 

10 % setback....(if it hasn't been mentioned yet...) and as far as the fat tire deal....it would depend on what year.....10" wheels were pretty much a staple of the aa/g crowd...15 or 16's...lower classes usually ran skinny wheels with 10.00 ish slicks.....usually had long ladder bars... get yourself the larry davis gasser book and the don montgomery gasser book.....both are a world of information....quick change rears , big olds , and truck rears were popular.....8 3/4 came in later ...want to say a 24" crank height was max....and as mentioned ....check out www.gassermadness.com

brandon former anglia owner.

 

On the inside - Larry Teter's 32 Vicky (1961 - 1962 NHRA C-Gas Eliminator)

 

I will throw mine on it. Unfortunately, it does not have the power to go with the look. So it either getting more motor next summer or the look is going away and its going low. can't have the look and not the power.(but thats me).. I consider mine in the early years of the look when steel rims were being used in back, before guys were running mags on all four wheels.

That pontiac posted above is basically a race car (has a pro-street look).. Like Groucho state.. to many guys put too wide of a rear tire on their rides, raise the front and think its right.. (there are number of them out there, including a few willys. but over the years as the cars progress guys put more tires under them to get traction and in the 80's and 90's many went with the full tubing)

 

Come on guys. 15 x 10 Cragars aren't all that bad!

 

I am going to bring something back from the 60's that they did here in chicago on my 55. On the sides of the highway bridges here, they had the 4" aluminum tube... Well, my dads friend took a piece and made it his front bumper on his straight axle 56 he had back in the 60's... I was talking to him while we were at the James Dean run, and he told me how to do it.... So, I need to go n grab a piece (almost did last night, and I had the perfect excuse b/c the wifey was drunk, and would have told the cop she was.. do I have to elaborate?
Well, tonight, sometime at about 3 am I am going to grab me a piece and some end caps.... I am going to get my floors fixed at a buddys house who has space, and start putting this heap together Been neglected the last 20 years because the bb chevelle came in the family, and the old double nickel ford got put on the back burner.... here are pics when we brought it in the family back in 1983, in november... I am the one behind the wheel I was 4 yrs old.
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d196/90stanglx/83-55-2.jpg
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d196/90stanglx/83-55-1.jpg

 

Safely say thats what we are talkin about,nailed it!!

 

http://www.gassermadness.com/

 

Lots and lots of opinions on this subject.

You really need to decide on a year that inspires the look you want.
If you look at a bunch of photos from 1962 for example, and then look at some gasser photos from 1965, the look totally changed. Stance, tires, motors, etc.

By 1966 the tires improved so much, that the front ends started coming down to earth.

For my Willys, I'm shooting for the 1965 look. 16x10 Halibrands with relatively big M&H slicks.

My 55 doesn't really fit into any particular year or category. It's just what I envisioned. My rears wheels are 15x12's with 33" slicks..... but it can back it up by turning mid 9's consistently.

 

Get a copy of (Gasser Wars, drag racing's street classes:1955-1968) by Larry Davis . Published by Car Tech. www.cartechbooks.com Pretty much covers the whole thing, rules,classes,history and lots of pictures. I guaranty your legs will be numb and the rest of the household will think you fell in before you can put it down!

 

Damn it Shakey Puddin, that car gives me wood everytime I see it. I'm just hoping some of your 55 can rub off on mine.Mines street driven and has the gasser stance kinda and flat black but theres somethin real special about yours

 

Unfortunately these days a mile high stance and 21 second time slips....

 

If you want an open rear wheel look without looking like the wheelwells were cut out with a hacksaw, maybe try a set of repro 55 Nomad 1/4's. The edge matches the Pontiac rocker edge and has a factory look to it.

 

Don't forget back then sleepers were the way to go... a 4dr slammer was the crap... pull up looking like grannys grocery getter, and blow the doors off ya.... Was a run whatcha brung situation... heads up racing... a thing of the past unless on the street or street legal drags...