What makes a car a gasser

Things happened and we went with our instincts. They ran on gasoline instead of race fuel that is, fuel containing methanol or nitromethane -- this difference spurred a split, a division of drag racing. Gassers looked much different than the other classic racing cars, too. They typically had a straight axle front suspension which gave the cars their domineering, upright stance. They had a high front end meant to distribute weight to the rear wheels which became iconic for old school drag race cars.

Equipped with their Halibrand wheels, their missing front bumpers, front fender exhaust pipes and front-mounted moon tanks, Gassers were flashy and audacious. Showing them off around the track was a racer favourite. Coupes and sedans were popular choices for Gassers.

Gassers were popular during the early 60s, but eventually the NHRA changed their policy to allow altered wheelbases. This meant that car manufacturers could move their axles, taking advantage of the benefits of weight transfer and gain traction. Spectators wanted to see more nitro-based racing; the newfound speed was both novel and unbelievable to fans.

And so, the Gasser War Years were over. Gassers are kept alive today by gearheads who still appreciate the hot rod style from the s. Plenty of photos, old rules and guidelines, etc.

Should give you a good idea of how they were built, what they looked like, etc. Fossil , Oct 19, Joined: Jan 3, Posts: 58, Profile Page. It's gotta be jacked up to have a gasser look,,,HRP. Joined: Apr 11, Posts: Profile Page. What an actual gasser is, or was, was a full bodied car running in the gas classes.

Not the same as gasser-look. Some of them looked amazingly frumpish, or stock. IMO, you're going to miss if you put more than 7" of tire behind an un-radiused wheelwell. I Drag , Oct 19, Joined: Dec 22, Posts: 12, Profile Page. Gasser is a nickname for cars running the "gas" classes in the 50's's. Before tire technology aided traction, the nose of the car as well as engine placement helped shift weight onto the rear tires for traction. Gassers tended to have a nose bleed stance with or without a solid type axle.

Kick the nose up twist in a bunch of monkey nuts in the coils , run some cheaters, and period wheels, maybe lose the front bumper, and it'll have some "attitude" i'm sure. You don't have to cut the rear wheelwells to get the "look". I'm wondering why you think anyone would mistake it as pro street? Did you narrow the rearend? If you did, and you TRY for the gasser look, you'll end up with a dorky, 70's "street freak" instead.

Groucho , Oct 19, Joined: Nov 10, Posts: Profile Page. Straight axle,horsepower and heuvosor lack of brain cells,your choice. Joined: Jan 31, Posts: 2, Profile Page. On the wheel choice it was between Cragars or aluminum slots, I picked up some real nice 15 x 10 Cragars. I have to do some work to get those to fit , including putting a narrower rear end in. Probably some pie crust slicks. So if they stuck outside or even with the trimed quarter that would pass?

It's just my opinion that a 15 x 10 Cragar would have too deep a look for what you're trying to do. I tried em on my 41 Willys a few yrs ago, and took em right off. They just looked wrong to me. Joined: Mar 29, Posts: 12, Profile Page. Gassers were typically light weight cars,for improved acceleration.

Suspension and engines were jacked up to increase weight transfer, since the available tires were marginal. And if you check the old magazines,they usually didn't run whitewall tires. Now the term has been bastardized to mean any car with a 4x4 stance. Traditional meets Donk. Unkl Ian , Oct 19, Bro, you can't narrow the rearend and wonder why it will look pro-street!

Rearend narrowing wasn't real common on full bodied cars until Pro Stock in Gassers usually ran full width rears. This is where most guys blow it. Please don't let this happen to you. Tiny stock wheelwells don't let slicks "breathe" visually.

When I see that, I can tell a guy is just worried about resale value. No commitment. Radius 'em functional style. Even or sticking out 2" is what you want. Just sayin'. Edit: And 11" slicks were used on fuel dragsters! I was only going to narrow it enough for the offset of the wheels, I wasn't going to have a real narrow rear end. How are the wheelwells radiused after cutting them open? Or just leave them flat? Just a personal preferance than?

Joined: Sep 12, Posts: 42, Profile Page. Joined: Oct 5, Posts: 1, Profile Page. Better make it run like a raped ape too. The ones that were there will get it, the others won't. RJP , Oct 19, Joined: Sep 8, Posts: 4, Profile Page. Here is what I remember. Although they say if your remember the 60's you didn't live through them The class was originally called Gas Altereds. Class designation was based on Cu In to weight ratio. You typically wanted to start with a short wheelbase car.

This made Henry J's and Willys popular cars to base a drag car on. The car needed to retain it stock bodied look and early in the class had to be basically a street legal car. Rear fenders were usuaslly radiused with a saw to gain clearence for the slicks mounted on stock width rear ends, some folks rolled the metal under, some didn't based on how much squat they got on launch. Rules got liberalized as the cars started doing wheelstands running in the 9's and drawing big crowds.

The addition of blowers and match races with several of the well known teams doing a National tour gave the Gas class quite a few years of popularity. Locally it gave the guys who wanted to tinker with stuff a way to do their thing and still drive the car to and from the track. As stated in other posts the raised front was to effect weight transfer and the straight axle was an easy way to achieve it.

Having the class eliminations was interesting as the Christmas tree was programed to hold the Higher HP cars at the line as the other competitor got to leave. This led to a lot of low dollar local cars beating the high dollar high HP cars as they couldn't stand the sight of the other car leaving and redlighted.

Classes want from AA to H based on engine size, aspiration, and car weight. Joined: Oct 2, Posts: 2, Profile Page. Gasser n.